The Royal Duchy 1st May

Sounds good in theory,and no doubt it would be a good tour,but in effect Exeter-Par-Exeter for 98 quid!!! No thank you.....

http://pathfindertours.co.uk/Steam.htm#Tour010510RD


Seriously what has happened to the pricing of Pathfinder's steam tours?

Compare that with 'The Lincolnshrie Express' by RTC for example,£79 and a hell of a lot more mileage and a lot of it rare too!

Or even better for a good example,and i know its only steam one way but RTC's Royal Duchy,£88,still a lot but you get more IMHO steam into PZ and then the Western back. Not to mention 2 locos.


Shall have to wait for the Cornish Riviera unfortunately.

Pity as i would of liked to of been on 6024 over the banks alone again.

 

How many steam miles are we talking?

Apparently the King is only allowed 9 up the banks so is that why the price is high?

 

The total steam mileage is 173.5 miles.

 

I don't buy that, load restrictions over the Devon Speed Bumps have always been there, it has always been slightly more expensive yes but not to that extent.

To give a comparison i had 5029 + 5051 on a Pathfinder run in 2006 i think Taunton - Penzance which was cheaper despite being double headed.

 

Could it be a case of companies taking advantage of the current economic climate and trying to milk every pound they can out of the 'Staycationers'?
Not that I condone it, after all if you offer a reasonable priced alternative to these people then hopefully they will keep coming back.

 

I have to admit that although I have booked on this trip the Pathfinder and the related Torbay Express price rises are rather unwelcome. At least child fares are still reasonable on the Pathfinder trips, unlike the TE.

If you compare RTC repeat itinerary like the Scarborough Flyer, it’s £57 return or £168 for a family. TE is £75 (£65 on the first three trains wow!) or £280 (£240) for a family. That is a huge difference. Somebody is trying to make a lot of money but I hope they don’t kill the goose in the process.

 

maybe its the charging difference between DB/Riviera and WCRC as TOCs?

 

The thing to do is travel on the TE the first three weeks then give it a miss, an extra £10 is a big jump, Alberta 45562 mentioned the charging difference beween DB/Riveria/WCR TOC all the TE's are DB so that does'nt seem feasible, Steam Dreams seem to be the best price railtour operator, in May there is a trip from Kings X to York and back all with steam for £85 compare that with Pathfinder's steam trips!!

 

A Repeat Intinery will always be cheaper over the season than a one off as all the arrangements can be used on subsequent trips instead of new one's having to be made each time, the trip i quoted was one of the last EWS trips before this No Vac Braking nonsense came in, assuming that DB rates are the root cause of the increase (assuming remember) then that's a jump of around 30% or so in 4 years, ive no idea what WCRC would of quoted for this job, but operators using them certainly have not seen a jump of 30% in the same time.

 

Exactlly Maureen,Steam Dreams use WCRC...

 

Does beg the question though Martin, if they can't afford to have prices any cheaper due to operating costs, how are other operators seemingly able to do it ?, seems somewhere along the line someone is paying more where another operator is not.

 

UKRailtours are running Clan Line to York from KX and back for £79 and they use DB

 

but use db for tornado trip's.

 

Another thing about this tour is that with it leaving Basingstoke at 5:30 am and not returning to 23:30 it makes it a seriously long day if you have even an hours travel from home each way on top. The Other Royal Dutchy trip (RTC in April) has a potentially long day as well, Both of these trips could quite possibly run well past midnight with a few minor hold-ups.

I love my rail tours but some trips can be just a bit too far for one day even for the most dedicated. Perhaps I am getting old ? ;-)

 

I suspect that the price is to do with load restriction and that the same overall cost has to be divided between fewer passengers.

 

I am not suprised the price have gone up, since Torbay Express Limited paid £ 25,000.00 to the liquidators of Past Time, to take on all Customers bookings( This reduced the amount owed to Past Time customers by £ 104,816.26). I am suprised by how much they have risen and also hope they don't kill the goose in the process.