Are Riviera Trains Winding Down? Future Charter stock providers?

[Masbroughlad]

Are the charter company Riviera Trains winding down?

They've sold off locos and carriages recently?

Who can you lease a full service charter train from? Do they come with catering - buffet through to full at-seat service?

Locomotive Services seem a closed shop - ie everything in house?

Will be interesting to see how the market pans out.....

 

[JonathanH]

They've sold off locos and carriages recently?

I don't think the locomotives are relevant. The carriages that were sold off were Mark 1s that needed a lot of work done on them to remain on the mainline.

They are now concentrating on the Mark 2f fleet.

Who can you lease a full service charter train from?

I'm not sure anyone can lease out a full service charter set.

The demand to hire full service charter trains is fairly limited in any case. Established promoters know who to ask. Anyone else isn't really going to get anywhere dabbling in seeking to hire out a charter train.

Do they come with catering - buffet through to full at-seat service?

Train catering is handled by separate organisations.

Are the charter company Riviera Trains winding down?

It looks like they are concentrating on a smaller, core market. No doubt they will have lost money and incurred costs during 2020 and 2021 that are difficult to recover from, but isn't a market anyone else is going to make a lot of money from.

 

[Whistler40145]

Riviera sold the Mk 1 coaches to West Coast Railway Company and they’re already using them on Pathfinder Tours work

 

[JonathanH]

Riviera sold the Mk 1 coaches to West Coast Railway Company and they’re already using them on Pathfinder Tours work

Yes, but West Coast Railway Company are prepared to act counter to the ORR conditions of use in a way that Riviera obviously weren't prepared to.

 

[Whistler40145]

Yes, but West Coast Railway Company are prepared to act counter to the ORR conditions of use in a way that Riviera obviously weren't prepared to.

Riviera Trains is the parent company of Pathfinder Tours

 

[JonathanH]

Riviera Trains is the parent company of Pathfinder Tours

Yes, or at least both are in common ownership - one isn't a subsidiary of the other.

 

[Whistler40145]

Yes, or at least both are in common ownership - one isn't a subsidiary of the other.

Indeed, the owner of Riviera is around 85 years old and let’s say he’s been advised to sell off all rolling stock to West Coast

 

[JonathanH]

Indeed, the owner of Riviera is around 85 years old and let’s say he’s been advised to sell off all rolling stock to West Coast

Indeed, it would seem a reasonable course of action to sell up and wind down, if there is nowhere else to pass the business on to.

It might be noted that charter operations effectively exist solely on the benevolence of a very small number of individuals.

 

[Iskra]

Riviera are still having work done on Mk2's at Knottingley as they have been for the last few years. I don't see why they'd be still doing this if they weren't going to use them.

 

[31160]

Indeed, the owner of Riviera is around 85 years old and let’s say he’s been advised to sell off all rolling stock to West Coast

Yep that was exactly what I heard on a chingfinder tour in June, that the owner of Riv was getting old and his kids want nowt to do with it going forward, Riv own Chingfinder due to unplayable bills around the early 00's i think