The City of York. Wednesday 3rd April.

Can't remember the last time it rained here in the Midlands - plenty of snow, but depth-wise it's only a 10:1 conversion rate to rain.

 

There already is such an agreement(or there certainly has been quite recently). On 2 Steam Dreams trips I have been on,one at Weymouth,and one at Westbury where the steam loco had failed,in both cases passengers were advised to get on the next service train back to London,and charter tickets were accepted by SWT/FGW without any problems. At the time we were told that this was a standard arrangment between all TOC's to assist each other passengers when something untoward happened.

Perhaps someone better informed than me can say why this didnt happen at York?

 

It involves the promoter asking the TOC and the TOC agreeing 'ticket acceptance' in the same way that one TOC will agree to to accept another TOCs tickets during disruption. Depending on the reason, money will change hands or it may be done out of good will.

I don't know if the question was asked on Wednesday, but if it was it may well have been refused as most TPE services are full and standing during the afternoon and evening, being formed of 3 car units.

 

Give over!

 

Just a few points that are worthy of mention:

Network Rail (before anybody had even been asked) were in contact with both Trans Pennine and Northern Rail to have any CT charter passengers carried between York and Manchester (and onwards to destinations across the North West of England), for anybody who was aiming to try and get home sooner. The very limited seating capacity on most service trains, on what are generally very busy and sometimes over-crowded routes across the Pennines (at the tail end of evening rush hour), versus the stress of having less assistance and the need to change trains, sometimes mutiple times, meant that most passengers declined the chance to travel back on normal trains and took the option of 2 hours break in York once it had been determined a replacement engine was a couple of hours away and about to set off. That was the time (after de-training) estimated to get the replacement locomotive to Holgate sidings with plenty of "buffer zone" to ensure nobody arrived back last minute.

The actual arrival times back unfortunately followed some further misfortune when there was a lengthy delay in York signalling centre letting us into the station after the new engine had been attached to the train, followed by a prolonged period before East Coast station staff would allow the train to be dispatched (which I won't go into) and a routing issue between York and Leeds that added somewhat to the delays. All 3 issues costing the train over 1 hour in additional delays and meant that instead of those travelling to stations in the North West encountering delays not much exceeding 1-1 1/2 hours (after removal of water/pathing stops + operating at speeds of up to 30mph faster than the steam traction) they were somewhat worse with a number of effects such as final connections to Arnside, Grange, Ulverston and Barrow being missed. Virgin at Preston and Lancaster I believe managed to assist most of the worst affected passengers at those locations to ensure nobody was stranded overnight.

It is somewhat poor luck that the NRM's attempt to provide help fell through when logistical issues at the museum prevented the use of an ETH vacuum fitted deltic engine that had been offered. It was the same senior NR manager that who had stopped the steam locomotive in running forward whom had been instrumental in trying to get that arranged and having spoken to him at the scene he was pulling out all the stops to try and help in any way possible. Contrary to some armchair rumours that have been spreading - the use of the deltic was most certainly not blocked on the grounds of a 37 already being en route from Carnforth as the class 37 in question did not leave Carnforth until a good 20-25 minutes after the deltic had been deemed impossible to extract in time from the museum due to the number of obstacles and items of stock in its way + the number of people it would require to move them (after the museum had closed for the evening and staff gone home I must add).

Letters were dispatched to tour passengers on Thursday and we will be aiming to resolve any issues that arose on the evening that are worthy of our attention as well as looking at other angles of what happened throughout the evening.

 

Thanks for posting that response Kevin - especially given that few on here were on the train so 'needed a response'.

I am interested in railtour workings so your side of the story is very helpful. I have a massive amount of respect for the way you operate the business and the reputation that you have. The TripAdvisor page Compass Tours by Rail Reviews - Liverpool, Merseyside Attractions - TripAdvisor Just goes to show that - and there is a review for Wednesdays trip.

I hope West Coast don't damage your business.

 

Many thanks for such a reasoned and comprehensive report. A massively frustrating time for you and your company,but its really good to hear what actually happened. The further delays you mention even after the 37 had arrived must have been particularly galling.