Vintage Trains' Tour Program is now online

We begin taking reservations Monday am.

 

I see a little Cornishman has appeared. Shall have to have a think about it over the weekend. Thank you for posting Ben, I assume the brochures are in the post?

 

Another great programme. A busy year lies ahead! 5043's second Cornwall visit is almost completely overshadowed by the Lickey Banker and Red Rose trips. Despite everything starting from the same place can you still keep coming up with original ideas.

 

Should be in your mailbox in the next couple of days...... Limited load over the Devon Banks!

 

Thanks Ben, based on nunney's run last year over the south devon banks I better be quick then!

 

April 14th I may have just become busy...

 

Wow, great program!

Nice to see Lizzie featuring prominently. I guess that depends on the boiler inspectors granting another 6 months. When will that be confirmed? Bit of an LMS theme for the open days, with the Duchess visiting, and Kolhapur in her shiny new paint...

Some days, VT will be the only steam on the main line, but mostly it's going to be crowded and we won't know which way to look! For example, on Sat 21st Apr, Lizzie has her run over Copy Pit the same day that GB V goes down the ECML and 46233 works it's first full public tour after overhaul from Derby to Scarborough. There will be good entertainment in the West Country the following Saturday, 28th April. 5043 works from Bristol to Plymouth and back, while 34046 and 34067 take GB V from Bristol to Penzance (diesel back).

 

In addition to Lizzie and Earl trips it is nice to see that Rood Aston Hall shall be getting a solo run to the railfest. The Duchesses visit what a treat!

I guess by the schedule that 4936 Kinlet Hall won't get to run?

 

4936 may have other commitments as she is privately owned.

 

Its a shame that VT dont give timings on the tour pages, it would be very handy to have an idea what time the train is due to leave and return. I appreciate that timings on websites at this stage are outline, but it would be extremely handy, as they have obviously requested times from Network rail when planning the trip, so why can they not give an idea of departure time etc?

 

Well it was online last night but today it's been removed. Only the 3 tours confirmed at end of 2011 are nw advertised on the website. Why ?

 

Yes I agree all the new tours put up on Friday have been removed. I wonder if LIzzie has not yet been granted a boiler certificate extension or if other changes are afoot. Baffling! There is no explanation on VT website as to why they have been removed.

 

Maybe Ben of Vintage Trains can enlighten us as he made the original post ?

 

Well I looked at the Open Days Banner and 6233 is still listed as visiting for June 23rd/24 weekend. I'm just guessing that the Scarborough Flyer trip that the Duchess was/is proposed to pull Tyseley-Scarborough-Derby might indicate that the tour program is/might be correct. Like the rest of you, I really don't know.

 

Well, you can book OK. Just booked on 'The Cornishman'.

 

Back on again now (18-1-12)

Vintage Trains : Steam Trains Tours and The Shakespeare Express

Neil

 

All,

No great mystery here – we had a glitch with the web-server, but it’s all back up and online again.

We have been taking bookings via the phone as normal!

Sorry for the inconvenience!

Ben

 

Nothing wrong with Lizzie. No great conspiracy. A simple IT issue. Why is everyone so quick to come up with outlandish theories???

 

The 30 June trip to Scarborough with the Duchess is exactly as planned. 46233 will haul us from Tyseley to Scarborough, then from Scarborough to Derby on the return. At Derby, 46233 will drop off and return to Butterley LE whilst the train is hauled home to TWR by 47773.

Before anyone says anything… 47773 is planned to go LE from TWR to Derby in the early evening and meet the train at Derby. We are not planning on taking 47773 all the way to Scarborough and back!

 

Company policy. We have had issues in the past with people taking the estimated times as gospel.

In the past we had several people miss the train; they tried to claim their money back saying the times we published on UK Steam were wrong! Trying to explain to people that we do not publish the times on UK Steam!

Bottom line is we send the times to the passengers with the tickets. If you have a tour that you are interested, we will tell you on the phone what times we have either requested from NetRail or if we have run the tour previously…..

Some people might not like this – sorry.