Booked My First Railtour For Decades

[Dai Corner]

Ive just booked on Charity Railtours Magnificent Severn in August, which will be my first since I went to Weymouth Quay back last century! I'll be joining at Newport and leaving at Reading for an HST or IET home.

http://www.charity-railtours.co.uk/Mag_Severn_Brochure_Form_MAR6.pdf

Can any of you railtour regulars tell me whether anything's changed in the last couple of decades and offer any tips for making the most of the day? Is it worth the extra to upgrade from Standard Class + to First Class Table for 2?

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Ive just booked on Charity Railtours Magnificent Severn in August, which will be my first since I went to Weymouth Quay back last century! I'll be joining at Newport and leaving at Reading for an HST or IET home.

http://www.charity-railtours.co.uk/Mag_Severn_Brochure_Form_MAR6.pdf

Can any of you railtour regulars tell me whether anything's changed in the last couple of decades and offer any tips for making the most of the day? Is it worth the extra to upgrade from Standard Class + to First Class Table for 2?

I always request when booking if I can have a window seat facing direction of travel as I like that position, although others prefer aisle seats so they can walk to the doors and buffet car. It is normally alot more expensive to travel First Class and get a table for two, especially if meals are included. There is normally a good friendly atmosphere on board. Have a good trip.

 

[pdeaves]

Ive just booked on Charity Railtours Magnificent Severn in August, which will be my first since I went to Weymouth Quay back last century! I'll be joining at Newport and leaving at Reading for an HST or IET home.

Thanks for pointing this out. I mentioned it to family and was pleasantly surprised when they all said yes, we'll go! So, all booked now, too.

 

[tiptoptaff]

If I could I'd do this just to go over the Machen branch. Nothing much at all goes down there any more

 

[Dai Corner]

I always request when booking if I can have a window seat facing direction of travel as I like that position, although others prefer aisle seats so they can walk to the doors and buffet car. It is normally alot more expensive to travel First Class and get a table for two, especially if meals are included. There is normally a good friendly atmosphere on board. Have a good trip.

In this case it's only £30 extra so I've decided to upgrade. I do like my personal space and might have felt awkward sharing a table of four with three strangers. I wouldn't pay the premium for the 'posh grub' you get on some tours but they're not doing that on this one. It looks like they are planning to recreate the Swindon refreshment rooms in pre-buffet car days at Parkend

 

[DelW]

A small group of us travel regularly on railtours (normally on mk1 stock) and we think we've got this down to a fine art...

If there are 4 of us we book standard class and have always had a bay to ourselves
If there are 3 of us we book 4 standard tickets between us*, so we get two window seats (and two facing seats regardless of reversals) between three, and have room to spread a bit
If there are 2 of us, unless it's very expensive, we upgrade to first and a table for two, so we both have window seats and can also get out to buffet or loo without disturbing anybody

* we started doing this after a couple of trips where we had a 'fourth' in our bay - one was an extremely large chap, and the other had unfortunate personal hygiene issues. Neither is great for a full-day trip on a summer day.

 

[nat67]

A small group of us travel regularly on railtours (normally on mk1 stock) and we think we've got this down to a fine art...

If there are 4 of us we book standard class and have always had a bay to ourselves
If there are 3 of us we book 4 standard tickets between us*, so we get two window seats (and two facing seats regardless of reversals) between three, and have room to spread a bit
If there are 2 of us, unless it's very expensive, we upgrade to first and a table for two, so we both have window seats and can also get out to buffet or loo without disturbing anybody

* we started doing this after a couple of trips where we had a 'fourth' in our bay - one was an extremely large chap, and the other had unfortunate personal hygiene issues. Neither is great for a full-day trip on a summer day.

I could quit understand that neither can be pleasant on a normal public train.