21st Century Steam Ltd Tours (Tornado Rail Tours)

Global domination remains on track then

 

I struggle to see how this can be viewed sadly as per the face reaction. SRPS have done a brilliant thing and looked for an operator to secure their future. It opens up new possibilities and exciting trips.

 

All the eggs are slowly moving to one basket. In my world, from 41 years in Procurement, monopolies are bad news.

 

Reading that, theres every chance that Tours to Aberdeen will go ahead, but with an A2, rather than a A1,

 

For those that haven’t seen the announcement ….

 

What a sad state of affairs! It’s one thing though to be let down by engineering works or an on the day failure, it’s totally different situation to book on a train that the locomotive owners know has a high probability of not being available.

 

Sadly that’s another door shuts for A1SLT. You can’t blame SRPS for seeking a reliable, long term partner given the amount of revenue they must have lost on A1SLT broken promises. It doesn’t leave them many options going forward and I suspect this will signal the end of their Aberdonians.

 

Suggests to me the best fit baseload work for Tornado now might be the Northern Belle. How useful it would have been this year. But if the Princess gets outshopped before Tornado is ready, what then? Southall perhaps?

 

Sadly I understand WCRC won’t work with them.

 

WCR operated 60163 a number of times before its boiler died. After A1ST was rather shafted by DB pulling out of practically all steam work except British Pullman.

 

Is that new then as the only Tornado mainline trips I have done were WCRC operated before its withdrawal.

 

Yes they did. But I’m reliably told that is no longer the case.

 

Yes it is relatively new.

 

As I said, WCR operated 60163 a number of times, after DB pulled out of “northern steam”. This was before its boiler failed.

 

Sadly for A1SLT I fear that you are right. They have burnt so many bridges over recent years - letting down SRPS, NNR and NVR at the last minute just being the tip of the iceberg - that they will really struggle to

indeed and they (unsuccessfully) tried playing WCRC and DBC off against each other - the result being DBC’s exit.

 

I think the DBC position has far more to do with its financial position and the number of contracts it has lost coupled with subsequent headcount reduction than any major impact from the Tornado situation.

 

….. not forgetting, importantly, Network Rail, with repeated cancellations of the ETMRS testing slots. They are now rapidly approaching the next booked slot on the Cambrian, so fingers crossed, as it’s probably not a good idea for mainline operators to irritate NR.