Railway Touring Company 2016

From Icons of Steam " The train commences at Liverpool Lime Street with diesel traction, travelling to Crewe where Royal Scot will take charge of the train for the run to Holyhead, running via Chester and Llandudno.

Royal Scot will be in command throughout the run to Holyhead, and again on the retun run as far as Crewe where diesel traction will again take over for the run back to Liverpool.

This train is subject to the successful completion of Royal Scot's test programme."

 

RTC has published its 2016 programme up to September:- http://www.railwaytouring.net/uk-day-trips-intro.html I was sent an e-mail offering a £20 discount on any bookings received today. Most of the journeys are familar routes, but Poole-Worcester (16th April), out via Salisbury and Bath, back via Oxford, Melksham and Salisbury is new. No re-run of the "Welsh Borders", on which I travelled in 2014 (34046 at the front) and which I thought to be a superb itinerary and a brilliant day out. Most of the trains with 60103 on the S&C and a few others (mainly in the North) have been up on the website for some time.

Good to see that the West Somerset trains are running again. They seem to have been a real winner - well, most of the time. The "Dorset Coast Expresses" and "Swanage Belles" now state that the return leg will be diesel-hauled to Southampton. On 9th July, however, the "End of Southern Steam" is booked to run to and from Waterloo (40-minute timing to Woking suggests via Wimbledon rather than Windsor Lines) As for the return, it might feature a steam banker but it might not according to the website. It does mention a return via Winchester, which won't be the case if a diesel works the return leg to Southampton. Motive power is advertised to be 34046 outward and either 34067 or 35018 for the return leg. Given that none of these engines are currently operational, I don't blame RTC for bedging its bets, but I'm afraid that even the £20 discount isn't going to tempt me to book at this stage. If it runs according to the original RTC Weymouth formula with the steam banker, it's very tempting, but for now, I'll be hanging on to my cash until things become a bit clearer!

With all the main operators having declared their hand for 2016, there's virtually no steam at all in Kent or Sussex. Considering how SD launched itself largely by running to Canterbury, this is rather a surprise. Statesman Rail isn't running its Canterbury trains, RTC isn't going anywhere near Kent either after 8th December of this year and SD only has one Canterbury train - on Sunday 24th July. I find this a bit baffling. Canterbury is a lovely city and from an operational point of view, it's relatively straightforward. No need to take a diesel with you on the rear to turn the train round. Furthermore, thanks to HS1, there's plenty of capacity on the classic lines, it's not too long a day out and there's plenty of opportunity for engines to perform well. Oh well, the operators must know best, but I was hoping to be able to go there next year by steam and do feel a bit disappointed.

 

I'm glad to see the Royal Duchy's in the schedule. I think 46100 was mentioned in the brochure and that would be something to hear a LMS scot going up Hemerdon. Good to see the Hosking's fleet being utilized for much of the tours as well.

 

In amongst all the other tours announced by RTC I'm liking the look of the Scot Commemorative...

 

Took advantage of the offer to do 46233 from Manchester to Edinburgh. Although steam one-way, it takes in four gradients, so all of that for £79 after the offer seemed a good deal. Also decided to take a risk and booked on Saturday's trip to Lincoln and the following Tuesday's trip to Eastbourne. I'm not expecting miracles, but if they run, I'll be quite content.

 

It's a real shame about the Welsh Borders train. Both years that it ran it was almost full and the itinerary was excellent with Horfield, Sapperton, Colwall and Llanvihangel, plus the climb out of the tunnel second time. Never managed to find out why it was dropped.

 

It's a pity we can't get Edgcumbe on an 11 coacher on the same route. Should be a close run thing with Braunton south from Hereford.

 

Yes, Braunton really impressed on the Hereford- Newport section after making Sapperton look like a mere molehill earlier in the day. However, particularly thinkng of the splendind run of lower quadrant semaphores between Worcester SH and Malvern Wells, it's a shame that no Castle can work over that stretch of line. The previous year, I was out with the camera for 34067 on that route and got a good shot of it by Malvern Wells signal box complete with lower quadrant semaphore. While it was quite amazing to record such a totally steam-age scene on the main line in 2013, somehow, even as an unashamed Bulleid fan, I couldn't help thinking the picture would have been better still with a Great Western engine.

 

But it's knowing how much assistance the diesel will give that's the $64,000 question. I've had everything from the diesel being along for the ride right through to doing 99% of the work. If you're happy to risk being shoved around all day then fair play but that's a risk some people are not prepared to take and I don't blame them to be honest.

 

Well said Alan. Transparency and openness about issues relevant to customers in this market would be most welcome. The example set by VT is commendable and shows what can be done when the motivation exists. There remains an impression across the sector that sometimes information is withheld because releasing it may negatively impact on bookings. While this may be understandable it isn't in the customers best interests and can only have more damaging effects in the long term.

 

UK Railtours runs a few steam trips and is also pretty open about diesel shovage. I asked specifically about this before booking on the Tornado-hauled Devon Belle last year and was assured there would be no diesel on the back. Sure enough, when I boarded the train at Newbury, it consisted of 60163, twelve coaches and no diesel on the back. A brilliant day out. Pick the right engine and the right load over the right route at the right time of year and it ought to be possible for all operators to do the same.

 

To get the best chance of obtaining ideal conditions for tours, the season would be remarkably short, with a glut of tours concentrated in a handful of months, namely March-May and September-October. As promoters are businesses requiring year-round custom, you can see why so many tours are advertised during months where there is a high risk of diesel assistance or cancellation. However, I agree that the basics need to be highlighted more clearly to potential customers to manage expectations.

 

Not all mainline steam locomotives are lineside fire raisers. Some can be trusted to run in the summer months.

 

NR can't be 100 per cent certain of that, though, and we all know their propensity to err on the side of caution.

 

Far too restrictive a season IMO.

 

I arrived at this short season by factoring-in the usual winter maintenance period, train heating issues, higher risk of bans due to drought, and the challenges posed by leaf-fall, all of which has seen diesels being added on the back in recent years. So I agree it would be too restrictive, but if customers want 'clean steam', then it seems to me that these 'bookend' months provide the best opportunities. If customers don't mind the risk of 'adulterated steam', then any time of year would suffice. However, the whole thing still depends on having the right type of locomotive for the right task, something that has been seriously lacking in recent years.

 

Does anyone happen to know whether RTC offers spare seats on the Kyle of Lochalsh leg of GBIX? Ideally I wouldn't mind travelling to Wick also!