'Plandampf UK'

Think that'd be better with diesels myself Champion through the tunnel? Yes please!

 

The major thing in the UK with a plandampf is costs.

Expect something in the region of 15k per set of coaches/access and maybe 10k per engine/facilities.

If the journeys were short enough to allow two round trips per day with the stock and say 1.5 locos per train (allowing for double heading, engine change, spare loco etc) then your looking at the approx cost of running a railtour.. multiplied by number of extra trains..

So 7 sets of stock with 12 locomotives over a 3 day weekend.. your heading to the cool 250k... in costs quite fast.. without LE moves, coal, water, network planning, marketing etc etc..

How many "all day" seats can you sell and at what price ?

300 seats * 7 trains = 2100 tickets p/day * 3 days = 6300 seats,

If we assume 500K in total costs...
thats closer to 250 pounds for a 3 day ticket ?

how many people have half a million ready to fund it and hope the maths makes money ?

 

Yes i think we all know that anything beyond a Couple of days jaunts using a nearby Heritage Railway as a base is Steam Never-neverland, but its been great fun to share and compare our little daydreams and who knows e.g that Anglesey-Llandudno scenario had a lot of appeal...

 

One line I don't think has been mentioned is Norwich to Ely. Turning facilities at each end and not an overly long run so a number of return trips could be done each day.

 

On the down side, the line is dull as anything! Even behind something like cromwell I think there's only so many times I could watch that forest go past! :lol:

 

A line is never dull if the train has a steam loco thrashing away up front.

 

Aye that's true, but isn't the limit along most of it 45-50ish? And on a flat line...

 

Norwich to Ely is not flat east of Brandon. The ruling grade is 1 in 101 westbound through Hethersett with other stretches of 1 in 250 and steeper. The speed limit is over 50 too. A brief check of timetables shows Ely - Norwich times of 60 mph start to stop, including the Thetford stop.

 

Interesting, I must've just had a couple of particularly bad runs on it on tours then, combined with the naturally dull experience of watching passing trees from a turbostar for miles on end!

 

I think a plandampf combined with a preserved railway steam gala would be the best (read cheapest/realistic) option..

Severn Valley / Tyseley come to mind.

If there were several inbound railtours from several remote cities (Say Manchester, Bristol, London, Nottingham), plus the Shakespeare express extended to Bewdley
Then use Tyseley's panniers to connect Kidderminster / Tyseley using the stock from the inbound railtours as a shuttle (so less issue stabling stock)

And have a joint gala at SVR and Tyseley...

This would be a much better proposition, as many would travel to the gala by rail, and the costs of connecting SVR and Tyseley using stock from the railtours is minimal
there much less cost risk.
In addition to this the costs of the gala will be much lower as several locomotives will be arriving by railtour rather than Light Engine.
Finally the increased number of visitors could be safely handled as the event covers a much larger area.

 

That sounds like a good idea, similar to the diesel gala at Oakhampton a few years back featuring a beerex run on the main line to Paignton, then a run up to Kingswear. How about Oxenhope to Rawtenstall?

 

Especially when the Skipton-Colne link is restored

 

I would love to see the GW engines takeover the NW line for a day but the service is basically every 45 mins even on a Sunday. I can't see this happening you would need about 8 engines. The Chiltern main line trains also intesect the Tys- Kiddeminster route so again I think its unlikely.

Closest one is likely to get is a reduced Sunday NW line service with perhaps 3 rakes of coaches and services every half an hour- if the run around facilities at Birmingham (Moor St/Snow Hill) allow.

Combining this with a gala day would be great but you have to remember the support crews the same guys who would be otherwise manning Tyseley yard on a gala day- Its hard to see it happening realistically but would be great to see.

It would be nice to see some sprints from Tyseley open days to Moor St and back when it reopens- I'm not sure the traverser is being put back into operation or not.

 

One of the best galas I did at the SVR was the 2007 autumn gala when the line north of Bewdley was shut and the gala technically spilled onto the mainline with the Tyseley Halls running to Snow Hill from Bewdley. We were lucky to catch the only double headed run and the noise and acceleration up Old hill bank and between The hawthorns and Snow Hill will remain with me for a long time. Also a run from Bewdley up to the tunnel behind Green Arrow as it attempted to clear the line for the next Hall mainline special was pretty awesome too, a certain NRM minder was on the regulator! He could definitely make that much missed machine talk. A few linesiders would have got some excellent video that day... At the time many people said it would be good to repeat but I think it was only viable due to some generous fee waiving by Tyesley and Network Rail.

 

How about Manchester Picadilly to Chester on the Mid Cheshire route?
Delamere is a great setting for steam.
At present using dreadful stock, the service is scheduled at around an hour and a half.