2026 UKR railtours

[08221]

Very different era to the time when John Jarrow (RIP) was running things. He was proud of the fact that UKR never ever cancelled tours.

His name was John Farrow, a really kind and helpful chap.

 

[Isle of Mull]

Very different era to the time when John Jarrow (RIP) was running things. He was proud of the fact that UKR never ever cancelled tours.

I suppose things have changed since his time though

 

[Galvanize]

Very different era to the time when John Jarrow (RIP) was running things. He was proud of the fact that UKR never ever cancelled tours.

…never cancelled tours with low bookings.

 

[Harpo]

I suppose things have changed since his time though

Since John Farrow passed, DBC has pulled out of most charter train operation and UKR seems to have had two seriously failed partnerships with other TOCs.

 

[31160]

If recent happenings prove anything it's always book things that you can cancel, however that doesn't really help when you're talking about apex's and the like. It just makes things that are already an expensive treat even harder to justify to the Mrs

 

[Isle of Mull]

Since John Farrow passed, DBC has pulled out of most charter train operation and UKR seems to have had two seriously failed partnerships with other TOCs.

Since John Farrow passed Uk Railtours has mostly done enthusiast tours and not things most people would do

 

[The_Train]

and not things most people would do

Like what?

 

[Isle of Mull]

Like what?

A simple steam or diesel tour to say Edinburgh and it features premier dining which very very few UKR tours feature now

 

[The_Train]

A simple steam or diesel tour to say Edinburgh and it features premier dining which very very few UKR tours feature now

Ah right. I presume that boils down to the fact that they have seemingly gone in with ERS for the stock and they don't have facilities to offer dining on board compared to stock they have used previously (did they previously use WCRC stock?)

 

[Isle of Mull]

Ah right. I presume that boils down to the fact that they have seemingly gone in with ERS for the stock and they don't have facilities to offer dining on board compared to stock they have used previously (did they previously use WCRC stock?)

The ERS mk3 set does have dining facilities on them but they just use the mk2s and they used Riviera and West coast very briefly

 

[The_Train]

The ERS mk3 set does have dining facilities on them but they just use the mk2s and they used Riviera and West coast very briefly

Well there must be a reason why they don't use the Mk3 set. I've been on a good few "enthusiast" type tours with UKR where dining has been offered so I don't think the lack of dining options currently is to do with the type of tours they are promoting

 

[Harpo]

Since John Farrow passed Uk Railtours has mostly done enthusiast tours and not things most people would do

Trips to yards, sidings and other micro stuff??

 

[31160]

Well there must be a reason why they don't use the Mk3 set. I've been on a good few "enthusiast" type tours with UKR where dining has been offered so I don't think the lack of dining options currently is to do with the type of tours they are promoting

I think the ETH rating of that rake may limit what can haul it, see 50008 for details, however the air con in the MK3 rake does have very good air con

 

[Isle of Mull]

Well there must be a reason why they don't use the Mk3 set. I've been on a good few "enthusiast" type tours with UKR where dining has been offered so I don't think the lack of dining options currently is to do with the type of tours they are promoting

The last one was a month ago and the last one before that was at least 6 months

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Trips to yards, sidings and other micro stuff??

That yes, when John Farrow was around they’d just get a DB cargo class 67 and go somewhere simple without yards and those things

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I think the ETH rating of that rake may limit what can haul it, see 50008 for details, however the air con in the MK3 rake does have very good air con

That rake does have a generator for when flying Scotsman hauled that rake in December last

 

[HertiageFan]

The last one was a month ago and the last one before that was at least 6 months

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That yes, when John Farrow was around they’d just get a DB cargo class 67 and go somewhere simple without yards and those things

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That rake does have a generator for when flying Scotsman hauled that rake in December last

They used the belmond generator coach

 

[The_Train]

The last one was a month ago and the last one before that was at least 6 months

I mean, at least 6 months before does encompass 4 or 5 months of Winter when very little is happening on the railtour scene anyway. I just think it will boil down to what stock is available to UKR when they want to run a tour as to whether they can cover a dining option or not, and as others have pointed out, this may be dependent on what locos are allocated. I'd be amazed if they don't offer some with dining throughout the year though (not that it is of interest to a pauper like me )

 

[Isle of Mull]

They used the belmond generator coach

Surely Belmond would lend it again

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I mean, at least 6 months before does encompass 4 or 5 months of Winter when very little is happening on the railtour scene anyway. I just think it will boil down to what stock is available to UKR when they want to run a tour as to whether they can cover a dining option or not, and as others have pointed out, this may be dependent on what locos are allocated. I'd be amazed if they don't offer some with dining throughout the year though (not that it is of interest to a pauper like me )

They ran at least 1 tour every month in winter and cancelled a tour in September, November and I think December

 

[Jim]

Surely Belmond would lend it again

The Belmond Genny is restricted to 75mph. Very frustrating on the Flying Scotsman jolly having to stagger back from York at 75mph because of dragging it around and obviously you are going to find it harder to path a day trip spec wise at 75mph.

These days it seems "day out" tours seldom fill, like it or loathe it, a BLS style spec loads better than a norms jolly to Newcastle/Weymouth these days it seems, from my observations.

 

[The_Train]

They ran at least 1 tour every month in winter and cancelled a tour in September, November and I think December

Fair enough but to be honest, going back to the original point of discussion about the latest cancelled tour, a dining carriage wouldn't have saved it. It was just a badly thought out tour, marketed as a way of getting to a gala where you would have a couple of hours there before you had to return to the rail tour. Even if the Deltic was operational, this tour would have been cancelled for low numbers anyway!

 

[TrainTrackJack]

Surely Belmond would lend it again

It's been said that once the Rail 200 exhibition train winds down, ERS will use their generator coach currently with that on charters with their stock.

The 23rd May 'West Midlands Deviator' charter now features a Class 50 Alliance example vice 50008.

 

[Isle of Mull]

Fair enough but to be honest, going back to the original point of discussion about the latest cancelled tour, a dining carriage wouldn't have saved it. It was just a badly thought out tour, marketed as a way of getting to a gala where you would have a couple of hours there before you had to return to the rail tour. Even if the Deltic was operational, this tour would have been cancelled for low numbers anyway!

Fair enough, I think Uk railtours needs to stop smacking tours our left right and centre and just focus on a few for the moment

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Apr 2026 ==

It's been said that once the Rail 200 exhibition train winds down, ERS will use their generator coach currently with that on charters with their stock.

The 23rd May 'West Midlands Deviator' charter now features a Class 50 Alliance example vice 50008

That’s good that they will have a generator
I see they are heavily relying on the 50 alliance and Hanson and Hall

 

[The_Train]

Fair enough, I think Uk railtours needs to stop smacking tours our left right and centre and just focus on a few for the moment

I think that could be said of all operators at the minute. I've done 2 in the last 2 weekends, I have another 6 booked for this year and 3 others that are open for sale that I would like to book onto. All of this costs a lot of money all at once (along with additional costs of service trains and hotels to come later) and people simply can't afford it these days so what you then have is people picking and choosing which tours they do, making it more difficult to fill tours and leaving some at risk of cancellation due to low numbers

I see they are heavily relying on the 50 alliance and Hanson and Hall

They certainly put all of their eggs into the H&H 50008 basket for the first half of this year. Not sure where that came from but most of the early tours they put on sale for 2026 were to include 50008 and then they found out the risks of dealing with a loco operator who only has one loco to offer

 

[Isle of Mull]

I think that could be said of all operators at the minute. I

Not at all, SRPS railtours has been sensible only doing one tour a month and most have nearly sold out already

 

[HertiageFan]

Fair enough, I think Uk railtours needs to stop smacking tours our left right and centre and just focus on a few for the moment

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That’s good that they will have a generator
I see they are heavily relying on the 50 alliance and Hanson and Hall

I think it is Eastern Rail Services’ generator coach I think it’s on loan

 

[Isle of Mull]

I think it is Eastern Rail Services’ generator coach I think it’s on loan

Oh

 

[JonathanH]

Fair enough, I think Uk railtours needs to stop smacking tours our left right and centre and just focus on a few for the moment

The economics of trying to make a living from railtour income probably means a need to run a good number of tours a year. One a month would be unlikely to pay the bills.

 

[Isle of Mull]

The economics of trying to make a living from railtour income probably means a need to run a good number of tours a year. One a month would be unlikely to pay the bills.

Once a month would most likely reduce cancellations a lot

 

[bleeder4]

They need to run more tours to make a profit, but with the cost of tours we as the customers are now being more choosy then we used to be about what we spend our money on. So the only way that the promoter can keep ahead of that is to keep bringing in new customers, who have new untapped budgets, rather than marketing the tours to the same old group of customers, who have already stretched their budget for that year as far as it can go. I certainly wouldn't want to be a railtour promoter at the moment. Plus there is the whole upcoming uncertainty over what GBR will mean to the open access model and how ad-hoc tours can fit into increasingly busy timetables.

 

[BR Traction]

Once a month would most likely reduce cancellations a lot

Is it possible in 2026 to do a day out by special excursion train at a reasonable cost which caters for the general public without fancy locos and obscure pieces of track and gives a reasonable amount of time at the destination. In our younger years, BR used to do merrymaker trips which catered for people like my wife and I. How we miss the 1970s and 1980s.

 

[JonathanH]

Is it possible in 2026 to do a day out by special excursion train at a reasonable cost which caters for the general public without fancy locos and obscure pieces of track and gives a reasonable amount of time at the destination.

The demand, and cost reality, for such trips doesn't appear to align.