WCR 2024 Railtours

One thing that no one seems to have picked up on is this, It's a good job Ian Riley had the foresight to fit air braking equipment on engines he has, or has had an interest in, otherwise this year, because of the CDL issue there would have been no mainline steam operated by West coast. who lets face it operate the lions share of the heritage market

 

And if West coast dont rectify their CDL on mk1 issues, LSL could overtake them, especially if other tour operators start to have to reduce their program, or look elsewhere, cause west coast can't meet their requirements, or new markets such in Scotland open up for LSL

 

Out of the 27 steam hauled tours over the Settle Carlisle this year to date, only four of those have been LSL. I know that's one railway in isolation, but it suggests West Coast are still by far the bigger operator of the two for now.

 

That's because the majority shareholder of PDSR doesn't want the riff raff on his trainset. If you knock off the Jacobites, WCRC still edge it with regards number of tours run. LSL generally only run a couple per week (the disadvantage of only having one set), but WCRC are only running slightly more. Lack of locos will come to a head soon - 44871 can't do every tour south of Fort William.

 

It would have helped if 6233 and 6201 were in service. Also if WCRC are still the operating partner of 60103 then that will do its set 20 railtours as well.

 

I believe that Pathfinder may have become the chosen promoter of Scotsman trips, as such it would make sense for WCR to be the chosen operator of the loco, which would further boost the ammount of trips they run.

I think what must be recognised is the huge ammount of credit that Riley’s deserve for turning out their locos in such fine fettle that they can manage sustained use on both the challenging Jacobite runs, but also lots of extra railtour work that’s been handed their way. But also WCR deserve a vast ammount of credit for trying to keep as much as possible running despite the well documented adversities.

 

Another thought to add to the mix, support crews.
I don't know how the support crews used by WCRC for their own locos are arranged. Certainly Ian Riley uses some volunteers as well as paid staff from Riley Engineering. Other loco owning groups rely entirely on volunteers. The current situation means all the load being placed on some groups, where others don't have any work with their loco. Another problem is finding enough people to undertake support crew duties on weekdays.

Cheers, Neil

 

I'd say there are several differences this year :

1. Only two locos at Fort William instead of three so no back up. Given 62005 was out of service, normally all three Fives would have been up there.

2. Only two locos available to cover the England programme has meant intensive use of Tangmere and 44871 and a lot of LE mileage to cover both London and Carnforth based work when normally the work would have been shared around four or five locos. So, no back up.

3. The coaching stock situation has meant some hiring in, some cancellations and some capacity reductions eg how many seats available on the Scarborough the other week, the Jacobite etc?

They are operating this year in muddling through mode. Understandable, credit where it's due. Whether it's sustainable year on year, how the money numbers look, what the medium term plan is, let's see. First things first, we don't yet have the ORR's decision on the temporary exemption application do we?

 

The problem is you’re not comparing like for like. LSL aim for the more upmarket wine and dine set and are very expensive, whereas WestCoast are far more enthusiast orientated. West Coast will always be the company of the people imo.

 

I would agree with you, unless things continue as they are. If this Bullied/Black 5, no MK1, no opening windows, poor air con business continues, than you have to say that LSL will slowly take the mantle for both variety and decent rolling stock.

I do believe WCR will sort something. If I’m being critical I think they should have sorted it a lot sooner, but even so, fingers crossed they get something done soon.

 

It would appear that the Pendle Dalesman listed for Aug 6th won't be running,it has disappeared from the West Coast website and there are no times for it on RTT.
The York Dalesman is still shown for Aug 8th,hopefully Tangmere will be fixed for that as 44871 is heading back south on Monday.

David

 

I thought it was said on the Tornado thread that the A1 folks do not want to work with WCRC.

 

I would say in terms of steam tours, forgetting the Jacobite LSL and WCRC (including their customers RTC, Pathfinder etc.) are probably roughly similar in trip volumes, but of course steam is only one facet of the myriad of LSL brands, so at a corporate level LSL is probably the leader.

 

If WC will work with them they probably haven’t got a lot of choice