Intercity Fridays Only to/from Euston

[py_megapixel]

Why wouldn't you want an OA on WCML like Lumo?

Surprised nobody took up (some of) the GC Blackpool paths.

Well, quite.

Someone needs to show Avanti how it's done.

 

[jfollows]

I'm cringing at the Twitter pile on of love for the WCML charter. I agree Avanti are shocking but the charter is a novelty running once a day.

Once a week, I suggest.

 

[AlterEgo]

I'm cringing at the Twitter pile on of love for the WCML charter. I agree Avanti are shocking but the charter is a novelty running once a day.

I was once proud and excited that I could get on a reliable Virgin train for a reasonable price at my local station . Those days will come back. Let's not lose our heads with what is essentially a gimmick.

I don't want to see a Lumo type TOC on the WCML and think this is creeping uncomfortably towards it.

A first class only heritage train full of haulage nerds is nothing like Lumo!

 

[crosscity]

Certainly a nice nineties vibe when I saw it at Birmingham International, especially with the Sprinter in view too.
I must say it didn't look very busy, but I couldn't see how many got off.
A bit of a gimmick, really, and an expensive way for the owner of LSL to advertise how dire the Avanti service is currently.
He might have done better with his marketing by saying if you've got a Standard ticket valid on an Avanti service then pay the equivalent of £5 less than the Avanti Standard Premium to travel on it.

Fri 2 Sep 2022 at 19:03. Almost back to the 90's at Birmingham International. BR Class 90 No 90002 WOLF OF BADENOCH is at the front of [1Z41] the 17:42 Euston-Manchester Piccadilly, the 'LSL InterCity' Friday Charter. In the background is a pair of BR Sprinter dmu's (158836 and 158824) waiting to work [1D17] the 19:06 to Chester. by Ray Honke, on Flickr

 

[_toommm_]

87002 this week according to Intercity Twitter.

 

[LOL The Irony]

87002 this week according to Intercity Twitter.

I was hoping it to be a 90 but had the feeling it'd be an 87.

 

[Andrew*Debbie]

Any news of them extending or expanding the service?

 

[nedchester]

Any news of them extending or expanding the service?

Why?

It's hardly been an outstanding financial success has it?

 

[crosscity]

87002 this week according to Intercity Twitter.

I'm pleased about that as I didn't muster up the energy to see it on the first train. I might just make the effort to get to New St on Friday.
87002 was the first of the Class 87's I saw, not long after being built. It was also the first loco I'd seen with a TOPS number that had never had an old-stlyle BR number.

Here's the photo I took:

23Aug73. Manchester Piccadilly. Class 87 87002. [Slide_0454] by Ray Honke, on Flickr

 

[AlterEgo]

Why?

It's hardly been an outstanding financial success has it?

Now confirmed to be EXTENDED, incredibly, to 9th December 2022. I am as surprised as you are.

 

[philthetube]

That suggests custom has been building week by weeek.

 

[XCTurbostar]

Paths are in until the 23rd Sept

 

[Andrew*Debbie]

Why?

It's hardly been an outstanding financial success has it?

Now confirmed to be EXTENDED, incredibly, to 9th December 2022. I am as surprised as you are.

That implies Avanti are unable or unwilling to resume service on the paths.

Intercity must have a buisness case to continue the Friday charters.

 

[43096]

Intercity must have a buisness case to continue the Friday charters.

Tax offset for the owner?

 

[Bertie the bus]

Intercity must have a buisness case to continue the Friday charters.

It probably doesn't cost them that much. It is their stock and they are using their own locos. Presumably the stewards are volunteers. So really just the cost of a path, the electricity, track access charges and maybe paying the safety critical staff if they aren't full time employees.

 

[LOL The Irony]

Well they're allegedly training runs, so if that's true, it's actually earning LSL some money on what would otherwise be pure expenditure.

 

[Bertie the bus]

Well they're allegedly training runs, so if that's true, it's actually earning LSL some money on what would otherwise be pure expenditure.

No they're not. That was made up. Hosking told the press why he did it and it was nothing to do with training runs.

 

[nedchester]

No they're not. That was made up. Hosking told the press why he did it and it was nothing to do with training runs.

It's all political and proving a point to those nasty rail workers.......

 

[Bertie the bus]

Sticking with that one are we? Initially it was political because he is supposedly a great mate of Grant Shapps and they came up with a scheme to break the unions together. Now Shapps is on the back benches who’s his mate he is colluding with now?

 

[nedchester]

Sticking with that one are we? Initially it was political because he is supposedly a great mate of Grant Shapps and they came up with a scheme to break the unions together. Now Shapps is on the back benches who’s his mate he is colluding with now?

The faces may change on the front bench but the policies remain the same and Hosking’s politics are well known.

 

[Flying Snail]

The faces may change on the front bench but the policies remain the same and Hosking’s politics are well known.

Really, who cares? If he wants to burn his cash running some nice heritage trains then I can think of many much worse ways for a rich tory supporter to lighten their bank balance.

 

[Bald Rick]

It probably doesn't cost them that much. It is their stock and they are using their own locos. Presumably the stewards are volunteers. So really just the cost of a path, the electricity, track access charges and maybe paying the safety critical staff if they aren't full time employees.

I can’t see how it is costing less than £10k a week. Possibly twice that.

 

[crooky370]

It's a shame it doesn't stop at Milton Keynes going northbound. London to Birmingham is a fair old way without any stops.

 

[Bertie the bus]

I can’t see how it is costing less than £10k a week. Possibly twice that.

£10K per week possibly but I doubt it would be twice that. The usual figure bandied about for running a charter is between £20K and £30K and a good proportion of that would be hiring the locos and stock. LSL are going to keep the locos and stock well maintained and in a good condition whether they run charters or not. If it costs about £10K per week and sells about 100 or so tickets at £75 then that isn't much of a loss for someone with Mr Hosking's money.

 

[Bald Rick]

If it costs about £10K per week and sells about 100 or so tickets at £75 then that isn't much of a loss for someone with Mr Hosking's money.

but they haven’t sold 100 tickets a week, far from it!

 

[Bertie the bus]

I think they sold more than 100 last week. Reportedly 30 - 40 for the Crewe - Euston leg and a few more for the return. There were probably at least 30 or 40 who travelled as far as Manchester.

 

[AlterEgo]

but they haven’t sold 100 tickets a week, far from it!

I think they did today. I was on it and I reckon they had about that number on the northbound alone.

 

[Trackman]

£10K per week possibly but I doubt it would be twice that. The usual figure bandied about for running a charter is between £20K and £30K and a good proportion of that would be hiring the locos and stock. LSL are going to keep the locos and stock well maintained and in a good condition whether they run charters or not. If it costs about £10K per week and sells about 100 or so tickets at £75 then that isn't much of a loss for someone with Mr Hosking's money.

The TAB (Track Access Billing) between Euston and Picc on electric traction is now around £14,000 a pop - that is a lower end estimate, and that is before anything else.

Re: Railtours- It may have been said on these forums before and I know someone who did run railtours, 'The last carriage is this profit one'. Tightest of margins.

 

[CHAPS2034]

I joined it at Crewe yesterday on the way to Manchester after a day at a beer festival. Reasonably sparsely populated by then, but the buffet was doing a big trade. Geoff Marshall was on board too, so watch out for something on his channel.

Maybe 20 odd people got on at Crewe I guess including some bloke who thought it was the TfW which follows down to Manchester from the same platform (6). The PIDS did say charter train, but then listed the station calls (Wilmslow and Piccadilly) without saying anything about normal tickets being invalid on the service. Maybe one for the future to make things clearer. I think the passenger was foreign, and the on board ticket steward took pity on him and let him travel to Wilmslow.

The northbound prices are £75 from Euston to anywhere, £50 from Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stafford to anywhere, £25 from Crewe to Wilmslow and Manchester and £10 Wilmslow to Manchester which includes the delight of running non-stop through Stockport. You get a printed Intercity card ticket with handwritten details if you buy on board, and cards are accepted - subject to the machine getting a good signal...

I decided to get on at Crewe rather than Wilmslow in order to get some high speed on the stretch back to Wilmslow That sadly was limited due to a failed down freight somewhere near Chelford which meant that we were re-routed onto the up for several minutes, finally regaining the down at Alderley. Some rare crossovers there for track bashers.

No time to tarry in Piccadilly as Northern had cancelled the next two trains home (again), so it was a mad scramble for a train to Stockport to catch the hourly bus home. I made it -just.

 

[AlterEgo]

It was actually pretty busy out of Euston yesterday. Many bailed at Birmingham and Wolves, as far as I could see.