Tornado Railtour Programme 2021

Please don’t take my word for it, contact A1 Trust for confirmation.

UPDATE : Can’t find this info now, seems more likely Carnforth

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Just received a text from the Railway Touring Company to advise cancellation of The Easterling scheduled for 2nd October. Gauging issues on the East Suffolk Line cited as the prime cause, and also a reference to potential (but possibly surmountable) pathing issues on this route. No alternative locomotive available.

Massive, massive disappointment which I guess will be shared with all intending passengers.

 

Too true, and some. There are more and more issues with the 'one-offs'. Reckon David Ward will be grinning as the 'core routes' syndrome is fast approaching....

 

Yes disappointing, and a bit baffling as I thought Tornado was built to be gauge friendly?

Have done the East Suffolk with Tangmere and Oliver Cromwell, anything bigger been down/up there?

 

Thursday and Saturday as I understand it are DB jobs, using the SRPS coaching stock.

 

Pleasant surprise if true. So I assume Tornado's move south from Scotland will be engine and ECS rather than just engine and support coach? Will it be towed by a diesel south from Scotland?

 

Although still says provisional, what appear to be more exact times have appeared on A1 site and on their Facebook but can’t find anything on RTT yet. I’m on it.

 

In addition to that, there are diversions from the East Coast main line using Carlisle - platform space could be an issue.

 

Is P1 still out of use at Carlisle? RTT seems to show mainly freight using the line still.

 

Just dropped into my mailbox.

Dear Passenger,

We are extremely sorry to advise ‘The Caledonian’ scheduled for Saturday 18th September 2021 is cancelled.

Despite significant efforts by all parties, it has not been possible to identify a workable timetable for the train to Edinburgh and a forecast arrival time of 15:24hrs would be far too late to enjoy the sights and get back at a reasonable time. The primary reason for this is the sheer number of high speed electric trains north of Carlisle, with this exacerbated on this weekend with diversions from the East Coast route. These later trains have taken the planned pathways needed for Tornado and the changes to the timetable post Covid have further reduced flexibility.

Whilst we can only apologise for the cancellation, we are very disappointed to be advising you so late on. We normally get final timings around 2-3 weeks before the train runs. We are investigating with Network Rail as to why they did not advise us of this problem until the last 24 hours as this is clearly unacceptable.

We are placing a 25% voucher for use off a future train on our system for you use. This can be used on any train (excluding the Yorkshire Pullman) up until 30/6/2023. We know it will not make up for the disappointment of the cancellation, but this is by way of a small apology for the change of plans. We will also refund all monies within the next week or so to lead passengers. You do not have to do anything, all refunds will be processed automatically. Should we need any further details, we will be in touch with you.

Once again, please accept our apologies for this news.

Yours faithfully

Graeme Bunker-James


Lauren George

Tornado Railtours Booking Office Manager

Darlington Locomotive Works | Hopetown Lane | Darlington | Co.Durham | DL3 6RQ

01325 488215

 

Gutted - how do I explain this to my 10 year old son that his Christmas present has been cancelled...

 

That is another blow, two in as many days, I think Peter Hendy needs to have yet another word or three with the N.R. planners, especially if the East coast work has been planned into the schedule, totally out of order to leave it until the last 24 hours, I have been lucky on this occasion, I was well out of pocket when the SRPS tour to Inverness was cancelled, which was also late IMO, only slightly out of pocket when the Easterling was cancelled, it wouldn't feel so bad if the money was to Tornado, the operator or tour company because they have been hurt as well..

 

Maybe could a future tour up the caledonian route be pathed up there north of carlisle next year? and it's only double track to Edinburgh that way isent it the A1ST took a big gamble trying to path tornado up and down Shap and carstairs and obviously N.R. couldent find a suitable timed path for the Caledonian tour to slot into the busy service train timetable to Edinburgh, but the full refund and 25% off any future tour with the A1 steam loco trust is very generous to all folk who booked on the tour I'm just glad the Jorvik flyer from Liverpool is still running, and any other steam fans who are booked on this tour. And furthermore does it still look like the Ribblehead rambler 30 september can still be run from Hull to Carlisle ret pathing into leeds via the selby micklefield line? we will have to wait up if N.R. can get a path for the tour. But I do feel sorry for the folk in the west mids who have missed out this time on what could have been a fantastic day out on Tornado.
Davo 56F

 

Very disappointing, myself and my dad were looking forward to this. Agree with the poster above that Network Rail planners seriously need questioning as to why this wasn't obvious to them until 72 hours prior to the train running - the email above suggests that Tornado team are also seeking an explanation.
This is a return to the bad old days of a few years ago I'm afraid.
Having been rearranged several times it would seem this trip was just doomed from the start.

 

Forgive my lack of knowledge, but what engineering works are hindering here? Carstairs remodeling?

 

Each year, there is typically several weekends in the autumn where the East Coast Mainline is closed between Newcastle and Edinburgh.

This results in a lot of diversionary traffic via the Tyne Valley and over Beattock, limiting the amount of free paths over the WCML.

 

Our booking had been fraught since the first class open became unavailable but an enormous amount of work from Lauren got it sorted at the 11th hour. All now to no avail. I managed to catch RTC before they closed and booked onto the CCE. Not the same but we’re already up here for the Jorvik with hotels booked.