Cathedrals Express - Rugby to Salisbury Thusday 29th May 2014

I agree, this is most unfortunate as there was a time SD seemed to be aiming for a 100% steam policy on those tours they ran that featured steam. Now we have that rather ugly little diesel symbol attached to pretty much all the itineraries advertised in their brochure, which rather bring you back to earth having initially seen the full tour itinerary and imagining the large majority of it being hauled by steam. Of course, when they tried operating more of the tours with steam they became unstuck in various ways, not least the inability of DBS to supply the necessary crews. That combined with the fact their market would prefer a civilised start and finish time to more steam rather suggests this way of doing things is here to stay.

The change of loco on this tour to one that isn't of the same class, power and performance wise is another issue again however, & there really should be some push back on it. As I've said before however, people keep coming back for more, hence the treatment of customers remains the same. Until those making the comments above start saying it to the Promoters and in sufficient numbers, expect more of the same I'm afraid.

 

Does anybody actually no the reason Bittern was pulled off Thursday's run ?

 

In defence of Steam Dreams I would say:

1) At least they do make it clear in the brochure where diesel haulage is used. For this tour it clearly states that it will be diesel hauled from London back to Rugby so no-one can complain that they are not getting what is advertised.

2) I don't know why 4464 is unavailable but there aren't a lot of other options at the moment. 34067, 34046, 70000 and 70013 are all out of service. I don't know if 60009 was considered but maybe the support crew are not available this time. At least there is a steam substitute and 44932 is actually not a bad loco at all. It did sterling work on the Great Britain (with no diesel attached). What would people rather have - diesel haulage throughout?

I think the issue about tours not being 100% steam hauled may be partly due to the logistics of some of the tours that start outside London. If you need to get the loco and stock to/from say Rugby or Ipswich or wherever at both ends of the day that makes for almost a 24 hour shift for the support crew. It makes far more sense to drop the steam loco off in London on the return trip. So long as this is made clear in the advertising I don't have a problem with it.

 

But this is precisely the problem, they advertise a tour as all steam then start playing about with it when they realise that their plans were over ambitious. Which is why I would never again book on a Steam Dreams tour. You rarely end up with the product advertised and that you think you have purchased. By contrast both RTC and VT tend to try to make sure the passenger gets their moneys worth.

 

In both the brochures this tour has been in, it it states Diesel hauled from London on the return.

 

Unfortunately that is not what was showing on their website.

 

This was taken about 10 minutes ago:

James

 

Note my use of the past tense. Originally it was shown as steam throughout , which is also what the excellent UK steam picked up.

I think you will find Steam Dreams changed their website last week.

 

ECS Move to Rugby ?
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U53122/2014/05/28/advanced

 

5Z84 consists of 44932+POB Only, Cath Ex stock moves to Rugby tomorrow morning to meet with the Black Five.

Update: There's a path on RTT for the ECS move to Rugby from Southall tomorrow morning. iPad won't let me copy the link at the moment.

 

Thanks for clearing that up. Might pop out later, if the weather improves.

 

Quite, I think the package as originally advertised would have been very ambitious even with "Tangmere", with a black 5 impossible. Perhaps SD should consider this when planning tours; it is far better to under promise and over deliver than to over promise and under deliver.

 

I wonder if the diesel is leading ?

 

A short clip from just south of Rugby this morning

 

Drain cock open again I hear. Looks like Its watered OK at Acton and is back on its way.

 

Seems to happen a lot with west coast engines!

Just out of interest, if the drain cock is stuck open surely that reduces the power output of that cylinder or am I wrong ?