On train catering, Should Steam railways be doing it more ?

Had a keyholder call out on New Years Day and the little prick never turned up again. Could have choked him and might still.

Worst I ever had was 9am to 11pm. However the split shift (effectively an AFD with 2 hours missing in the middle) that I did during a muggy Edinburgh summer back in 2017 where I took a shower in Waverley station to feel some semblance of normalcy is a close second.

 

Been there and very nearly had my hands on their throat. I was just about to settle down for a day of doing bugger all and the phone rings.

My worst ever AFD was when Brindley place did Dragon boat racing. 9am start and a 2am finish with a 1 hr break. I was the only one of 15 staff doing that shift. Not surprisingly I told my boss where she could stick her job and walked straight into another job with one of the best bosses Ive ever worked for. Probably one of my worst days of management was a Carling cup (shows how long ago it was) between BCFC and WWFC in a midweek replay.

Some of the staff I work alongside think that having 10 people waiting to be served is a busy period. They have never had the horror of a city centre pub, 60ft long bar, 10 people deep for 12 hours.
Previous staff, made redundant during Covid, had the attitude "Im paid until 10pm, after that I don't work". Numerous times I witness cleaning not being done and dirty plates/ glasses being left for the morning because they couldnt be bothered to stay that extra 20 minutes, which since they were hourly paid, they would have been paid for and clean up. 20 minutes at the end of the night, saves 40 minutes in the morning.

 

A couple of places have been cagey about paying after a certain time so there was an element of rushing to get out and made a point of telling people we wanted out because we weren't getting paid. If I got paid that extra half hour to work, I'd be a bit miffed at having to stick around but the extra money (tantamount to a pint) would have been nice.

I'd have walked off the job too. Balls to that. Scottish home rugby matches always were dreadful. You'd have the Jeans and Sheux brigade banging on the door and trying to get in before the bar was actually open. I have a mental list of who were the worst fans in the Six Nations.

 

Am I the only one left wondering what relevance these reminiscences have to whether or not railways should be doing on-train dining?

 

Basically after 3 hours if food hasn’t been refrigerated it must be thrown, we had to chuck a load away after my father in laws wake last Thursday because of this.

 

Travelled on the Strathspey's 'light lunch' service on the 30th October, which was their last service of the season. It was very pleasant, soup was tasty and a decent sandwich. It wasn't posh or Michelin starred, but the price reflected that. Chatting to the pleasant young man who served us, he said service was around 40 people, spread across light lunches, first class and also the obbo car. This was around 50% of capacity which was a quiet day - they have regularly been around the 80 odd mark.
What does this mean for the railway? Well on the 7 coach train seats were being sold at least 4 different price points depending on the upsell. From observation, the standard, non-catering, seats were the quietest. This is repeated for 3pm service which sells afternoon tea. The staff I spoke with report a good year despite challenging circumstances.
The trip as usual was fantastic. Beautiful scenery, a Black 5 being worked hard (this is no gentle stroll, despite the service of soup!). Enjoying a nice single malt on the return whilst additionally drinking in views of the Cairngorms and River Spey - there are worse ways to spend a Sunday!

 

Deleted, Duplicate Post

 

Attitude of staff is the relevance. If railways want to do more. Do the staff have the right attitude to do more.

 

Our RMBs have had the fridges removed, apart from one which is disconnected. Im not certain but the originals have asbestos lining. We have enough trouble with train crew and buffet stewards remembering to turn the lights off. One of the reasons we have taken is that we have catering outlets, small or large at every station. Some railways only have one at a "main station".

The kitchen car, 1667, for the limited has just had a refurb and we are looking into fitting a fridge in the future. 1682 has a fridge, Im not sure if it used. 1682 is as original as it can be.

Fitting of fridges will depend on our catering departments needs. If they can manage without then there is no point in the expenditure. 7960 has a gas fridge, which has been left on previously.

 

Funny you should say that, I had a newbie on trial last night, her attitude was spot on from the first minute to the last, there’s a few little bits to work on but she’s someone I have high hopes for.

 

Some people are people people, others are people haters, you cannot change people, however many people try to do so.

 

how did we manage in the 50s/60s in homes without electricity?.there were still many and i lived in one!! The new generations are obsessed with" best before "dates, I had some grated parmesan on my spaghetti last night at least 18months out of date and I am here to talk about it! ....or is it my ghost!!!

 

Its nothing to do with best before dates. FSA states food must be thrown away or returned to the fridge if it has been out if a chilled environment after 4 hours.

 

Perhaps on commercial premises. In our house it gets thrown out when it gets mouldy, not before.

 

I class myself as a people person, unfortunately working in a small craft brewery the real ale people lampooned in Viz are how do I put this… They’re scarily close to home.

 

I really don’t fancy having to have a day in court because we don’t confirm to food regs at work, at home I’m rather happy to eat stuff a little out of date.
If your be happy to pay the fine for us to sell out of date stock I’d appreciate your address please, just so I can tell the FSA to pay a visit to.
I don’t think you realise how strict the the food standards are in the UK, myself and my colleagues certainly dont want to be responsible for anyone having to take an unwanted trip to hospital.

 

Worth making the point that the food regs were tightened up a number of years ago basically because of the poor standards in many outlets that led to people becoming ill and in some cases dying

 

Merely to say that IOWSR on train catering is available in the form of quite elaborate luncheon baskets marketed as the ''first class experience''. A bottle of Prosecco is included.
No heavy catering vehicles of course.

 

October last year, Natasha's law came into effect.
The regulations/ laws are there for commercial premises. If you decide to sell a product you have produced, at home. You have to provide a list of ingredients and a "use by" date. Not a best before.

 

And that deals not just with how old food is, but also things like allergens. At church, we have a teenager who is severely peanut allergic* - it is surprising how far reaching the duty of care is to ensure that he, and others that we might not know about, aren't made seriously ill by what we provide.

* An aside. I got seriously told off for having peanut M&Ms in the car, because we sometimes give him a lift. They are fully coated, and I've never seen other than as whole sweets - yet are themselves a risk to him if just present in the environment.