Torbay Express 2019

You have to treat all bookings the same. If a letter is going to out to people who booked on the train it is best to send it to all people who booked on the train, and not just a selection of them. Customers need to be treated equally. Passengers who opted not to travel that day, such as yourself, now know that Pathfinder sent out a letter to everyone and can see what Pathfinder's after-sales care and communication is like. If they hadn't sent the letter to people who didn't travel then those people may well form a negative opinion of Pathfinder's communication as a result of the lack of information they received after the day of the event.

I agree with you about Richard by the way; he's exceptional, and he's also the one who puts together all the souvenir brochures on the Pathfinder trips, with the track maps, route notes and gradient profiles etc

 

Thanks Pete, much appreciated.

Peter in Manchester

 

You just wonder whether Torbay Express are going to continue given the problems this year. I remember when they used to have about 8 trips a season (plus some trains from Poole to Bath at one time), this year it's down to only 4 and two of them have gone belly-up. It's not just that, but whereas they had a monopoly on trains to Kingswear a few years ago, this year RTC, Pathfinder and Saphos have all run trains there. Indeed the Saphos offering seems like an exact copy of the Torbay Express. I'll be interested to see what happens next year.

 

And significantly cheaper..

 

Much rather the train ran, regardless of traction.

Saves alot of money instead of wasted money on getting to the train staying in a hotel for 2 nights.

But I'm only looking out for my own wallet.

 

Well,each to their own, but I completely disagree. I would say TBEL are to be commended for absolutely doing the "right thing" in cancelling when they knew they could not offer what they advertised. I'm actually quite surprised they did cancel as sister company Pathfinder has not done this in the past under similar circumstances. Possibly the train was not that well loaded?

Appreciate your point on hotels etc. but I would think you are in a very small minority of people affected in this way (not that that makes it any better for you). Many hotel booking websites offer free cancellation, possibly something to look for in future.

 

I think it's a no-win situation really. As a steam enthusiast I would always prefer a cancellation (and refund) than a diesel substitution. Those who are just looking for a nice trip and a good day out or are celebrating some special occasion may prefer the train to run, whatever the traction. There's no easy answer to this.

Don't assume however that it's only enthusiasts who care about the traction. If you read TripAdvisor for the railtour companies you'll see a lot of the bad reviews are along the lines of "I booked a steam train trip and a smelly old diesel turned up." If anything non-enthusiasts are less forgiving.

 

I can live with it either way in emergency, that's life!

What I would like to see is a whole lot more transparency on when a box is likely to be on the back as I'm not paying over £500 for a pair of dining tickets to see a mostly dormant steam engine being shovaged around when the tour company know there will be a diesel from day one but advertise it as steam.

Too much secret squirrel now!

 

I too can fully understand your point and how it would impact on people. However I would have though those of us on this forum would understand how risky it would be to book a non refundable hotel if you were not either prepared to have a weekend in the city (this case I guess Bristol) or write off that money.
When I agree to steward a trip I would love to be able to book a cheap hotel but I know that unless I want to take one of those two options I have to go for a cancellable option and hence a higher price. There are just too many variables FTR failures, steam bans, NR late engineering works etc.

 

Will it be N0.9 again this week?

 

Quote from Torbay Express Facebook page today (13/08):

"Torbay Express Ltd It should be running on Sunday with No 60009 - repairs are being currently being carried out (subject to all the usual provisos!)"

 

That will please very many.

 

All quiet on No9's Faceache Site. No news is good news?

 

Tis the Torbay today, I be traveling on it.

 

A4 'Union of South Africa' hauling the Torbay Express today with 12 Riviera coaches, including a blue and grey Mk.1.

The loco looked and sounded good. It was going well at Flax Bourton. <BJ>

 

Looks like a decent climb of Whiteball, 13 1/4m on RTT.

 

My video of the Torbay Express today, taken at Powderham and Dawlish Warren.

 

A couple of shots of today's Torbay.
The down working https://www.flickr.com/photos/79185888@N04/48569363376/in/dateposted-public/
The up working https://www.flickr.com/photos/79185888@N04/48569509787/in/dateposted-public/

 

No. 9 may not look as glamorous as some of the other main line locomotives but she certainly is a superb performer. She will retire in glory for sure.