Bittern to Lincoln 5/9/13

So true. It has not been a good year, on reflection though we have had a few good years, whether it be anniversary years or just the "weather" playing ball we are bound to have a bad'un at some point. Roll on next year and let's hope the tours in autumn run to plan.

Chin up.... We still have steam on the mainline!

 

Just back from this one,and yes it really was a farce & just about everything you don't want on a railtour. The timings were bizarre, joining and leaving at Shalford that was 17 hours on the train, with 2h 50m in Lincoln! Endless faffing around at Wembley freight terminal(whose idea was that?) but no matter how long we hung around in random loops ect. we were still early! And then of course best of all, the 67 in front of Tornado all day completely ruining the entire trip(for me anyway). Impressive also of DBS having had 5 months to plan the trip deciding 72hrs before it that they don't have a driver who knows the road via Epsom.If this is the future of steam railtours then I really do despair.

 

Farce is a pretty accurate word to use to describe this trip. Terrible timings which required us to sit in loops and sidings for ages.
Also pretty pointless putting 60163 on the train just to whistle at observers through a few stations. They could have just put 4468 on the front and saved some coal and water bills. I guess Tornado was put in the formation so the disgruntled passengers (there were many yesterday) can't get any money back or discounts due to the train being diesel hauled. On the plus side at least the A1 Trust will have got some funds from the well organized sales team doing their rounds on the train.
The carriage we were in (H) was faulty as the lights kept going off and we spent most of the trip in the dark in more ways than one as the tanoy system also packed up during the trip so we had no idea of what was being said in the rest of the train. When this issue was raised with a SD steward nothing was done about passing the announcements on to us. So a warning to anyone on the trips to Cardiff and the Bluebell with tickets for coach H, take some lights with you!
The two ladies sitting with us were taking their first trip with SD. They told us last night it was also their last. They couldn't believe the price of some of the food and drinks. They were also very disappointed to find that the train was diesel hauled.
After yesterday My Father and I have decided that SD have lost our custom for next year.

 

Well said!
They used to be ok, They started to go downhill when they changed from WCRC to DBS.
Now their new pricing structure, seems they don't want gricer riff-raff on their trains with their linen table cloths & boneware china. With dressed up waiters.
They can't even provide a set of stock for some of their trains.

 

Nothing wrong with going for the higher mark-up customer, I'd be happy to pay for top notch service, like the VSOE for example. However, Steam Dreams with DBS are not even on the same planet, the food is not good enough, the service is not good enough, the rolling stock is scruffy and faulty, and they have singularly failed to deliver as advertised more than any other supplier this year. Higher paying customers wont accept it.

 

My photos from 5th September.




Top 2 taken at Spalding.




Bottom 2 taken at Peterborough.