Vintage Trains - 2021

Taken about 3 seconds later

 

This has been fixed now

 

My pic of 7029 at Birmingham snow hill I did the tour starting at Stratford upon avon to Brum return on the 12:47pm service and paid a extra £25 to ride the last train with 7029 from S.U.A. to Brum snow hill cos I couldent get a early enough train to birmingham for the 10am dep from Brum snow hill to S.U.A. hope everyone enjoyed their day out on the 2nd steam tour from V.T. after waiting a year and 8 month to restart their excursions due to the effects of the covid crisis.
Davo 56F

 

While the language is not what I would have used I’ve got a lot of sympathy for his position. We all know leaning out of windows is now not on but there is no regulation that prevents anyone from standing in a vestibule or having to remain seated.
I had a very similar experience with Vintage Trains a while ago on an evening trip with Bahamas. I was leaning out of the window at Snow Hill talking to someone on the platform when someone in a hi vis with an overinflated view of their authority started shouting at me despite the train being stationary at a red signal. On top of that I was in the support coach so it was none of his business anyway.
When my people pay good money for a day out they deserve a bit of courtesy.

 

Wilmcote Bank.

 

TOCs certainly have a duty to minimise risks to passengers, but there is wide variation in how far they go. A warning notice above each window, which used to be considered sufficient, and AFAIK still is considered sufficient in most countries, is clearly not considered sufficient in Britain now. At the other extreme, passengers do not need permission to leave their seats to use the toilets or to visit a buffet car or a sales stand in another coach. But different TOCs do draw the line in different places between those extremes. I have been reprimanded for leaning out of a window when the train was stationary and there was no adjacent track: that does seem unnecessarily strict.

 

I’ve heard it called the hi vis syndrome. Put some people in a house vis vest and they think it gives them the authority to order others around for no good reason. It doesn’t the work with me I’m afraid

 

I noticed when I was on the Saphos trip on Saturday that they've fitted bars to their carriage doors. They slope down at an angle from top right corner to bottom left corner so they also make convenient handrails when boarding and exiting, as well as stopping heads going out of windows. It struck me as an elegant and probably inexpensive solution to the problem.

 

Tour operators are also getting very heavy scrutiny from the regulators - a recent tour by Pathfinder ran on notice that if heads were seen, it could be terminated immediately. While hi vis syndrome can be a problem, some respect for what they're doing doesn't go amiss either.

 

As ever I’d say it depends on how stewards go about their job, a quiet word at first explaining the situation is usually a decent way to go at first before the raising of voices and possible stronger action.
As someone who has to deal with the public (sometimes whilst they’re rather intoxicated) I’d say I know a little a bit about these things, @Johnb’s tale does seem like someone applying the rules a little to vigorously and not using a little common sense.
As ever the golden rule is treat and speak to people how you’d like to be treated and spoken to yourself.

 

This is a great clip on the Vintage Trains Facebook site - but perhaps not the wisest in view of some of the more critical comments above https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=4357171407736776&id=343014035819220

I very happily remained seated the last time I travelled with them to Plymouth (hopefully soon to be repeated).

 

Never ceases to amaze me that whilst us mere mortals must not even hover by a droplight there are often heads stuck out of the support coach. Obviously only for operational reasons....

 

The father odf a friend of mine used to be a VT steward. It was this osrt of attutude and apporach from punters that put him off continuing. Many of the ream are of retirement age or above and give their time freely, they don't deserve abuse in their spare time. Bear in mind the ORR are watching, and the steawads are there to try and help main line steam continue.

 

The lack of steam on the Shakespeare has been sorely missed for all concerned but what a way to finish the season.