Winchester & Salisbury Christmas Markets with 60009, RTC, 29/11/18

Is this trip still running next week? It has been removed from the RTC website. Could be sold out I guess.

 

Was cancelled last week. Lack of interest.

Andrew

 

Thanks for that. Oh well. I was going to go out and see 60009 on this trip as I have some time off next week.

 

I just wonder whether there are too many of these Christmas Market / Carol Concert type trips at this time of year with both SD and RTC trying to run them. They don't seem to be that popular among the hard core enthusiasts these days and I suspect the "normals" probably don't do more than one each Christmas. Maybe Salisbury is still suffering as a destination following the Novichok incident?

Personally I'm not really keen on these trains as I've done most if not all of them before and the return journey often seems to drag a bit when it's all in the dark. I'm doing the Clan Line trip this weekend instead as it's an interesting route some of which I've never done and takes place mainly in the daylight.

 

I guess the other issue with this particular train is that it is a very short journey if you only go to Winchester, which then gives you (too?) many hours there at this time of year. Salisbury as mentioned has other issues still I suspect. Not sure what the on train dining options would be with such a short journey time, but suspect dining from Woking may not have been an option.
A very recent cancellation I guess as still shown in RTT today.

 

In addtion to the above suspect also the possbililty of a diesel on the back also puts enthusiasts off nowadays. Salisbury could be offered as an option on the Sherborne trip ( SD usually advertise this as an option), and would not give you too many hours there.

There are 3 trips to Sherborne this year - 2 from London ( RTC & UKR) and 1 from Alresford ( SD) !

 

Cancellation might be a blessing for No.9's support crew! She has been rather busy of late!