Cathedrals Express 15th October 70000 to Stratford on Avon

Precisely, did they over-commit themselves?

Cancelling tours at short notice does have a negative impact on customer confidence, and as 5944 has pointed out can leave customers out of pocket. TBF is so correct in this area!

 

I agree bearing in mind after the Vintage trains tour there can't be many crews available in the Birmingham area.

Mike M. ( 70c )

 

15th Oct was looking like the busiest steam day of the year so far: 70000 to Stratford, 70013+34067 to Swanage, 5043 to Bristol, 6201 to Carlisle and 44932 to Stanhope etc. All were booked to be operated by West Coast, AFAIK. I hadn't twigged that the Scottish charter was the same weekend. Given associated light engine and/or ECS movements, that's a lot of crews. What other, non-steam commitments did WCRC have over the same period, I wonder? I don't suppose it left them with much slack to cover illness or the like.

Looking at the rest of the 2011 program in UKsteam.info, the largest number of WCRC-crewed tours in one day is three.

 

Well they shouldn't have committed to doing 5 tours in one day if they haven't got the staff to do it. To pull out at the last minute like this is completely unacceptable. I wouldn't be surprised if after this and the Tornado fiasco Steam Dreams hand all their work next year to DBS. On the other hand I seem to recall that some years ago they moved away from DBS (or EWS as they were then) had let them down several times due to crew shortages etc.... so it seems they just can't win.

 

Yes but its still too ambitious running that many trips in a weekend.

 

And it still means that people were both left disappointed and out of pocket.