Saphos 2023

RTT has now updated to show that the pause at Charing WAS used, after all!

 

Or the Golden Arrow billing - or the date - take your pick.

 

Pleased to see mainly Mk1s anyway.

 

Resemblance to the real Golden Arrow very slight indeed. One Pullman coach and part of the route?

 

Yes - at least they didn't have the gall to carry a headboard, etc! I wonder what proportion of the passengers who may have gone to the front for a look at the loco at Victoria were any the wiser - probably not many on a trip like this.

 

Well having looked through the first 5 pages of Trip Advisor reviews just now, a site where people normally complain rather than praise, there were only two negative reviews. One over heat in a Mk2 Coffin, and one over the office staff attitude and tickets arriving close to the tour after having to chase them.
No negative reviews about a diesel on the back, or about the loco not being right for the route.
If you can do well enough to get people to praise you on a site like TA, then they must be doing something damn right.
Would be nice to try them but as an RTC steward from time to time, my personal principals would not let me travel, (as I never have with SD either), in the same way as when I was at BA I would never travel Virgin Atlantic (or standby for one of their flights even if I was stuck overseas).
Shame really as they have some good locos in their pool (although not an apple green B1 which would be far better in black.)

 

I don't think anyone went to look at it at Victoria - the train started from Bristol with the steam loco being added at Hanwell (close to Southall shed).

 

Not sure I understand that level of rivalry - the tour companies rely on there being an overall level of demand to keep the sector going.


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Hanwell Bridge Loop being such an attractive place to spend 30 minutes. Still at least they could watch a procession of Elizabeth Line trains and the HEx.

 

No rivalry, I have no problem with Mr H owning a shed full of locos or various tour companies. However my personal view is that I do not support competitors.
Hence my situation with Virgin Atlantic, Branson was great for the railways (but failed due to the DfT), but a pirate in airline terms. However most of my colleagues at BA did not understand my position on them either. Of course there were lots of competitor airlines I was happy to travel on, (KLM and Lufthansa to name two)
My wife would probably tell you I have low standards, this is just my own bizarre "rules" I guess.
Chance to ride behind 70000 at Swanage was hence such a pleasure.
Hey I am the one that looses, but I am sure Saphos or SD can survive without my £300

 

I have travelled with Saphos a few times, quality and comfort is streets ahead of rivals. The locomotives and stock are beautifully presented - all the carriages have been restored to a very high standard and service was excellent.
When they launched, pricing was very aggressive and some genuine bargains were there to be had. Unfortunately, they have priced themselves beyond my means now, they are chasing a certain sector of the market, which I am not part of!
It is good that LSL are happy to support galas with their locomotives.

 

How can Branson be both "great" and a "pirate" af the same time when operating as a competitor in two different industries?!

There is room in most markets for operators providing different levels of business to different types of customers. Having a single operator eg BA doesn't encourage low prices or innovation, if they just have to carry on doing what they did before and having no pressure their pricing.

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It's the silly minor mistakes that slip through and cause chaos. Major errors get picked up by the customer, other train planners, local operators and occasionally engineering departments if it affects their work. It's the wrong platforms or not double checking length limits that cause the grief.
( The fact that anything longer than a loco and 15 freightliner flats held at Northam Jn, locks Mount Pleasant level crossing is forever engraved on my brain. Guess who didn't check the length of a few freightliner trains for that week? Only a few minutes delay, but the complaints from the emergency services to Route Control were something else!)

As far as I know Headcorn Up Loop is still available for traffic, but would need a Goods Line Authority for a passenger train to use.

Looking at the schedule it all seemed to work OK at Headcorn.

Cheers, Neil

 

Sorry - of course!

 

Saw it passing Hildenborough being mightily shoved by the 47. The pathing stop at Tonbridge wasn't taken as it was running late and the conflict with the service train was thus avoided. I took an 8K video (to follow) on my new phone and this is a video extract.

 

The Golden Arrow, 61306 Mayflower, 1st April 2023.

 

That's me in the brown jacket!

 

Because in rail Branson was trying to improve what was there before. In aviation he was looking to cherry pick and steal only profitable routes. However being a great media savvy personality he had great public support for his aviation activities. Strangely in rail the support seemed less pronounced.