Catering on Steam Excursions - Likes and Dis-likes.....

For those in Cattle Class I think the catering options at the Buffet can be quite an authentic 1960s experience.

It would be nice if this was upscaled a bit.. even if it was only warm meat and potato pies on offer.

That said ive never refused a bacon butty when they walk through, but bacon and sausage with cheese i'd pay a bit more for...

also (and this is just me).. but those shelves at the back could hold a few unusual whiskys.. whisky and steam is a good mix if there was a few nice selections.

 

Oh your not on your own there...

 

Why has no one advocated the recreation of Travelers Fare?
Am I the only one that yearns for those two slices of white tasteless foam rubber enclosing a slice of plastic masquerading as cheese?
Never mind liveries, if you want to recreate the day's of yore then Travelers Fare is the way to go. :cheer2:

 

Or the British Rail ham sandwich with 1.5 slices of ham made to look like 2

 

And a slice of coffee.....

 

I once received very bad service on a Steam Dreams Canterbury 35005 trip in 2003, I think it was.................
Nothing to do with Steam Dreams I hasten to add, great trip but the steward was SO grumpy and unhelpful when serving me with a cup of tea that I actually complained to the company.......................won't mention the firm by name, but allegedly their food was to gourmet standards!

 

On the return trip back to Swanage in November the ran out of hot water for those of us in 'Cattle Class'. Only drinks left were alcohol and as I was driving home it was a good job I had bought something to drink prior to the return trip!! The food on offer was worse than my memories of BR!! Needless to say I had taken my own so not a problem. But with the price being charged for the tickets they couold have at least had enough hot water and something hot to eat during the jurney back or am I expecting too much. A bacon butty would have been nice. The good thing about the jurney was they made the train up incorrectly and we were in the coach closet to the loco in both directions!

 

Ryanair will gladly reproduce this for you any time

 

On the subject of food this takes me back to a trip a few years ago.

I was living in the US, I needed to go on a business trip to Budapest for 3 weeks which went over a holiday weekend. One weekend I got to drive a 4-8-0 for $20, however the long weekend I planned in advance.. eager to try railways from the east, I got a visa for Russia and Ukraine, I took the 2.5 day train trip from Budapest to Moscow. Amongst othere events on the trip which included being locked up at the Ukraine border for 3 hours and $20, and a tall blonde 20 year old Russian security guard at 2am not to mention some guy selling dodgy magazines who learned I was english and revealed he could sell me various souvenir weapons was the food...or lack of it. The Pectopah had nothing except a warm samovar of dubious water... it was quite cold so some guy ripped up the toilet seats and set a fire in the bowl one night, luckily I took my own toilet roll and decided not to sit on the remains. About 1 day in at each station the locals would come to the train selling home make pierogi, cakes and pastries, cramming the doors at each station, they also had Coke and Fanta in dodgy bottles. I soon learned these were bottles thrown from the train by other passengers, which the locals would collect, fill with a local home brew and re-sell back at the station.. though as they would probably never see their customers again the quality of the homebrew was of little importance... by the time I got to Russia even Dutch food looks like gourmet.

 

On The Dorset Coast Express from Norwich - Poole last May standard class of which i was in was sandwitched between premier and first class with the kitchen/buffet car at the opposite end of the train this ment the people serving those in first class had to walk back a fourth further than was really needed, it also ment that the ladies serving us in cattle class had to have a trolly with a hot water earn at the end of one of the carriages as i think the buffet car was in the wrong place in the train formation, this also ment every time they ran out of water the poor lady had to carry it back to the other end of the train and then once full it was to heavy so she had to drag it through about 4/5 carriages of which she was really struggling with towards the end of the trip, on several occasions dad got up and helped her carry it through the train.
probs somthing that was out of RTC control but i just felt sorry for the two ladies serving us in cattle class.

 

Likes : the food (on the only occasion that I've gone dining).
Dislikes : Dining coaches at the front (when I haven't).

 

I had the pleasure today of Sunday Lunch on 'The Elizabethan' at the GCR. Not Mainline I know but the food and service were excellent.
The menu was: Wild Mushroom Soup.
Roast Beef with Yorkshire pudding.
Roast Potato's.
Cauliflower in a light cheese sauce.
Carrots and Peas.
Steamed fruit pudding and custard. (Spotted Dick to us commoners)
Coffee or Tea.
And a wine and beer menu to large to go into here.
The food was well cooked and presented and the service from the staff was first class.
I didn't hear of any complaints from other passengers, so I take it that they enjoyed it just as much as I did.
So there you have it, traditional English fare well cooked, well presented and served efficiently and with a smile.