railtour-live.co.uk

[60163]

Hi all. Does anyone use this site/service, and is it any good? Thanks

 

[scotsman]

Seems like an absolute rip-off to me
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
...and open to abuse, you send them gen - they post it to others at a cost. I imagine an influx of duff gen would take it down very, very quickly

 

[d1015fan]

Seems like an absolute rip-off to me
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
...and open to abuse, you send them gen - they post it to others at a cost. I imagine an influx of duff gen would take it down very, very quickly

I would be very sceptical of this. i am sure it is a very honest and law abiding service and don't wanna cast any aspirtions but there are plenty of railtour gen on regional yahoo groups

 

[blackfive460]

It's an add on to the NatPres forum which I'm sure many of us here know all about.
That's NatPres Ltd., by the way which started well but seems to be attempting to be a profit making business.
The railtour gen thing is a good idea, especially when standing in the middle of nowhere, in the rain waiting for a tour that may, or may not be on the way - but only if you take out the profit motive.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

It's run by National Preservation. Of course it's a ripoff.

[comments about NP forum removed]

 

[natpres]

Good morning,
I would like to defend RailTour-Live.
And just explain exactly what the system does.

First off, I would like to address all comments in turn.

scotsman

SMS messages cost 15p to receive, and you can start and stop the service as and when you want.
The servers are monitored, so if we see duff gen go out, we will refund the users for that credit, and the user sending out
duff gen will be removed from the system.

blackfive460

It's not an addon to the forum, the forum will always be free to use. However, the RailTour-Live system currently is not makig a profit, and we are drawing up plans that once fee's and costs are met, donations will be made to the groups that own the engines, helping pay and keep them going.

Nat Pres is not registered as a not for profit company, however I have decided that after costs and fees, all extras go towards the heritage movement. I nor anyone else makes money from Nat Pres Ltd. Obviously from company's we purchase services from.

ralphchadkirk

Really? lol.

The system as it stands allows registered members to send messages for free, in some cases we will meet your costs.
If you wish to receive SMS messages, they will cost you 15p, and you are in full control how your money is spent.

I hope this answers some of your questions, and I am happy to answer anyone else's.

Cheers

 

[Bomber]

I was out last Saturday photting the Buxton Spa, the updates from Railtour live were very useful especially when the train was delayed at Chinley. There was a steady stream of info, obviously from someone on board. I do not begrudge paying a small fee for the information if it means I know I've got a bit of extra time to get to my next location.
I guess there will always be knockers and those who think it's a rip off, simple, if you want to stand out there not knowing what's happening then good luck to you.

David L.

 

[wce]

Railtour live is a useful service IMO.

If you are stood lineside waiting then it will tell you how long you have to wait.

I remember the good old days when you could be stood for hours waiting for the train to arrive with no idea what is going on. Now for 15p you know what is happening and the beauty of it is that if you have a internet access phone you dont eat into your data allowance by surfing the web trying to find out. All the information is sent to you via text and that is it. Couldn't be easier then again the simple ideas are the best!!! Especially for those of us who aren't all that with technology. The easier to use the better.

I guess it is a modern version of the old SLOA phone line for timings.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Am I being cynical, or is it odd that after a few critical posts about NP and Railtour Live, an account from NatPres is registered and replies to the comments, and the coincidentally two new members, who both registered today sing its praises on their first post?

Cynical, me? Never.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Cynical, me? Never.

I wouldn't call that cynical, it must be one hell of a coincidence, especially when this is the only thing they commented on.

Does seem a bit of a rip-off, tours will nearly always turn up within 15-20 if not ontime, you just gotta wait, usually there's many around you doing the sazme thing. not much of a problem really.

 

[wce]

Am I being cynical, or is it odd that after a few critical posts about NP and Railtour Live, an account from NatPres is registered and replies to the comments, and the coincidentally two new members, who both registered today sing its praises on their first post?

Cynical, me? Never.

Actually I have been a long time lurker but your post amongst others made me post. I think it is a good service so I thought I would post. I will post on other subjects now I have bitten the bullet and made my first post although you are not exactly welcoming are you Ralph? Is this because I have a different view to you?
However I do thank you for your post as it was one of the reasons that made me register. Hopefully our association will long continue

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I have just had a look at the website, it does look to be - how shall I say this? - a bit like ralphchadkirk describes it. Is it just me?

 

[Sidmouth34010]

Ralph Chadkirk - As a long time Natpres member and now moderator I do find your comments somewhat dissappointing . A forum is only as good as the members who contribute to it and the spirit they do that in . Given that i'm rarely on here , yours and others postings on this thread have done little to endear this forum to me , nor make me feel like it's a place I wish to visit , which sadly is little different to your perception and view of Nat Pres. What is different is i'm not trolling about railuk on other forums

I actually think the railtour live proposition is a good one . It needs refining and a lot of work is going on behind the scenes to improve the proposition. It then creates an opportunity for those who choose to line side to contribute back as profits can be given back to preservation . So you get something at minimal cost but collectively it adds up to something worthwhile

 

[90019]

What is different is i'm not trolling about railuk on other forums.

Just because you don't like someone's opinion doesn't make them a troll.

 

[blackfive460]

To get back to the subject of the live railtour information; while, no doubt, it can be very useful and there are other sources (I managed quite well on Saturday with emails to one of the Yahoo gen groups) I can't help thinking that such a thing would be more widely used if the apparent profit motive (whatever that profit is going to be used for) were taken out.
I know it's possible to feed incoming text messages to a web page as well as retransmitting them as SMS to those who want it which for those with an internet enabled 'phone would be more convenient.
I'd be happy to pay a reasonable annual subscription for access but I'm not about to pay 15p a time for information that may well prove to be irrelevant or duplicated.
I also note that there will/may be gps tracking available at some point. Now that would be an ideal way of getting updated info - but I doubt I'll be paying the four quid per tour to use it...

 

[natpres]

Hello all,

Currently, not even the costs are being met, so we are constantly in a negative balance.
We have a web page under development so members can add the update by web page. Potentially costing them nothing. If the get free data on their service plan. If they get free SMS messages on their service plan, then sending in an SMS is free.
The services we use are not free, therefore if we we're to offer a free service, it would cost me out of my own pocket. That's not very fair to me.
There will be a GPS system, however the unit costs over £300 and then there is a monthly fee to operate it. these costs also have to be covered.
We can not even afford this at the moment, hence why it's being worked on.
If we ever do make a profit, most of it would go back into the company anyway, to reduce costs (If I bulk buy SMS messages, I can get them cheaper).
Also we are not VAT registered, so we are absorbing that VAT. We can't get the VAT that we pay back.
Paying for an annual subscription would be ok, but we believed paying for what you got was fairer, if you got 10 SMS messages and someone else got 10,000. Technically you would be paying more per SMS.
All messages that are deemed invalid or bad, are refunded. And not just you, everyone who received that message would get the 15p back.
I hope this answers some questions.

Also, this thread is not about NP, but RailTour-Live, please keep on topic. If you have an issue with NP, please contact the team over there. forum@national-preservation.com.

Thank you

 

[blackfive460]

We have a web page under development so members can add the update by web page. Potentially costing them nothing. If the get free data on their service plan. If they get free SMS messages on their service plan, then sending in an SMS is free.

I get neither free but I'd be happy to post gen that way so how about an annual subscription to access the information on a web page rather than getting SMS? It would have to be a reasonable price though!

There will be a GPS system...

Thinking about this; is it ever going to be viable?
To give enough coverage of tours, you'd need more than one unit, probably three or four. Then you have to negotiate with tour operators to carry it and we all know what tour operators think about 'freeloading' linesiders.

Paying for an annual subscription would be ok, but we believed paying for what you got was fairer, if you got 10 SMS messages and someone else got 10,000. Technically you would be paying more per SMS.

I was thinking more about a subscription for GPS tracking rather than SMS.

Also, this thread is not about NP, but RailTour-Live, please keep on topic.

Quite agree.

 

[natpres]

An annual subscription to the GPS tracker.

I am willing to do this and display the results on a web page, viewable from a smart phone.

However, if you still required an SMS service, you would still have to pay the SMS tariff.

I might add, the speed will not be passed through. This is for operational reasons.

 

[yorkie]

I have restored this thread, after some posts relating to a dispute were removed.

Please use this thread to discuss the railtour-live service only, and please be courteous in any further replies.

Any problems with any post (not just in this thread, but in general) as always please click the report button (

bottom left of each post) and let us know.

 

[Bomber]

Just to give you some idea how useful this service is. This morning I decided to go to the Crewe/Nantwich area to see the Salopian and 71000, sent my text code to the system and was sent the last update, 'taking water at Rugby about 20 minutes down'.
Sent another text to stop any more messages.
Had a leisurely run down the motorway and got to Nantwich station, sent another text to start updates and got the last one, 'taking water at Crewe at 11.45' therefore 30 minutes down. A bit later another text, 'left Crewe 12.20' so got out of car and walked onto the platform and a few minute later she cruised through. So I sent several texts which on my payg are free, received 3 costing me 45p. No hassle, no wondering where the train was, all the information you could want.

OK now some might say that you could get this from updates on various web sites, try getting a 3G signal on the S&C, that's if you have a suitable phone, Railtour Live is a simple, effective system, but it does rely on others sending updates, but then again so does any other information system.

David L.

 

[60163]

I wish I'd started using it for The Salopian yesterday. I got to Birmingham Int. at about 4pm, waiting around for 1/2 an hour reading the arrival boards, then went to the loo. Came down to platform 5 and heard this strange noise, but there was just a 350 sitting there, and I couldn't see anything coming through on the other side of the unit. So i stroll down onto the platform, then see these huge plumes of smoke coming up past the unit....then had to madly dash to the end of the platform to see the Duke.

As soom as I get some PayPal credit, I'm using this.

 

[wce]

I wish I'd started using it for The Salopian yesterday. I got to Birmingham Int. at about 4pm, waiting around for 1/2 an hour reading the arrival boards, then went to the loo. Came down to platform 5 and heard this strange noise, but there was just a 350 sitting there, and I couldn't see anything coming through on the other side of the unit. So i stroll down onto the platform, then see these huge plumes of smoke coming up past the unit....then had to madly dash to the end of the platform to see the Duke.

As soom as I get some PayPal credit, I'm using this.

This was the point I was making earlier, the service takes away the uncertainty - hence why I find it useful when out.

 

[Techniquest]

I like the sound of this, incredibly useful to someone like myself who doesn't have an Internet capable phone (yes, we do exist! As much as I'd find it useful on a bash/photting session, I refuse to pay out such stupid amounts of money for a phone to do that), I'll have to remember it when I next go out! Which won't be for a fair ol' while yet, however I'll try to use it when I do UKR's The Midland and Great Central No 2 in June.

 

[Bomber]

I like the sound of this, incredibly useful to someone like myself who doesn't have an Internet capable phone (yes, we do exist! As much as I'd find it useful on a bash/photting session, I refuse to pay out such stupid amounts of money for a phone to do that), I'll have to remember it when I next go out! Which won't be for a fair ol' while yet, however I'll try to use it when I do UKR's The Midland and Great Central No 2 in June.

Don't forget the system is only as good as the information supplied, so if you are on a tour or at the lineside, do your bit and send a few updates to keep others informed.

 

[Techniquest]

Aye, that's what I meant when I said about using it on the aforementioned UKR tour. Should I happen to lineside anywhere in the meantime, I'll ensure I send in some updates

 

[MadCommuter]

This looks like a useful service. However, I'm surprised that there isn't a free 7 day trial. I've just registered and found that I need to commit £10 to my account. I thought the system would just be chargeable to my mobile account?

 

[Techniquest]

Interesting, I'd have thought that would be the way to do things too. Not keen on having to shove a tenner on it first in order to get any gen!

 

[natpres]

We have been thinking about crediting members accounts, How does 5 messages sound?
It's the old adage, nothing is for free...

And as for the system being chargeable to your mobile account, like in the shows on TV we could do, however the cost will rise as at the moment we're cheaper then the cheapest band on a premium SmS short code which is 25p I believe plus your normal SMS charge..

We're also looking to got towards a short code system, ie 88444 etc.

 

[blackfive460]

We have been thinking about crediting members accounts, How does 5 messages sound?
It's the old adage, nothing is for free...

I thought you gave 75p credit when signing up anyway.

We're also looking to got towards a short code system, ie 88444 etc.

Bear in mind that texting to short codes is often not included in free text allowances. Certainly the case with Virgin Mobile.
With the majority of 'phones now having the facility, surely mobile internet and a daily, monthly or annual subscription (plus SMS for those who want them, of course) is the way to go with this?

 

[natpres]

Very true Ian,

We discontinued it a little while ago, it was a trial.
you see, if members only want to use our system for one tour, they would register and get free credits. They would then start their tour updates so they would get the updates they would want for free.
If we we're making money out of this, we would offer some free credit to new members. But there has been so much uproar about the suggestion that that could happen. You can't have it both ways?