Brighton Belle update

You'd never get a parking space..... packed solid in good weather these days....

 

I thought Starmer went to Madiera?

 

It's great to hear some positive news for once. This is from the Trustees of the 5 BEL trust. <BJ>

 

Top feature on this week's Green Signals:

 

Another Brighton Belle driving car - 93 - has also been restored and named Celia, this time for Belmond as a private hire vehicle which can run with the British Pullman. More weight for Clan Line?

https://flic.kr/p/2s8YA9e

https://flic.kr/p/2s8VZne

(thanks to Rich09004 for these)

 

Nice job, although not too sure about the oval luggage windows/ headcode panel. I'd be interested to see how they've configured the interior layout.

 

Perhaps they could use it as a DVT with Clan Line pushing from the back…?

Simon

 

See https://www.belmond.com/trains/europe/uk/belmond-british-pullman/celia for the official blurb. And, picking a trip at random, it's a mere £17,500 for the 8th July Oxford trip for exclusive use for up to 12 people.

 

Gordon Bennett!!
I guess that OTT is the order of the day.

 

That will keep the riff-raff at bay.
They needn't have bothered, I wasn't going to ride on it anyway.
Pat

 

So about £1500 per person in round figures, for which you get a day out, meal etc.

I suspect to the typical railway enthusiast it sound like a lot of money. But for the corporate day out for city types - probably in the right ball park. A quick google suggests that a day's pheasant shooting is somewhere in the £1,000 - £3,000 per day range depending on estate (*), and there are plenty of shooting estates around the country. If you are pitching it in the "corporate entertainment" space at well-heeled city types (rather than at "scruffy train enthusiasts with their ABCs and Tupperware box of sandwiches") then I suspect it is at least in the right sort of region.

(*) That feels about right. My brother used to be a gamekeeper, and I recall he reckoned the cost per bird was about £40. Based on a 200 bird day for 8 guns, that is £1000 each - and that was twenty years ago on a small Wiltshire shoot; it would likely be double that now.

Tom

 

That was my reaction - both far more than I'd contemplate paying, and actually not bad value compared to the "ordinary" offering.

 

I found a photo of him @Jamessquared

 

It seems that Celia was out with the Pullman rake earlier today on the rear of the train.

 

But does anyone know what they're actually getting for that exorbitant fee? If I were seriously looking at this for a private booking, I'd want rather more to go on than extravagant words, and a couple of rather vague watercolour sketches. Does the interior even exist?

 

I suspect the way you sell that product isn't someone clicking on "add to basket" on Temu ...

Tom

 

https://www.belmond.com/trains/europe/uk/belmond-british-pullman/celia

£1400 per passenger seems a lot, but a single seat can cost £855 on some of the trips.

 

I imagine Belmond were getting enough requests for media events and private bookings that this was worth considering, it certainly seems more attractive and practical for that than just block booking one of the existing Pullmans.

Celia only left Eastleigh a few days ago, I wouldn't be surprised if the interior is still receiving the finishing touches. I'm sure Belmond have a big media event booked in the coming weeks to show off the completed vehicle in the media, presumably with Baz Luhrmann in attendance?