My first railtour

[pooliemag]

Hi everyone
Well ive finally booked my first railtour .....the Forth and Tay bridges scenic circular with compass railtours on 18TH JUNE.
My questions are .... is anyone from the forum doing this tour? what should i expect from the journey...should i bring anything in particular ( apart from a camera and tickets lol )....basically any advice or thoughts would be gratefully received. Im really looking forward to this trip and want the day to be as memorable as possible

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[Njal]

Food & drink!

I rarely take any photos that I'm particularly happy with when I'm actually travelling on a railtour, it's difficult to get photos on the move, and too crowded when the thing stops (though looking at my photos on the Railway Herald site 3 of the top 10 most popular were taken on railtours, so some people must like them).

Have fun.

Regards,

Neil

 

[142094]

You can sometimes get some very good pictures from the door windows on railtours, as long as you are safe. Some idiots will have half their body out the window but if you can usually get a few quick shots safely.

Take drink and food, saves having to buy stuff at the station or on board. Food on board can be hit and miss, and usually expensive. And don't mention the queues! Sometimes they might have a bar as well, with a special ale to go with it, so might be good to see if it has this.

 

[4SRKT]

You need to bring stacks of booze if you're on a long tour. You tend to start drinking earlier in the day than normal when you've got up earlier, and it's a good idea to nominate a station as a point at which it would be 'sensible' to start drinking. For example, on last years fantastic class 40 tour from Carlisle to Inverness tour my mate and I didn't crack open the first until Perth (about 10:00). This was a good move because we had 3 hours to kill in Inverness, and what is one to do with three hours in Inverness except drink more beer? An earlier start would have resulted in collosal levels of drunkenness. As it was by the time we got back almost 19 hours after starting we were pretty knackered.

Grub also. Treat yourself as it's a special day out. On Spitfire's White Rose in February we brought loads of smoked trout sandwiches and a cold roast pheasant. This hearty feed almost made up for the involuntary, unadvertised duff bashing that was imposed on the tour participants from Stanhope all the way back to York

 

[37401]

You need to bring stacks of booze if you're on a long tour. You tend to start drinking earlier in the day than normal when you've got up earlier

And if your getting on a tour hauled by a GM or duff then "drink till shes hot" in other words drink so much before the tour you wont care whats on it and ,wont remember it, good if your paying £50-60 for a Shed skip or duff

If your under 18 then ermmm jusr drink lots and lots of red pop

Serously speaking just take food, drink and your ticket and camera, that what I did for my first tour last year with 20303 20304 20309 and 37423 (quite a nice line up for a first ever bash )

Enjoy it and don't over doss in the morning
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This hearty feed almost made up for the involuntary, unadvertised duff bashing that was imposed on the tour participants from Stanhope all the way back to York

ahh I see you were on that one too, my mate wanted to go up the train for the duff, don't worry we kicked it out of him, I think yelling "duff basher" in a coach full of EE bashers helped too

 

[4SRKT]

And if your getting on a tour hauled by a GM or duff then "drink till shes hot" in other words drink so much before the tour you wont care whats on it and ,wont remember it, good if your paying £50-60 for a Shed skip or duff

Tarring all GMs with the same brush can be a mistake. I've just come back from one of the best tours of my life: from Belfast to Dublin with an NIR 111 class GM, then on to Tralee with one of the Irish Rail 071 class versions. Simply fantastic!
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ahh I see you were on that one too, my mate wanted to go up the train for the duff, don't worry we kicked it out of him, I think yelling "duff basher" in a coach full of EE bashers helped too

Quite right too. Duff bashing indeed. It's one thing when you know it's going to happen (and so can avoid it), but when you're there for the 37s, it's little short of a scandal. I'm quite aware that the loop at Stanhope wasn't long enough, but the tractors could have been put back on the front at Shildon, or even Darlington. The tour hung around York for ages, so there's no way this wouldn't have been possible time wise.

 

[37401]

Tarring all GMs with the same brush can be a mistake. I've just come back from one of the best tours of my life: from Belfast to Dublin with an NIR 111 class GM, then on to Tralee with one of the Irish Rail 071 class versions. Simply fantastic!

Yeah true, I wouldnt mind visiting for those myself but you know what I mean not much of a chance an 111 or 071 will appear on a tour over here

 

[87015]

I'm 99% sure the duff drag back from Stanhope was advertised plenty time before on the Spitfire website. Plenty of the anti-duff crowd bailed at York as a result.

Still, at least your likely to get there with a duff unlike a log; I see 50019 was living up to the classes usual reliability on Saturday...

 

[4SRKT]

I'm 99% sure the duff drag back from Stanhope was advertised plenty time before on the Spitfire website. Plenty of the anti-duff crowd bailed at York as a result.

Still, at least your likely to get there with a duff unlike a log; I see 50019 was living up to the classes usual reliability on Saturday...

Well, I had no idea of it and I'm sure I would have seen it had it been advertised. As I was only on the mini-tour I would have thought twice about it had I known, that's for sure.

 

[455driver]

. The tour hung around York for ages, so there's no way this wouldn't have been possible time wise.

What about sorting out the VSTP schedule, was there a path available to carry out the run round, was there a shunter available (probably), who would pay!

 

[4SRKT]

What about sorting out the VSTP schedule, was there a path available to carry out the run round, was there a shunter available (probably), who would pay!

If there were to be extra costs, then who would pay would be the tour operator I suppose. There were a lot of disgruntled people on this, particularly mini-tour participants, and the operator I would guess got a lot more revenue than they would have done had it been common knowledge that duffage was to be 50% of the featured traction for the mini-tour. The duff and 37s had to be swapped over at York anyway, so the maneouvre occurred there, rather than at Darlington or Shildon which would have been better from an enthusiasts' POV.

Don't get me wrong, I think Spitfire are a great operator, probably my favourite, with great tours, well run by nice people, featuring good traction. This was my only negative experience of them to date, and even this didn't spoil the enjoyment of the day much.

 

[37401]

Still, at least your likely to get there with a duff unlike a log; I see 50019 was living up to the classes usual reliability on Saturday...

Logs are more fun though, duffs are just duffs and so it begins the 50 Vs 47 war begins again

Serously speaking getting back to the OP, enjoy it mate have a good first and hopefully not your last tour hope all runs well for you and your not rushing for trains home last minute, if you are relying on public transport to take you home its best to plan for the worse and take extra money for taxi fare, itll be much better than walking I bet

 

[37412]

4SRKT, no one that I knew was unaware of the fact it was a WCRC 47 back from Stanhope, is certainly was on the Spitfire website well in advance of the tour, it was originally advertised 37's both ways but I remember reading someone questioning it on the wnxx forum and shortly after Spitfire advised that it would be a 47 on the return. Regarding swapping the 37's round somewhere else, was there time, were there facilties there to do so etc? The line was single track so timing would have probably been difficult. The service train on the line was delayed I believe with the tour so hardly time for doing anything there with such tight times.

 

[4SRKT]

4SRKT, no one that I knew was unaware of the fact it was a WCRC 47 back from Stanhope, is certainly was on the Spitfire website well in advance of the tour, it was originally advertised 37's both ways but I remember reading someone questioning it on the wnxx forum and shortly after Spitfire advised that it would be a 47 on the return. Regarding swapping the 37's round somewhere else, was there time, were there facilties there to do so etc? The line was single track so timing would have probably been difficult. The service train on the line was delayed I believe with the tour so hardly time for doing anything there with such tight times.

Obviously I didn't look again after having booked (early)

Darlington would have been the obvious place to have run the locos round. It could have been done in one of the loops off the platform roads and not blocked anything up. There was over an hour's fester at York, so some or all of that time could have been spent at Darlo doing the move that at to be done anyway (at York).

 

[142094]

Not sure how a changeover would be done northbound, don't think the loop in the station is long enough. Unless the up line loop was used in the wrong direction.

 

[pooliemag]

You need to bring stacks of booze if you're on a long tour. You tend to start drinking earlier in the day than normal when you've got up earlier, and it's a good idea to nominate a station as a point at which it would be 'sensible' to start drinking. For example, on last years fantastic class 40 tour from Carlisle to Inverness tour my mate and I didn't crack open the first until Perth (about 10:00). This was a good move because we had 3 hours to kill in Inverness, and what is one to do with three hours in Inverness except drink more beer? An earlier start would have resulted in collosal levels of drunkenness. As it was by the time we got back almost 19 hours after starting we were pretty knackered.

Grub also. Treat yourself as it's a special day out. On Spitfire's White Rose in February we brought loads of smoked trout sandwiches and a cold roast pheasant. This hearty feed almost made up for the involuntary, unadvertised duff bashing that was imposed on the tour participants from Stanhope all the way back to York

Sorry for the late reply
So i best bring lots of booze as this tour works out at around 18hrs
Seriously though , this is the first time ive travelled further north than Preston on the WCML so i'm hoping to be glued to the window catching the sights lol. Is there anything i should keep my eyes open for? It will also be my first visit to Scotland by rail and im really looking forward to the trip over the bridges as ive only seen them on tv . I promised myself when i was younger(in my 40s now) that i would one day see these bridges "in real life" and that is the reason i choose this tour as my first railtour. So if i can ask... is there any opportunities to photograph the bridges on the approach?

Thank you again to everyone that has replied and your advice is welcomed and appreciated

Oh and one last question if i may,
the tour is booked to hauled by a class 67 and im just wondering what peoples thoughts are about this loco? ive seen it on youtube and it looks to be pretty quick and noisy at times...is this the case? I normally only use voyagers on my trips as most are from the West Midlands to Darlington and have only seen 67s in Birmingham New St stn so have yet to see one on the move lol

Cheers guys and i hope my questions are not too silly but as im not a regular rail traveller im pretty naive to some of the knowledge that comes with regular travel.

 

[37401]

Oh and one last question if i may,
the tour is booked to hauled by a class 67 and im just wondering what peoples thoughts are about this loco? ive seen it on youtube and it looks to be pretty quick and noisy at times...is this the case? I normally only use voyagers on my trips as most are from the West Midlands to Darlington and have only seen 67s in Birmingham New St stn so have yet to see one on the move lol

Not bad locos, they do the job required by them, not as noisey as some classes of loco but the sound they make isnt really my cup of tea.

Id recomend a class 37 or 20 or 50 or 40 for your next tour, or visit a preserved line for haulage behind one

Class 20

Class 37

Class 40

Class 50

And your Class 67

 

[Dreadnought]

Not bad locos, they do the job required by them, not as noisey as some classes of loco but the sound they make isnt really my cup of tea.

Id recomend a class 37 or 20 or 50 or 40 for your next tour, or visit a preserved line for haulage behind one

Class 20

Class 37

Class 40

Class 50

And your Class 67

Personally I cannot wait until July 10th when I'm on the Rail Blue charter from Leicester to Carlisle and return with 2 DRS 47s in multi

I have enjoyed tours with 20s, 37s and the 40 amongst others. I have been to a fair few galas as well though and always try to ride behind every loco working (except that odd liveried 50, I won't ride behind that till its painted into a proper livery ), though its not quite the same as a mainline run when the locos get a proper working

 

[43034 The Black Horse]

Oh and one last question if i may,
the tour is booked to hauled by a class 67 and im just wondering what peoples thoughts are about this loco? ive seen it on youtube and it looks to be pretty quick and noisy at times...is this the case? I normally only use voyagers on my trips as most are from the West Midlands to Darlington and have only seen 67s in Birmingham New St stn so have yet to see one on the move lol

Hallo there.

I personally don't mind 67s, myself. Like the noise they make and whilst they're not the loudest engines, they're not exactly uber quiet (see here: http://www.youtube.com/user/Trowbridgejim#p/u/7/GfourbChgOI No.16 leaving Yatton). They're quite quick off the mark, just a shame they're not Co-Co engines.

 

[CallySleeperKid]

Hi everyone
Well ive finally booked my first railtour .....the Forth and Tay bridges scenic circular with compass railtours on 18TH JUNE.
My questions are .... is anyone from the forum doing this tour? what should i expect from the journey...should i bring anything in particular ( apart from a camera and tickets lol )....basically any advice or thoughts would be gratefully received. Im really looking forward to this trip and want the day to be as memorable as possible

Thanks in advance for any help

Ah, someone else in the same boat, or train if you like, as me. Im doing my first railtour in October and I can't wait!

WEST HIGHLAND & JACOBITE STATESMAN

Nothing saying on the site yet as to whats hauling it, but I gather from most YouTube videos of Statesman tours that it will be West Coast 47s, 37s or one of each top and tailing the coaches.

I can't wait, I hope you have a fantastic tour and let us know how you get on. If you get the chance to tour more of Scotland, Highland Main Line, West Highland Line, or the Kyle Line, then get up there, some of the best scenery you will ever see. I have done all those line but would like to cover them all on railtours one day........... one day!