4936 Kinlet Hall's 80th Birthday Special

Does anyone know why the original circular tour via Oxford & Gloucester, on 27th June, was cancelled?

I presume it wasn't a problem with the engine as it's now going to Lincoln in July?

 

At a guess the same gauging problem in the Worcester area that caused a rejig of the 5029/5043 tour ?.

 

I was expecting it to be the dreaded 'Gauging' disease, but wasn't the gauging problem for 5029/5043 between Hereford & Worcester?

Their revised route in May, between Gloucester - Worcester - Kidderminster - etc., is the same as 4936 would have used.

 

IIRC the problem is Ashchurch station?

 

The cancellation of this trip has nothing to do with guaging. According to the letter received from Vintage Trains it was due to the low level of early bookings. It was claimed the booking levels were lagging behind those of other trains at this stage which I found extraordinary given the significance of the tour. Personally I wasn't convinced as to cancel a train for low bookings 3 months before it was due to run is premature to say the least. I see 4936 is now going to Lincoln on 18 July instead and those booked on the 80th Anniversary Special were offered seats on this Lincoln train instead. The route to Lincoln is no comparison to a run over Sapperton so I cancelled my booking.

 

Thanks 6:05, I'm sorry to hear this.
I had been considering this one, but I have to agree with you that Lincoln with a Hall is not as attractive as Sapperton & the rest of a genuine GWR route - so I won't bother.

 

This trip was being promoted by Kinlet Hall's owners, not Vintage Trains. Bookings were low and based on past experience it was considered unlikely that future bookings would result in the train loading being sufficient for the trip to break even. After much careful thought it was decided to cancel the trip before too much money had been spent. Every £ lost would be one less going towards a 10-year overhaul.
It was hoped that the run would appeal to the enthusiast market as much as the "day out behind steam" passenger. Sadly this has proved not to be so. It is apparent that at the moment that the non-enthusiast market wants a 'destination', not just a day out behind steam and many enthusiasts only want a ride out behind a 'new' loco or over a rare or unusual route. This is being shown to be correct by the level of bookings for the Lincoln trip.
All the Kinlet Hall team are disappointed that we cannot celebrate her 80th birthday with a run over GWR metals and by paying homage to her birthplace. Perhaps we can try again when she is 90!

Chris

 

hello ALL

just to let you all now that 4936 Is now commencing a (6 month'ish ) overhaul....after that she will doing some runing in at the Great Central railway in June or July 2010? and after that it may be on a The Shakespeare Express -Summer 2010 ?
I ham helping out on overhaul I will keeping u up to date on the overhaul.

 

Thanks Greyhound
Good luck with the overhaul

 

Can I suggest that any future updates on the loco go in the Loco Information section?

 

loco information section?
dont work any more. Have a look ok

 

Just tried it, you can view previous posts, but cannot start a new thread. You get this,

"You do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

1. Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
2. If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation." Any ideas mods or Admin please?