Drimnagh Road
Member
Would a Pathfinder / Riviera employee be interested in coming on to explain the high cost of their railtours? I find it interesting that their Oldham Looper tour this Saturday has been caped, as we all know due to lack of bookings.
A class 40 which always sells, pressure vent stock for those who don't like coffins, one of the last opportunities to sample diesel haulage around the Oldham Loop, and some rear track. As the Pathfinder brochure says itself, "something for everybody". Why then was nobody booking on this tour then?
Hmmm, I wonder would the £69 fare have anything to do with it? Last week I done a high mileage tour with Spitfire from Crewe-Swanage, which also offered great traction, pressure vent stock, rear track and yet for a mere £49.00. This was reflected that there was 11 coaches on the train, and a lot of those passengers were normals. Also, its no coincidece that Spitfires series of tours over the Oldham Loop on the same day are selling pretty well, despite having appeared on the web later that Pathfinders.
Even the Western which always sells to near capacity only had 9 coaches on its trip to Blaenau, again would the £69.00 cost have anything to do with this.
The mysterious thing about Pathfinders high prices are that they are owned by Riviera, the same company that provides the stock. Therefore, if anything they should be in a great position to undercut fares, rather than charge the dearest on the system. Other newcomers such as Retro, Joint Line and of course the excellent Compass all do tours for about £45-50, and yet all these promoters are not privellaged to be owned by their rolling stock provider and half to hire coaches from other parties, which adds cost.
All the above mentioned promoters run innovative ideas of getting people onto trains, "book early" fares for example, again nothing of the kind from Pathfinder. Coming up to the tour last Saturday Spitfire, seeing that it had a few seats spare, decided to sell bargain fares as far as Winchester. Again brilliant.
Pathfinder, of Chingfinder to give them their more accurate name, are heading for a near disaster unless they cop on to the fact that there is a recession on and not everybody is prepared to pay ridiculous prices anymore.
Its not just Pathfinder's enthusiasts tours that are dear, even the more straight forward ones are dearer than competitors.
I, living in Ireland, personally do about 10 railtours a year, class 37s mainly. When I first got back into the UK scene in 2007, Pathfinder had a bit of a monopoly I suppose. Now with Spitfire using 37s a lot and even Compass Tours providing my fix of DBS 37s, I avoid Pathfinder indefinitly. I went on the Pathfinder Crewe-Parknasilla trip in May and forked out what was reasonable for Pathfinder-£59-the week after I done the equally long distance Weymouth run with Spitfire for £45.00 with the same type of traction at the helm.
I also am a fan of the Western but again, I refuse to do it because of the price. I think the DTG needs to be careful in its special relationship with Riviera as loadings will fall if prices remain the same.
Again, I'd like to hear Pathfinder / Rivieras side of things. Hopefully somebody can enlighten me.
A class 40 which always sells, pressure vent stock for those who don't like coffins, one of the last opportunities to sample diesel haulage around the Oldham Loop, and some rear track. As the Pathfinder brochure says itself, "something for everybody". Why then was nobody booking on this tour then?
Hmmm, I wonder would the £69 fare have anything to do with it? Last week I done a high mileage tour with Spitfire from Crewe-Swanage, which also offered great traction, pressure vent stock, rear track and yet for a mere £49.00. This was reflected that there was 11 coaches on the train, and a lot of those passengers were normals. Also, its no coincidece that Spitfires series of tours over the Oldham Loop on the same day are selling pretty well, despite having appeared on the web later that Pathfinders.
Even the Western which always sells to near capacity only had 9 coaches on its trip to Blaenau, again would the £69.00 cost have anything to do with this.
The mysterious thing about Pathfinders high prices are that they are owned by Riviera, the same company that provides the stock. Therefore, if anything they should be in a great position to undercut fares, rather than charge the dearest on the system. Other newcomers such as Retro, Joint Line and of course the excellent Compass all do tours for about £45-50, and yet all these promoters are not privellaged to be owned by their rolling stock provider and half to hire coaches from other parties, which adds cost.
All the above mentioned promoters run innovative ideas of getting people onto trains, "book early" fares for example, again nothing of the kind from Pathfinder. Coming up to the tour last Saturday Spitfire, seeing that it had a few seats spare, decided to sell bargain fares as far as Winchester. Again brilliant.
Pathfinder, of Chingfinder to give them their more accurate name, are heading for a near disaster unless they cop on to the fact that there is a recession on and not everybody is prepared to pay ridiculous prices anymore.
Its not just Pathfinder's enthusiasts tours that are dear, even the more straight forward ones are dearer than competitors.
I, living in Ireland, personally do about 10 railtours a year, class 37s mainly. When I first got back into the UK scene in 2007, Pathfinder had a bit of a monopoly I suppose. Now with Spitfire using 37s a lot and even Compass Tours providing my fix of DBS 37s, I avoid Pathfinder indefinitly. I went on the Pathfinder Crewe-Parknasilla trip in May and forked out what was reasonable for Pathfinder-£59-the week after I done the equally long distance Weymouth run with Spitfire for £45.00 with the same type of traction at the helm.
I also am a fan of the Western but again, I refuse to do it because of the price. I think the DTG needs to be careful in its special relationship with Riviera as loadings will fall if prices remain the same.
Again, I'd like to hear Pathfinder / Rivieras side of things. Hopefully somebody can enlighten me.
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really? hadnt noticed, seems more like an anti-enthusiast tour comp to me
).
am booked on it too
