The Wandering 1500 Tour

I know it's not what was originally advertised, but it will be a fun day out any way, never been to the NNR before, pity it's not the B1, a pannier in Norfolk never really did it for me anyway, but I like riding behind 70013 regardless of line so my bum will still be on the seat on saturday and i wont be complaining.

Well it's not a very long train 8 + Support Coach.. and there's some standard class both ends... (I got coach A).
So there could be some pretty good acceleration from 70013.
Ticket says it's diesel from Norwich to NNR and return.

Just a note the train DOES NOT RETURN to Kings Cross.. it runs to Stratford and then terminates at Highbury and Islington 22.50 on the return

Train formation
A Standard Class
B Standard Class/Buffet Car
C First Class
D Premier Class
E Premier Class
F First Class
G Standard Class
H Standard Class

Just a thought re Nov9th (I am on that too) clouds do have silver linings.... whilst it's not steam from Cannon St, it is still Steam from Victoria.. both ends.. which means a nice banking manouvre from the station up the hill.

 

Can we move the general complaints to the general railtours thread, please, and keep this one for the Wandering 1500 tour? The debate is important, so I think it's best to keep all the relevant comments together, not scatter them across the forum.

 

Not another Tornado! Have they something against LNER design loco's? New or otherwise.

 

9 + Support as there has to be a kitchen car. 10 was the load from Liverpool Street.
I'm astonished you have no issues with changes like this to a tour.
Try to get to and from it from the Bristol area now and they won't make a refund or a transfer unless they've had a change of heart.
On an operational point, does anyone know if the diesel will stay attached and assist 70013 all day and totally kill the tour off?? I can't find out.

 

If you were getting on at Bristol it doesnt matter which London station you would board from.. as you would have to travel the evening before, or by Car..
I am based in London so it's not a big effect to me..(which is why I book London based tours).
At the end of the day it's a steam hauled trip to the NNR..thats what I wanted thats what I am getting.
Dont forget you only get diesel one way on the leg to the NNR.. it was always by bus the other for us on board, so losing a non-native pannier and getting a 47 is largely irrelevent for the paying public, but the non paying photographers miss out.

Anglia has a bunch of 47s based at Norwich (not sure who they rent them from), which have been used in the past (including all the way back to London when 34067 failed at Norwich once), so I'd expect that again this time. NNR probably would benefit from a mainline approved diesel onsite..

 

Why would WCRC want to hire a DRS Spoon from Norwich when they have a fleet of their own at Southall/Carnforth one of which will be required for the ECS into whichever terminus station the tour departs ?

 

57601 mentioned in post #27.

 

With the itinerary, timings and loco's all over the place, perhaps to describe this tour as 'Wandering' was somewhat fateful. Most of the passengers will be wandering what is going on as well. Very confusing for all involved, anyway I have written this year off and will look afresh for some trips in the spring.

 

Having looked at the comments about this and other tours I do wonder if organisers of tours like RTC do any research when planning tours or if they just think that would be nice lets run a steam train that way!
The website has finally been updated - but only a simple comment in bold.

I feel sorry for thise who have paid £200 for Premier Class and will only get half of what was originally advertised!

 

WCRC Operations told us on the excellent Duchy on Sunday that 9466 has been out of ticket for three months. Seems the requested extension for the boiler was turned down - possibly before the train was announced. The 61306 issue sounded more personal which is a shame as we need all the locomotives we can get.
Seriously wondering how much research was done before advertising this tours. Misleading advertising does the movement no good and there's no doubt the 61306 and 9466 situations were known weeks ago yet the website wasn't updated nor were passengers told when they booked as recently as a fortnight ago. I spoke to a number of them on Sunday and they weren't best pleased . Lots of history like this with RTC. I certainly won't be booking one-offs with them again.

 

I think GricerDon is thinking of 61264, where there was a disagreement between WCRC and the owners some years ago.

 

There were rumours of a disagreement see latest issue of Steam Railway - page 21. They spoke to Neil Boden and he advised "The loco is stopped for some unexpected repairs".

 

Paul, we've all been round the block a few times and when I saw that piece my 'Loco will not be available' warning lit up.

 

I hope everything goes really well on the day as 70013 has itself been a bit fragile of late.

At least the diesel bit should be noisy for those who like boxes as well as kettles as a driver friend reminded me that Class 47/57s are unable to run to Cromer due to weight restrictions. A Class 37 is the biggest box with clearance.

 

Ah..Its the magical mystery tour on the return..
Realtime trains now shows a route back to Kings Cross...
and an ECS from Highbury, with stops at Willesden Junction.

But nothing to Highbury to form the ecs, and nothing from KX to Southall..

looking at my connections home it's a zero sum gain... both on the Victoria line get to me Victoria for the same train home.

Also RTT shows turning the stock as well as the engine at Norwich... there's a 5Zxx and a 0Zxx from the station... the 5Z does the triangle... Coach A might not be a bad place to be (assuming its at the front).