Railway Touring Company 2016

With the announcement of Winter Cumbrians yesterday the Peak Forester with Mayflower in May has been added today.

 

After the fiasco of GBVIII, let's hope this one is a success. Fabulous itinerary and a great selection of motive power:

http://www.railwaytouring.net/travel-tours/great-britain-ix

 

It'll end up with one black 5 and a brace of 47's.

 

Experience I call it.

 

May be I've misread it somewhere but ain't 46115's ticket expires sometime before then or it has got longer either via extended ticket or quick overhaul to make the GB IX. I'm sure someone will confirm shortly?

 

It reportedly had intermediate work winter before last. Whether or not that has extended the period before an out of frames exam only the owners engineering team could say. We'll have to wait and see if it disappears for any length of time. Unless the owners care to make a public statement - breath not held.

 

Double header Jubilee via Copy Pit - wonder what odds a bookie will offer?

 

2 to 1 seems appropriate

 

Never mind the likely changes between the trip as now advertised and what eventually happens, even the present description betrays the continued absence of proof-reading.

Saturday "Your special train will leave Edinburgh Waverley today hauled by either Britannia class ‘Pacific’ steam locomotive No 70013 ‘Oliver Cromwell’." Either Cromwell or ???

Tuesday "Inverness to Edinburgh via the Highland Main Line" except that it doesn't go to Edinburgh.

 

A second 70013 has been built to double availability and enable SD and RTC to advertise the same loco on the same day...would be tempted to book if I had faith in what's advertised actually happening...

 

Too often in certain quarters the impression given is that the customer having a good experience or getting what they paid for is a coincidental byproduct of the planning.
In most other leisure or entertainment sectors this type of speculative advertising, followed by a failure to provide the booked product simply wouldn't be tolerated. That it isn't, relies totally on the goodwill of a forgiving enthusiast fraternity and the blissful ignorance of those less aware.

 

Good luck to them ! Glad to see they've got back on the horse. Nice to see some realistic loco allocations this year too, unlike the previous fantasy team lineup.

 

It wouldn't be a proper Great Britain tour advert without mention of Royal Scot! Maybe, just maybe, this time she'll make it... Well done MeltonNorth & Co for having another go. Let's hope it runs (more-or-less) as planned.

 

All of the locos listed are either currently in traffic with sufficient time left on their 7 year boiler out of frames & internal exam (subject to annual exams and/or going wrong at any time), or currently under overhaul or repair with a good prognosis for being ok by next April.

 

Interesting that RTC is making use of the Hosking fleet with 46100 in the frame for some of the winter CMEs and 46100, 70000 and 34046 all requested for GBix. By contrast, Steam Dreams is not booked to be using any Hosking locos in the first part of 2016. Perhaps there's nothing significant in this, but when SD announced its 2016 programme, I did wonder whether Icons of Steam was going to be announcing its own programme - or possibly in conjunction with an operator like UK Railtours restricting its locos to working with its own set of carriages currently under restoration in Crewe and not offering its own locos to other operators. Seems like I was wrong.

 

7 Waverley's and 1 Yorkshiremanto be hauled by 60103 now listed on the RTC webiste.