Merchant of Avon - Summer Sundays

It would be good if all charter passengers could arrive by train, bus or bicycle but surely in this day and age the majority of folk have their own transport or could share with someone who has.

Just a thought. <BJ>

 

When West Coast ran a tour from Skegness to Stratford via Burton in 2016 Galatea would not fit, and came off at Duddeston Junction. SD also tried to from Paddington to Stratford with Galatea a few weeks later and there was also a gauging issue so the trip was diesel hauled. So unless some engineering works have been carried out, it seems unlikely.

 

I recall someone from Tyseley noting as a Good Thing that the Shakespeares are in the timetable as a regular working. As West Coast formerly operated them for Vintage Trains, does that mean that West Coast own those paths? Or does NR have some way of allocating them between operators?

 

In this case does that mean West Coast? And does that mean that West Coast have to confirm that they don't want it on a particular date before VT can claim it?

 

Well this is interesting. At £26 return it's good value, even from my nearby station of Coleshill Parkway. Coleshill is 20 mins away and free parking, or cheapish by train. Brum more expensive by train, and I wouldn't drive there

Going to be some tricky decisions to make for this VT shareholder!

 

If the stock is already at Burton (i.e. stabled in the yard) then starting from Burton produces income whilst reducing ecs (non-income) mileage.

 

Good thing is with vintage at least they will run morning and afternoon shakespeares on sundays in august making the afternoon tours more appealing to people further afield who can only join a charter train using public transport.

 

I think WCRC would prefer to keep their ecs nearer to home where it can be used on some of their other trips rather than have it sitting at Burton for 2 or 3 weeks between Stratford trips.

Dave B

 

But maybe the EM is underserved compared with the WM and NW. Notts, Derby, Leicester are all within an hour's drive of Burton and Sheffield not that much more. I'd say that's a reasonable catchment and not a bad place to drive to provided the parking is OK.

 

Strange choice of imagery on the WCRC site. Why a Schools since none are available or were ever used in this area?
https://www.westcoastrailways.co.uk/m/merchant_of_avon/merchant-of-avon-details.cfm

 

Do you mean the logo on the west coast railways website advertisment page for the merchant of avon? it looks like a D49 to me.

 

Either way it's a strange choice since there are no 4-4-0's available.

 

With those discs and that tender?

 

A defrocked Schools rempton was at N.Y.M.R. without its deflectors 2018 autumn gala either way the only schools class out of the 3 preserved run mainline was cheltenham, And i think D49 morayshire has run on the mainline the pair of em though a long time ago that was.

 

Repton does run mainline quite regularly (although not fully kitted out for full mainline).

 

Burton actually seems a pretty decent place to start a trip from, considering it has the Leicester-Birmingham Curve-Branston Jn triangle within striking distance to turn your locomotive at the end of the day. It is getting a bit crowded down in Stratford, though.

 

Locos in the pool suggest; 6201, 46115 and 45699

https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/burton/railway-steam-trains-burton-station-2863865