RTC 2014

One assumes the tour providers do some sort of analysis on things like repeat custom and satisfaction ratings. It is true that the prevailing culture is not to formally complain about poor products. It would be interesting to know how many of those using this forum to air gripes had actually tried to resolve their dissatisfaction with the business first and beyond as necessary. If customer demand remains strong businesses tend to assume they are getting it right, in the short term.

 

Maybe some kind of loyalty scheme--train miles or whatever-- would not be a bad idea. I realise RTC is a small company but any decent booking system ought to be able to manage that.

 

Steam Dreams have a sort of loyalty scheme where regular passengers were invited to join and get a discount off each trip. Past- Time Rail used to have a similar scheme as well.

 

Danger of that is it would get people "overthinking" the risks, and not booking at all, thus having a potentially devastating effect on tour promoter income. If we recall Ben Mason's post a while back on another thread, their income and expenditure is somewhat back to front in that they have to bear the costs of putting on a tour before they realise the income / profit from it.

Seems to me it's a no win, but I'd be interested to know the opinion of ordinary day trippers at the conclusion of today's various "steam" tours. Do they feel cheated and ripped off, or have they enjoyed themselves by and large ? If it's the latter I can't see promoters introducing a "health warning" on tour ads such as the one suggested above any time soon.

 

We're in a world where loyalty schemes for frequent travel on service trains is a rarity, so rather suspect this has been dismissed as bad for the bottom line !

 

Yes, so they don't want to do anything that might disrupt that income stream such as advertise a tour and then more or less say it has virtually no chance of running, even if that may be perceived as more honest and upfront.

At the other extreme though, there's the danger that promoters will advertise tempting tours months in advance to help boost that income stream, but before all the necessary "i"s have been dotted, and "t"s crossed with the rail authorities to ensure as far as possible the tour can run as advertised.

To me, this is another reason for VT's success. They do advertise tempting tours a fair few months in advance, but only after they've done all the necessary checks etc to ensure as reasonably possible that it's a runner. They also don't attempt to give provisional departure times which is also very wise in my opinion. With their latest batch of tours for example they have been honest in pointing out that one part of the route is yet to be given final clearance. This policy has paid off to the extent VT have built up a good reputation with passengers and the bookings, when tours are advertised, do seem healthy.

In conclusion then I think it's finding the right balance between putting people off booking by making them think the tour has no chance of running as advertised, and giving fair warning of the chance it might not. Not an easy balance to achieve frankly.

 

The last 2 years has seen tours ratcheted back from one offs down unusual lines / places to one of more mundane same route / same itiniery.. even locos now tend to be put on stock "closer to base" than used to be. This obviously minimises complications, risks and difficulties with planning somewhat and makes it somewhat more reliable. It does however make tours less interesting than they used to be.

A tour promoter isn't really at fault for the fire brigade strike and if Network rail puts a steam ban in place.. again they can't know this in advance.

Its my opinion mainline steam variety peaked in 2008, and plateaued until 2011, but currently looks to be going downwards as steam is more commercialised on the largest locos, from the same base on the same route week in week out.. the days of a 2/4MT on some branch charter of 4-6 coaches seem to be long gone. The pool of locos isn't getting bigger either.

There's always going to be a reason why steam has to be postponed short notice any time of the year, so it's a case of try and shoot for it in ever closing circumstances, or give up now and go home.

 

Yes, there's a lot of truth in what you say, and you can't blame Promoters for taking the safer, possibly rather less interesting route of repeat itinerary tours as it minimises both costs and risk. There also seems to be big support for such operations given the success of the Torbays, Scarboroughs, Weymouths and so on. I seem to remember David Ward banging on back in the early 90s that repeat itinerary was the way forward for steam so perhaps it's just a case of everyone finally catching up ?

I too mourn the loss of those short formation branch tours with locos like 80079, 80080 and 80098. I suppose it's the big locos and the big names that are for many promoters what puts bums on seats. In the case of SD, they are charging higher and higher prices, and seemingly feel they have to offer locomotives that are big, glamourous and powerful to that kind of market. Again though, VT seem to have bucked the trend here. They still offer tours with smaller locos, and haven't forgotten about the enthusiast while still offering some of the trappings of those looking for a more luxurious day out. I realise they have a lot of advantages in the way their operation works, but it seems to me they also do a really good job of recognising their key customers and looking after them.

 

When I was considering booking on the Lowlander, I made a reservation at the Royal Hotel in Crewe, which I have subsequently cancelled. It would have cost me £110 for the two nights.

 

These are the type of tours that appeal to gricers, track bashers etc. and I'm sure there's a market for them. Whether the market is big enough to warrant owners of smaller locos going to the expense of main line certification is another matter of course.

 

If you're talking of replacing service trains then I doubt you would be able to charge more. Also all tickets valid on the service trains would have be valid on the steam shuttle.
Therefore I could buy an £8 rover ticket (with railcard) from Plymouth and travel down to Truro, pick up the steam shuttle and travel all day on it. Great value for me but wouldn't pay the bills.
It's why these events used to happen out of season when there is no Sunday service.

 

Sounds a great idea yes. A kind of "Steam on the Met" style operation, but in Cornwall. Any of the Cornish branches except possibly Newquay which is too long could lend themselves to it I'd have thought.

Didn't the Railmotor have a very successful outing on the Looe Branch a while back ? Suspect one issue for VT would be the cost of getting the panniers down there as would have to be by road presumably. No doubt other logistical issues would also get in the way. Shame really.

 

Good point, it'd need to be a special working on which only special tickets would be valid. With some joined up thinking though the distribution of these could be wider than with a normal railtour.

 

Why by road?, There are logistics problems but diesel hauled in light steam they might make the run without too many stops, especially if run overnight when schedules are slacker.

 

Sorry Alan, but I can't agree with you. You're expecting to tell passengers waiting for the branch line train that they can't get on the next scheduled train unless they pay more than they already have or wait another 30/60 minutes for the next one. TOCs have service obligations and whilst they may not always meet them for operational reasons, to curtail them so a steam hauled train can run I think is fantasy. Don't get me wrong, I would love it to happen but I just can't see it.
Also, it would be interesting to know from the promoters if any profit was made on previous attempts at running these branch line trips.