Fantasy: If you owned a TOC, what would it be?

[TheJRB]

I'd create an open access operator called Coastal CONNECTIONS which would operate a couple of trains a day providing links between a few South Coast destinations. I'd start with the following services:

2 trains per day of each in both directions:

Ramsgate to Portsmouth Harbour calling at Dover Priory, Ashford International, Tonbridge, Redhill, Gatwick Airport, Horsham, Barnham, Chichester, Havant, Fratton, Portsmouth & Southsea and Portsmouth Harbour.

Sheerness-on-Sea to Bournemouth calling at Gillingham, Chatham, Rochester, Bromley South, Clapham Junction, Basingstoke, Winchester, Southampton Airport Parkway, Southampton Central, Brockenhurst and Bournemouth.

As both of them are fully electrified routes, I'd run a 444 style train with a trolley and maybe even a bit more of an extended dining experience on an evening return trip. The Ramsgate to Portsmouth service also relieves the often talked of lack of direct service from Kent to Gatwick, albeit twice a day!

If they did well then I'd suggest other routes. That said, it would probably fail pretty quickly due to both a lack of paths and a shortage of passengers. Something appeals to me about running trains on obscure routes even if it isn't sensible!

 

[Trainfan344]

I'd run Greater Anglia as it is, only with direct services from Lowestoft to London with class 47's and mk2's or HSTs.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I'd use Voyagers (refurbished to a decent standard but with no 1st class- the shop area would be replaced with a Real Ale bar!) and cater to football fans going to games. The only 'regular' route would be services from Plymouth to MUFC Halt for all the glory hunters!. Other services would vary depending on fixtures, but the highlights would be Bescot Stadium-Bradford Forster Square; New Malden (for AFC Wimbledon)-Carlisle and Wigan NW-Blackpool South.

 

[Blillpers]

Mine would be a company operating express services between London Euston and Glasgow, using Class 87/90s + Mk3s. The service would call at a limited number of stations, say Crewe, Preston and Carlisle only, and therefore be almost as fast as the Pendolino. And a lot more comfortable too. And it would have full service restaurant facilities onboard... :grin:

 

[Hartington]

This is pure fantasy; I suspect it would lose the national debt quite quickly!

I fancy a small "WessexRail". But before I committed myself I'd want some changes to the track on the routes I have in mind plus electrification.

So Weymouth/Bristol, Tauton/Reading, Salisbury/Swindon would be my core routes with Westbury as my "hub" (and at least all 4 platforms). All routes would be electrified. Castle Cary (which might need remodelling) to Weymouth and the line up to Thingley (which would need remodelling) would need extra passing places to enable an hourly service on all three routes. Frome station would be relaid for two platforms/passing place.

I'd use 4 car EMUs 100mph capable with one of the 2 centre cars laid out with the disabled toilet and adjacent seating area, an area for buggies and bikes with seating adjacent and a small buffet. In the rest of the train I'd have 2-2 seating aligned with windows, a/c, wi-fi and power. The small, request, stations would need balises so that only the buggie/bike/disabled coach doors open. I'm in two minds about whether I would need a few one or two car units to strengthen services for events such as Glastonbury and to provide capacity for rush hours (which occur even in these rural areas).

The Swindon/Salisbury route is a Wiltshire aspiration which includes several new/reopened stations (plus one between Westbury and Pewsey) which I would want to get built. I'd also be looking at Somerton and/or Langport as potential reopenings between Taunton and Castle Cary plus Saltford between Bath and Bristol.

In general I'd be looking at serving local markets. I'd be looking for a clockface timetable.

Stations are an important consideration. It's difficult to generalise and, if I'm honest I'm not sure what can be done with some of the request stops because for many of the others I would generalise about things like disabled access, integration with local transport, extra car parking, manned stations (combining ticket sales with food, books etc) and the request stops simply don't have the space for some of those things. That said I would want to improve even those stations.

In the future I'd be looking to participate in the Bristol Metro project. It might make sense to also look at the Taunton/Weston/Bristol local services. I would hope to build the market so that I could start introducing more frequent services. I would be looking to co-operate with other operators to feed their longer distance services. Even longer term using the quarry lines (Merehead and Whatley) to get services to Shepton and Radstock would be no more than an aspiration.

Talking about the quarries I would look to work with those companies to convert their trunk hauls to electric haulage. Hopefully I would be able to bid for their traction business providing me with a small fleet of high power (if not high speed) locomotives.

Oh, and I'd build a turntable at Weymouth for the steam excursion market!

Now, how do I win several 100 million pound plus Euromillions jackpots to use as seed money?