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Great shame for Vintage Trains. I have travelled on a dozen or more of their trains over the years - the first being the 'EWS Crew training special' with Union of South Africa when I was a kid. I've followed their fortunes over the years and donated to Birmingham Railway Museum projects so I...

Absolutely. As I have said in previous posts safety in the rail industry is something to be very proud of. While at times I complain about 'red tape' the huge cost and constant management of rail safety management is in my view absolutely justified and the incidents which have led to today's...

There are 53 tours steam and diesel hauled tours up until the 15th. West Coast operate the majority of steam charters now. They also own or manage stock for most which happen in the north. (Statesman, compass etc.) along with Steam Dreams further south. I imagine Belmond Royal Scotsman will...

without vegetating and frothing too much the letter also implies that the reaction of WCR directors did not satisfy Network Rail that they appreciated the seriousness of the incident. Normal Train and Freight operating companies are much larger and employ a sizeable safety department along...

Strengthening for parts of diagrams does happen. An awful lot. Trains are coupled and split far more than was ever intended. The 0712 Chester - Manchester is two 15x units. They then spend the quiet part of the day on seperate diagrams. In the afternoon a lightly loaded 2 car 175 arrives...

Two car trains are far from ideal on any diagram as the popularity of rail travel is far greater than was expected when the trains were built only around 15 years ago. Having said that, for much of the year, the diagram for the trains you mention cannot justify a three car. The service is...

I agree, the boys and toys comment is unnecessary. They are professional, passed, paid drivers operating certified traction on the mainline. That is what makes the apparent and alleged disregard for the rulebook so unbelievable. I await the full report. The previous mechanical failure of the...

I would have effed off and reported not only the verbal abuse but the threat of violence too. Obviously.

I recently worked a train following a Wrexham Chester match. I had a relatively small group of very drunk Wrexham 'fans' on board who lived some two hours from Wrexham. While I accept football fans are (in this case) paying passengers like any others - the language contained within the singing...

I suspect it is human error here. Sadly the standard pattern clockface hourly timetable is something Arriva started but lost within politics led train planning and the pressure on very limited resources. Lots of Junction shuttles depart at xx08...

As I understand it, ATW is not allowed to create a route or TOC specific fare. A TOC specific fare would actually be quite useful as it would give the flexibility to travel on the direct service or travel via Crewe sticking to ATW services.

I'm disappointed at the lack of agreement I'm finding here. Then again, everybody here is an expert, or at least knowledgable and cannot see how hard "we" as an industry are making it for rail users.

Because I believe them to be unfair. I'm a member of staff but I'm on the customers side here. And customers are penalised for buying these tickets in error.

Thanks for responding... What I am really after is situations similar to Chester Manchester - a set of fares I take issue with. The Chester Manchester Any Permitted fare is set by ATW - operators of the quickest route - direct passing through Warrington with an hourly service 7 days a...

Just out of interest; Does anybody have any examples of TOC specific fares where the TOC do not operate any direct services over the route?

Where sold I believe the TOC should make the restrictions absolutely clear. I don't believe they should be available on a route where the TOC has no direct services. I don't believe they should be available on a route where the TOC has such poor Sunday journey options. In this case I don't...

On a Sunday, there is a gap of almost 8 hours between possible journey options from Manchester to Chester using Virgin Trains Only. During the week there are only a handful of journey options between Manchester and North Wales destinations. Virgin Trains list the TOC specific fares first on...

I'm fed up with these restrictive tickets. They cause so many problems and Virgin are able to get away with listing them at the top of their Piccadilly TVMs which leads to genuine mistakes for which the customer is penalised. Spose Branson needs to pay for his island retreat somehow.

If they sell them online, ATOC get all the money I guess. They also get all that useful personal information.

I would echo the above comment. Always best to explain the reason as fully and as clearly as possible. Some passengers may take issue with "driver/guard taking a break delaying their journey home" but the majority - particularly on a journey like this, will understand after a drive from Hull...