Motorail - Pricing in later years

[Mcr Warrior]

Motorail services in the UK ended in the mid 1990s, if I rightly recall.

In its final years, what routes were still available, and how much did it typically cost on an Anglo-Scottish run to convey the vehicle, the driver and additional passengers (if any)?

 

[Bald Rick]

From memory, in 1992/3, a couple of motorail vans were attached to one of the sleepers at Euston. I suspect the Glasgow or Edinburgh. I simply can’t remember the pricing then, but I have a feeling it was around £100 a car, plus the tickets for the passengers.

Which leads me to anecdote. There were some good deals for advance booking (quota controlled), and I vividly remember having quite an argument on the phone with a prospective customer who wanted to travel that evening but only wanted to pay the fare of the cheapest quota; he was somehow aware that there was still a spare space (a booking office must have blabbed, and given him the number of ‘head office’). However, while we were having the discussion, and I was explaining as best I could how I couldn’t negotiate a ticket price with a customer in this way, another customer booked the last slot at full price. Ha.

 

[Cowley]

From memory, in 1992/3, a couple of motorail vans were attached to one of the sleepers at Euston. I suspect the Glasgow or Edinburgh. I simply can’t remember the pricing then, but I have a feeling it was around £100 a car, plus the tickets for the passengers.

Which leads me to anecdote. There were some good deals for advance booking (quota controlled), and I vividly remember having quite an argument on the phone with a prospective customer who wanted to travel that evening but only wanted to pay the fare of the cheapest quota; he was somehow aware that there was still a spare space (a booking office must have blabbed, and given him the number of ‘head office’). However, while we were having the discussion, and I was explaining as best I could how I couldn’t negotiate a ticket price with a customer in this way, another customer booked the last slot at full price. Ha.

Brilliant.
From what I remember doing bashing trips around 1994 the Aberdeen and Inverness sleepers had about 5 enclosed Motorail vans on each of them with pairs of no heat 37s providing the power and a generator van for the train supply.
These were both long trains, each made up of about 15 coaches including the the motorail (GUV?) vans.
In the middle of the train where the Muggle seated coaches were you could still clearly hear the 37s at work so lord knows what it must have been like if you had a sleeper cabin right next to the locos!

 

[nlogax]

Can't speak for the 1990s, but FGW (as was) ran Motorail services attached to the Night Riviera from 1999 until 2005. Example 2003 pricing below.

 

[pdeaves]

Can't speak for the 1990s, but FGW (as was) ran Motorail services attached to the Night Riviera from 1999 until 2005. Example 2003 pricing below.


View attachment 77740

Is that an extract from the official publicity? From Penzance to London Paddington has incorrect places and an interesting time in the last row!

 

[telstarbox]

Was Penzance the only Motorail-enabled stop at the country end?

Presumably the improvements to the A30 are part of what killed off Motorail to Cornwall? Today Google Maps says you can drive from Ealing Broadway to Penzance in 5 hours, so for the closer parts of Cornwall you could finish work in London and be at your holiday destination for last orders...

 

[nlogax]

Is that an extract from the official publicity? From Penzance to London Paddington has incorrect places and an interesting time in the last row!

This is straight from the horse's mouth.. FGW's own website in 2003. 2004 looks like this,

 

[pdeaves]

This is straight from the horse's mouth.. FGW's own website in 2003. 2004 looks like this,

View attachment 77742

That's better; presumably whoever produced it spotted the mistakes!

 

[pdeaves]

Was Penzance the only Motorail-enabled stop at the country end?

At some point in history, Exeter St Davids, Newton Abbot, Totnes, Plymouth and St Austell had Motorail facilities, I believe. Not necessarily all at once and not necessarily to the end.

 

[Dr Hoo]

I used the 're-introduced' GW service four or five times. It was only two specially-converted side-loading vehicles attached to the Friday sleeper during the summer (or a mid-afternoon Sunday up working for a sort while). Typically six cars in total. Basically just took one 'loader' driver at Paddington and Penzance. Always seemed to be the same bloke at Paddington who just came in for a few hours per week. At Penzance it was a local First Group bus driver who got a bit of overtime. A real shoestring operation piggybacking on the Night Riviera admin in terms of booking, etc.

Very handy. Pity to see it go; but completely marginal in the overall scheme of things.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Thanks for the replies so far. Anyone got any info on the Anglo Scottish motorail services in its later years?

 

[LOM]

From my brief stint in the booking office:



Motorail leaflet 29 May - 24 September 1994

 

[LOM]

 

[Bald Rick]

Great find! And it seems my memory of £100 a car was about right - on the cheap days...

This is useful for anyone suggesting that motorail could make a return. At today’s money that is around £200 for a Golf sized car one way plus seat / sleeper tickets, rising to over £500 one way for larger cars on expensive days to the highlands. I’m sure some people might want to do it, but not many!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Good stuff. Many thanks for that.

 

[randyrippley]

Thanks for the replies so far. Anyone got any info on the Anglo Scottish motorail services in its later years?

for the last few years it was a standard MkIII/class 90 rake with four (?) covered car carriers tagged on the back. This resulted in the loco getting sandwiched between the two rakes on the southbound journey.
Prior to that it was a mix of Mk1/2 coaches plus the car carriers, often hauled by an 81 or 85.
I've forgotten how long they were, but on one occasion when the loco failed southbound after passing Oxenholme it coasted to Lancaster and was parked in platform 5 - where it also fouled the points at both ends of platform 4.

 

[dubscottie]

The Edinburgh-Euston daytime train had a BFO/BG rather than a DVT.

 

[randyrippley]

The Edinburgh-Euston daytime train had a BFO/BG rather than a DVT.

I'm inclined to think that brake coach is a replacement for a failed DVT. Its an otherwise all mk3 rake and would surely normally have a DVT?