RTC Coast to Coast 5/7/14

The late change of date, 3 days before the train was due to run, can be a bit tough on people who have booked hotels etc and may not be able to get a refund. Shouldn't Network Rail sort out gauging at an earlier stage?

John

 

But its booked again for the 9th august with the A4 again, so the gauging at Runcorn doesnt sound like the real reason, my guess is its to do with the tour de france trains.

 

Looking at realtime trains. there is now a train from Crewe HS to platform 7 at Lime street arrives at 0558, around the same time the railtour would have been occupying platform 7. This leaves at 6.22 for Scarbrorough. The railtour was due to leave platform 7 at 05.53
Maybe our railtour has been cancelled because of this?
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced/LIV/2014/07/05/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

 

I did mention this about RTC with the trips that was cancelled that I was booked on regarding work days off ect, but if it is pulled due to tour deFrance, then I think its totally unfair on those passengers who had booked travel and accommodation ( again at their expense), and compensation should be met by the tour operator for this.
Yes am in favour of steam trips like all of us, but tour operators should book trips and check to see nothing like this is going to cause inconvenience to its customers, ok if the loco fails or there is time to rearrange (in advance) then thats ok, but 3 days is not acceptable.

 

Nothing to do with Tour de France.
Very late timings and a surprise refusal of no 9 at Runcorn
As this loco went thru Runcorn on ECS last year the problem may be resolved for the new date


The v late refusal has been difficult as the tour was fully booked
One slight bright point is that there is a month to try and get better timings especially at Milford.
Cancellations like this cause huge problems as well for caterers,loco owner,water suppliers,WCRC,RTC as well as the all important passengers. Nigel could have put a 47 etc on the front but prefers to re date a train rather than diesel haul it whilst knowing that a significant minority of passengers would prefer it to run even without steam .
Timings were v late for this tour- another headache

 

could we have not had another loco?

 

sorry, the point I was making is that that train didnt appear on realtime trains until after the railtour was cancelled.

 

it was on RTT for the past 4 days, both this tour and the Trans-Pennine loco hauleds

 

cheers Neil i never noticed it

 

Redated trip now Duchess......

 

Id be happy with that. We've had the letter through which just says another loco.
Just hope I can get the 9th off work.

 

Wonder if it will be the same loco that does the Scarborough Flyer the day before

 

Considering 44871 and 45231 both black 5s are up in fort william, I would have thought that one could have returned to carnforth for the trip, considering that 45407 went to Bristol from there due to loco shortages, but yes may have been a late development but am sure a black 5 would be ok as a substitute rather than cancel.

 

Just because a loco is not being used does not mean it is available.It will only be available if there is a support crew available. In general I suspect lack of availability of support crew is part of the problem at present, not just Tangmere being out of action or West Coast not being prepared to operate Tornado.

 

So no Network Rail bashing allowed on NP ?