Could anyone have a private train?

[TheEdge]

Now we all know Her Maj. has a private train and NR seems perfectly happy with the sizeable number of charter companies planning single paths and the such like.

But could just anyone have their own train? If Lord Sir Sugar for example, decided, in 2017, to buy a now defunct Class 153 could he furnish it with the all the trimmings of opulent wealth, hire a driver and then have his own private train?

 

[Muzer]

Hah, I read that as 143 for a minute. Could certainly imagine Lord Sugar in his private Pacer

 

[northwichcat]

Lord Sugar in his private Pacer

"Get me whoever built this unit. "

"You're Fired!"

 

[Ironside]

Now we all know Her Maj. has a private train and NR seems perfectly happy with the sizeable number of charter companies planning single paths and the such like.

But could just anyone have their own train? If Lord Sir Sugar for example, decided, in 2017, to buy a now defunct Class 153 could he furnish it with the all the trimmings of opulent wealth, hire a driver and then have his own private train?

If money was no object then I would guess so, but as I understand the difficult part would be the advanced notice required to use a line, it's not like a private yatch where you can sail about the open seas as you like.

It would make more sence to charter a loco for occasional journeys and have your own luxury coaches.

Perhaps you could have your own train to commute to work on if the route had enough spare capacity for a path ie on a rural branch line and nowhere near a large city.

 

[Cliveblackpool]

If money was no object then I would guess so, but as I understand the difficult part would be the advanced notice required to use a line, it's not like a private yatch where you can sail about the open seas as you like.

It would make more sence to charter a loco for occasional journeys and have your own luxury coaches.

Perhaps you could have your own train to commute to work on if the route had enough spare capacity for a path ie on a rural branch line and nowhere near a large city.

Probably rural branch lines - a lot have been so severely downgraded to virtually one train on line - is more difficult to find a path than a main line. Except at night or a Sunday.
In BR days it was fairly easy to hire a train. The going rate was around £900 for a 3 coach DMU for an afternoon on a branch line....until the advent of Railtrack, which wanted an extra £500 for use of track & signalling.

 

[pjnathanail]

Ok, if I really had cash to burn how easy is it to build my own railway? Or perhaps just create small bits that link with the national network to jumb bottlenecks and things like that. Is there a ballpark figure per mile of track?

 

[talltim]

Like a railway M6 toll?

 

[pjnathanail]

Actually I meant just for my own personal train, but that's a great idea!
Perhaps there is a business case-first class only trains which have full at seat dining and faster journey times by jumping bottlenecks

 

[Nym]

Actually I meant just for my own personal train, but that's a great idea!
Perhaps there is a business case-first class only trains which have full at seat dining and faster journey times by jumping bottlenecks

Could you call it High Speed 2 1st Class?

 

[Eagle]

Actually I meant just for my own personal train, but that's a great idea!
Perhaps there is a business case-first class only trains which have full at seat dining and faster journey times by jumping bottlenecks

You'd need to have it approved by the ORR and/or HMRI. I believe all passenger-carrying railways in the country do, no matter who owns them.

 

[JGR]

Prestige/extravagance aside, what would be the advantage of a private train?
Due to pathing/timetabling issues, it's difficult to take it for a spin on a whim. If the track/available paths doesn't go where you want to go, it's a non-starter, and you'd still have to have your own (suitably opulent to match) travel to arrange at each end.
It's not as flexible as a private road vehicle, and not as fast as a private aircraft for long journeys.

(Lastly, the ladies who lunch and gentlemen of leisure will be less impressed by the words class 142 or whatever than the words Jag or Lear :P)

 

[yorksrob]

Prestige/extravagance aside, what would be the advantage of a private train?
Due to pathing/timetabling issues, it's difficult to take it for a spin on a whim. If the track/available paths doesn't go where you want to go, it's a non-starter, and you'd still have to have your own (suitably opulent to match) travel to arrange at each end.
It's not as flexible as a private road vehicle, and not as fast as a private aircraft for long journeys.

(Lastly, the ladies who lunch and gentlemen of leisure will be less impressed by the words class 142 or whatever than the words Jag or Lear :P)

How can you be waited on and served in a Jag A Lear maybe but you'd barely have time to eat your orderves within Blighty !

 

[notadriver]

Also who would drive the train ?

 

[jon0844]

Anyone. It's not that hard is it?

 

[The Ham]

I would suggest that if you wanted you own train then it would likely be a lot easier and cheaper to use it on a heritage line than it would be to use it on NR track. If it didn't go far enough for your liking then offer to part pay for the extra reopening or a new length of line (e.g. give £2 for every £1 raised or buy the land required and give it to them) possibly in exchange for a lower charge to run your train.

It may mean that summer weekend were out of the question, but on some lines you could almost run as many times as you like during the winter.

With regards to rolling stock, with the arrival of IEP then there is a good chance that there may be some mark 3's or even mark 4's which could be used with the class 43's. Given that according to some the mark 3's are good for anouther 50 years or so that should give you lots of use out of them.

 

[455driver]

Anyone. It's not that hard is it?

Of course it is, just give them a key and a quail map and off you go.

 

[ainsworth74]

Also who would drive the train ?

Well I suspect the easiest way of doing this would actually be to contract an existing company (someone like DBS or DRS) to run it for you. So sourcing train crew shouldn't be an issue.

Otherwise I guess you'd be into hiring a driver or two!

Of course it is, just give them a key and a quail map and off you go.

A map? I thought you just pushed the start button when you saw a green and the stop button when you saw a red?

 

[Tomnick]

Of course it is, just give them a key and a quail map and off you go.

Best to pay special attention to the distances on the Stafford page if you're going to do that though .

 

[michael769]

Well I suspect the easiest way of doing this would actually be to contract an existing company (someone like DBS or DRS) to run it for you.

Which raises a question. If you had the cash could you rent one from the likes of DBS or WCR for use on an "on demand" basis?

 

[Nym]

Phone them up and ask?

 

[Murph]

If money is not a factor, just buy one or more of the companies, and have a more complete train set to play with, plus you can probably claim your personal executive train as a business expense!

 

[notadriver]

Even Richard Branson would not be allowed to take the controls of a Pendolino despite being a millionaire many times over lol

 

[Murph]

Even Richard Branson would not be allowed to take the controls of a Pendolino despite being a millionaire many times over lol

He could always do the training and then operate with a pilot man for the route knowledge.

 

[notadriver]

Would he not have to pass all the psychometric tests and the medical first - just like everyone else?

 

[talltim]

In the US 'business cars' seem fairly common. These are either company owned, a bit like the EWS one, or privately owned. The private ones travel round the country on the back of Amtrak trains (and probably others)
I quite fancy the idea of a two car bi mode multivoltage unit with full lounge, kitchen bathroom and bedroom, capable of going anywhere in standard gauge Europe. It would probably be hardest getting clearance to run in the UK!

 

[Yew]

Could you call it High Speed 2 1st Class?

Sounds like the Blue Pullmans to me

 

[ainsworth74]

Which raises a question. If you had the cash could you rent one from the likes of DBS or WCR for use on an "on demand" basis?

Hmm you could probably get a path for use on an as and when basis (they exist for freight services) and if you pay them enough I imagine DBS (or whoever) would keep a train on standby for you but I doubt you could actually go anywhere with it unless you had that path first.

To my mind the biggest issue with this is going to be pathing. Actually getting a train and crew shouldn't be hard, you'd just contract an existing company to supply it for you.

Would he not have to pass all the psychometric tests and the medical first - just like everyone else?

That's an interesting thought. Would he? What are the governing standards behind getting a train driving license? Do the psychometric tests actually form part of them? Or is that just a useful tool for TOCs to ensure trainees are capable of passing the training?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

If you had a really stupid sum of money, many billions of quid, and you offered a ridiculous sum like a million quid per trip, I suspect a path would mysteriously become available to you on an ultra short term planning notice basis!

But...

If you had that much money, wouldn't you be living on a private island in a sunny part of the world in the first place instead of trying to get around the UK in your own private Pullman type train?

 

[Class172]

If you had that much money, wouldn't you be living on a private island in a sunny part of the world in the first place instead of trying to get around the UK in your own private Pullman type train?

And on that private island you may as well build your own fully fledged railway!

 

[bluenoxid]

Also who would drive the train ?

The Stigs Train Driving Cousin of course??!!!