Are Pathfinder for real?

[4SRKT]

This seems a nice enough day out, with tractors (although in the dreaded top 'n' tail mode I suppose).

http://www.pathfindertours.co.uk/index.php/tour-calendar-reader/events/the-galloway-galloper.html

Who on Earth is going to pay £79 to do this in standard class? Nobody I would imagine: this price is so far off beam that I'm struggling to believe the cheek of Chingfinder. Anyone naive enough to book on this would be advised to have something else up his sleeve for this date as it's certain to be caped for lack of bookings.

 

[12CSVT]

I think the Great Central Railway's diesel running weekend might be a better option. Start and finish the day at times convenient to you and at a fraction of the cost.
(Unless you happen to be a desperado track basher)

 

[MidnightFlyer]

IMHO, Pathfinder Tours are the second-best touring company behind BLS, for what I need them for (track!). It does three freight-only branches, looks good!

It's like saying ‘Would you pay £XX.XX to go on a tour behind Tornado?’ Those who wanted to may pay 'over the odds' to do so, it's the same with many and track-bashing...

The date is in the diary... bring on the tour!!!

You can't really say 'That's outrageous'. Many would pay this amount to do the branches, or bash the 37s, or to have a nice day out in SW Scotland...

 

[scotsman]

Class 37 based fares I'm afraid. They're an utter joke, may I point out that an SPT Daytripper ticket covers all but the Barrhill - Stranraer section for the grand total of.......£9.80! That's right an £69.20 Premium for 37s, Mk1s and routing!

 

[Chester025]

Class 37 based fares I'm afraid. They're an utter joke, may I point out that an SPT Daytripper ticket covers all but the Barrhill - Stranraer section for the grand total of.......£9.80! That's right an £69.20 Premium for 37s, Mk1s and routing!

Yes but can you go to Killoch, Riccarton & Waterside on that ticket? This tour is aimed at 'track bashers' and looking at how full the Buffer Puffer trains sell out I reckon this one will do quite well.

 

[4SRKT]

Nonsense. Spitfire regularly put on class 37 tours covering much greater mileage for £49 a pop in standard class. Chingfinder are an absolute joke, and we've seen tour after tour caped due to lack of bookings recently. When will they learn?

 

[heart-of-wessex]

I'm in two minds with this one, I see what your saying by who would get on that for that price, but then again it's no surprise at the amount of freight lines it's using, track access would be through the roof.

I reckon that it will sell out if I am honest, their £80 steam tours go down well and even BLS tours with Class 66s on at £90 get sold out, anything to get rare track in.

PS Chester025 - agreed, plus Ayr goods loops and Glasgow Suburban freight line, even I would pay that price

 

[garnon]

Actually this is an inspirational tour. Ok so its in Scotland (for someone south of the Thames), but the rarety of some of the track for loco haulage is exceptional.

The cheque is in the post.

 

[4SRKT]

I'm in two minds with this one, I see what your saying by who would get on that for that price, but then again it's no surprise at the amount of freight lines it's using, track access would be through the roof.

I reckon that it will sell out if I am honest, their £80 steam tours go down well and even BLS tours with Class 66s on at £90 get sold out, anything to get rare track in.

I can see about the Tornado thing, as kettle veg tend to be older and have more money to throw about, but I'm at a loss to understand how most people can afford such a day out TBH.

I was booked on the mini-tour part of a Pathfinder tour with 40145 around the Harrogate loop a while back, but the whole thing got caped due to lack of interest due to the larcenous price of the main tour. This was about the third time in less than a year this had happened to a Pathfinder tour. I was torn between disappointment at missing out and grim satisfaction at the administration of this simple business lesson,

 

[theblackwatch]

I was booked on the mini-tour part of a Pathfinder tour with 40145 around the Harrogate loop a while back, but the whole thing got caped due to lack of interest due to the larcenous price of the main tour. This was about the third time in less than a year this had happened to a Pathfinder tour. I was torn between disappointment at missing out and grim satisfaction at the administration of this simple business lesson,

Yet said tour ran (it was postponed - not caped), at £5 more, with a Class 70 at the head of the train (although re-routed due to 70s not being cleared for Harrogate). Which shows that cost isn't the main factor in booking a tour for a lot of people.

 

[4SRKT]

Well, that's a right eye-opener I must say. I can't believe anyone would pay prices like these, but if they've got this much cash burning holes in their pockets then good luck to 'em! I must be in the wrong game if everyone else can glibly spend £80 odd quid on a day out.

 

[scotsman]

I'm not going comment on the rights and wrongs, given that Railtours are giving me my only mainline work at the moment. If there's a will there's a way - they wouldn't advertise at £80 if they didnt think they could book it.

 

[heart-of-wessex]

Just also seen a BLS tour at £79 for Eastleigh to Barking/Tilbury/East London and back over various sidings, not far distance wise but a bit like the Pathfinder tour, freight lines aren't cheap from what I've heard

 

[Techniquest]

Quite, Buffer Puffer tours are usually expensive due to their freight track, as is any other railtour that involves a ton of it. As for who would book this Pathfinder tour, if I knew for 100% I'd have the money when they would be taking it out (sometime in January I suspect), I'd have done a booking as soon as I had gone through the route.

The passenger track it does, yes you can do it on a Daytripper. Done most of it already myself (bar some of it from Kings Park or somewhere nearby to Newton) on such a ticket, but it's the stupendously rare freight track I'm keen on. As heart-of-wessex points out, the track access charges would be enormous for this tour. Pathfinder need to make their money somehow.

Worth also pointing out that as it's a limited capacity train, the fares will be higher. If they could have done so, I daresay they'd have put, say, 11 MK1s on it and had the fare set lower as a result. Obviously not do-able with some of the places this goes to. Again, Buffer Puffers aren't cheap due to their limited capacity.

Then there's 2 37s to hire in with the MK1s, bound to be fairly expensive. Although the coaching stock will be up there off that rugby trip thing they're running from Swansea.

I'm very happy to book this, but I can't at this time due to not knowing what my finances will be like at the time as I type this. I might have a better idea next week, but I'm also wanting to spend a fortune next year on an ALR. A mate of mine asked what I would if a tour with hellfire traction and routing came up, and now this has been announced. I won't be proving him wrong about doing an ALR after all!

 

[Bittern]

I don't think I'd mind the price of this one, actually. If I could, I would, but it's just too close to Christmas there'd be no way I could afford it!

I can see about the Tornado thing, as kettle veg tend to be older and have more money to throw about

Not all of us. (note: I'm talking about having the money, not the age )

 

[ChampsRacing]

The most ive spent on standard fare on a railtour is £49 but then again ive paid for £147 per person for premier dining for me and my fiancee behind tornado last christmas and it was well worth it. The way i see it if a person wants to do the route bad enough they will pay the amount.

 

[4SRKT]

The most ive spent on standard fare on a railtour is £49 but then again ive paid for £147 per person for premier dining for me and my fiancee behind tornado last christmas and it was well worth it. The way i see it if a person wants to do the route bad enough they will pay the amount.

Premier dining maybe, but my remark was based on the Standard class fare. The response on here has shown me that some people at least are prepared to do something like this, although I wouldn't myself.

 

[Drimnagh Road]

Hmmm, £79 does seem like complete madness alright, I was always giving out when they were charging £65, which was dear in comparrison to Spitfire.

The only way I would justify paying £79 is if they were EWS 37s. With DRS machines, they are easy to pick up on a couple of charters throughout the year on high mileage trips for around £50.

This tour is definitly one for the track bashers me thinks. Are they using some of the stock from the Rugby charter they're running on the Friday? They did this last year and if I remember correctly they also offered a discount to passengers who booked both trips.

 

[37401]

The pair of peds tour sounds great, £80 for it is quite a steep climb but given that nome of the others are using 31s I'm happy to pay that

 

[4SRKT]

Yes, yes, I get the picture. I was wrong and some people are prepared to pay crazy prices for Rail Atlas red bits.

 

[37401]

Yes, yes, I get the picture. I was wrong and some people are prepared to pay crazy prices for Rail Atlas red bits.

I agree with you on the 37 tour pricing, it's too much, given that it's only cost me 55 quid for 1000 class miles this weekend

 

[Drimnagh Road]

I note in the "Tour Calender" section of Spitfire Railtours website, there is a tour pencilled in for Feb 12th, traction and destination TBC at this early stage, but could be worth holding off booking on the Chingfinder one.

Who knows, there could be a second tour utilising DRS 37s for a fraction of the cost.

 

[37412]

To me the pricing seems pretty easy to work out, the train is a complex branchline itenary that has no doubt cost a lot to plan, I would assume the train will load only to around 6 coaches compared to 12 or 13 of a normal tour as per the last few branch bashes PF have run. So heres the thing, half the amount of people are going to be on the train so how are the costs covered? Simples, make it more expensive. IIRC it £79 the last time I did a Buffer Puffer round London which was a nice day out with 37401 & 37422 back in Feb 08 so the price has not gone up since then. I saw someone had posted something about dreaded top and tail as well, what the hell that is supposed to mean god knows, I would rather have a single to a pair any day and if it is load 6 with a dead one a single should make some racket on the climb on the Stranraer line!!

 

[Drimnagh Road]

The pair of peds tour sounds great, £80 for it is quite a steep climb but given that nome of the others are using 31s I'm happy to pay that

Who mentioned 31s?

 

[theblackwatch]

Who mentioned 31s?

I think he's referring to this new Pathfinder tour:

http://www.pathfindertours.co.uk/index.php/tour-calendar-reader/events/the-rother-don-rambler.html

 

[Donny Dave]

I must be in the wrong game if everyone else can glibly spend £80 odd quid on a day out.

£80 for a day out is nothing these days. Example. Jean Michel Jarre concert in Manchester last month. £45 for the ticket, £28 to get to/from Manchester, £35 for 1 nights stay in a hotel, plus food and drink. Total cost about £125. (That's without the added costs of going to Oulton Park the following day.)

 

[4SRKT]

£80 for a day out is nothing these days. Example. Jean Michel Jarre concert in Manchester last month. £45 for the ticket, £28 to get to/from Manchester, £35 for 1 nights stay in a hotel, plus food and drink. Total cost about £125. (That's without the added costs of going to Oulton Park the following day.)

Maybe, but I wouldn't go and see Jean Michel Jarre either, 'cos he's crap!

Don't forget that all the add ons you mention would also apply to the Pathfinder do for anyone who didn't live in Southern Scotland, so £80 isn't the true cost of that day out.

 

[theblackwatch]

There's a second Pathfinder trip featuring 31s now, a pair on the annual Mazey Day excursion in June.