Tornado to haul certain timetabled trains on S&C: Feb 14-16

That's activated my whinge detector.

 

I posted some of these questions on the Northern Facebook group. Northern replied that there are additional services that day. Checking the timetable, it appears that the following are additional:

14:57 departure from Appleby (10 minutes after Tornado)
17:15 departure from Skipton (final steam train of the day)

If I've compared correctly, these services are not in the normal timetable.

 

As we are now past 1965 can we call it the 1457?

 

Well yes but it was given to him by his father Jacob...........

Wikipedius Chapter 1 Verse 1

 

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone....

 

Irony meter just gone into the red.

 

Taking out all the personal jibes have we now concluded the downside is that Northern's marketing of this service was not particularly well thought out, the consist from a photographers point of view is awful , but the trains aren't being run for our benefit. If I lived locally I would go and take photographs as a record of a historic event but travelling over 250 miles is not really on, I'll save that for the Fellsman. The upside is that this is a unique move for mainline steam and could open the door to other things if it's successful which I think trumps all on the downside and more so I wish all involved well for this enterprise.

 

I agree. I hope the addition of the extra coach, allied to additional scheduled services, serves both the regulars and the enthusiasts.

 

Not sure that independent tour operators and promoters would be too happy if this became the norm! On a similar subject (and probably destined for a different thread!), are ScotRail promoting any 'Border's Specials' this year?

 

subarachnoid haemorrhage in the making then....

 

From a purely selfish point of view, affordable PlanDampf sounds very attractive. However, not just the tour operators but heritage lines might also feel the pinch.

Somehow I doubt if the economics are right at normal fares. I think the "regularly scheduled" model (e.g. West Highland, Scarborough) is the best option for affordable steam.

 

I was thinking of perhaps a regular timetabled steam service over the S&C on a similar model to the Jacobite

 

John the Jacobite runs through mountains and around lochs the S&C has a few hills and a few puddles plus the start of palisade fencing. No comparison John lol





Cumbrian trainspotters with cameras like this

 

Holiday catchment area in Settle etc I dont think so

 

I would agree. And keeping it separate from normal services would take away any potential impact on normal travellers.

 

I think your market would be day trippers from West Yorkshire and Lancashire.

 

You must have seen the number people in the Dales in summer then add on Morecombe and possibly the Fylde coast.

 

So with the inevitable pre booked seats, what really is the difference between say the Fellsman, CMEs etc?