RPSI May tour in doubt?

[89-763-733]

The lack of confirmation from the RPSI that their 3 day tour in May is actually going to run, you can only "reserve" it, suggests to me that there is a problem. Perhaps Irish Rail are dragging their feet on approving it and it is not the fault of the RPSI but with only 7 weeks to go before the proposed date and the majority of participants having to make travel arrangements from outside Ireland I think the organisation could be a lot better. GB railtour operators do not behave in this fashion.

 

[GazzaB24]

The lack of confirmation from the RPSI that their 3 day tour in May is actually going to run, you can only "reserve" it, suggests to me that there is a problem. Perhaps Irish Rail are dragging their feet on approving it and it is not the fault of the RPSI but with only 7 weeks to go before the proposed date and the majority of participants having to make travel arrangements from outside Ireland I think the organisation could be a lot better. GB railtour operators do not behave in this fashion.

I wouldn't be to hasty to think it won't run, I have been on a number of RPSI tours over the last 3 years and certainly the "Mystery Tours" have been only advertised about 4 weeks before! Its a pain to organise flights etc if you don't live in Ireland but RPSI have a real job getting tours planned and timed with IE it seems and so I'd give it a couple more weeks yet. The last May weekend tour I did with them was over the mothballed Wexford line in 2010 and I didn't send my booking off for that until the end of March and it ran on the 10th May, so its qute normal. You are right, running railtours in Ireland are totally different to the UK and shouldn't be compared

 

[waffles]

The lack of confirmation from the RPSI that their 3 day tour in May is actually going to run, you can only "reserve" it, suggests to me that there is a problem. Perhaps Irish Rail are dragging their feet on approving it and it is not the fault of the RPSI but with only 7 weeks to go before the proposed date and the majority of participants having to make travel arrangements from outside Ireland I think the organisation could be a lot better. GB railtour operators do not behave in this fashion.

Hi there just to confirm that the RPSI tour May 9Th to 14Th is most definitely on, there are no issues or problems.

Loco 461 will be used on the steam sections of the tour, this loco will arrive in Dublin this weekend from Whitehead.
coaching stock for the tour has been serviced and readied.

All dates and hotels are confirmed, reserved.
IE (Irish Rail) have yet to confirm the exact timing for these trains, this is normal practice

Please note all trains and itineraries are subject to change and to agreement with the Railway Companies

The booking form will be available on-line in the near future (we understand that the link is broken this will be corrected)

The dates listed are correct and will not be liable to change

More information can be found on www.steamtrainsireland.com as it becomes available.

RPSI Dublin 19.03.13

Hope this is of some help to you,

You post has been noted and passed on to the organising team.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
This link will give you the initial program for the tour with the booking form and it works

http://www.steamtrainsireland.com/mayrailtour/2013_ABF.pdf

only received this after first post

 

[GM078]

Waffles is correct. Don't see why anyone would think the tour isn't going ahead, indeed if you keep an eye on the RPSI twitter account you'll note bookings have been good. All going to plan it should be a very interesting tour.

Incidentally 186 transferred light from Whitehead to Connolly today and will work the Easter Monday excursion to Wicklow with the Cravens set.

 

[I T S]

Waffles is correct. Don't see why anyone would think the tour isn't going ahead, indeed if you keep an eye on the RPSI twitter account you'll note bookings have been good. All going to plan it should be a very interesting tour.

Incidentally 186 transferred light from Whitehead to Connolly today and will work the Easter Monday excursion to Wicklow with the Cravens set.

6 weeks to go tomorrow until the tour begins...Still showing as reserve...Surely if it's going ahead like you claim above, it would say "Book" on the site rather than Reserve?

 

[waffles]

6 weeks to go tomorrow until the tour begins...Still showing as reserve...Surely if it's going ahead like you claim above, it would say "Book" on the site rather than Reserve?

This is the link to book your deposit http://www.steamtrainsireland.com/ma...r/2013_ABF.pdf

Print off the form on the Pdf and send it back by post for the three day tour.
Bookings for the associated tours will be by Internet booking only eg diesel tour to sligo and will open very close to the tour dates
Rail tour is on.

Follow the news on www.steamtrainsireland.com updated almost daily
leave a message on uk callers 028 9337 3968 or 048
from the republic
send an email follow the link on about us page of site
or follow on twitter.

 

[I T S]

This is the link to book your deposit http://www.steamtrainsireland.com/ma...r/2013_ABF.pdf

Print off the form on the Pdf and send it back by post for the three day tour.
Bookings for the associated tours will be by Internet booking only eg diesel tour to sligo and will open very close to the tour dates
Rail tour is on.

Follow the news on www.steamtrainsireland.com updated almost daily
leave a message on uk callers 028 9337 3968 or 048
from the republic
send an email follow the link on about us page of site
or follow on twitter.

-

Which means the associated tours such as Sligo Diesel has not been confirmed by Irish Rail otherwise it would have been available to book now.

To add to that, if the diesel tour to Sligo will be internet booking only - Why hasn't this been announced by the RPSI officially? That's definietly a NO-GO for UK Cranks with flights etc involved unless they want to endure a long rail & sail journey. It's not really a friendly option to Enthusiasts nor very well organised in not only mine, but several others opinions.

Is the actual three day tour confirmed to be running by Irish Rail themselves?

 

[89-763-733]

Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the RPSI have this morning confirmed the tour and are accepting actual bookings (mine will be in the post on Tuesday).

Note that the Whitehead to Dublin positioning train is likely to be steam 461 now and not a 111 class GM and that the Dublin-Belfast leg on the Sunday planned for the NIR Diesel is now steam 186

 

[PFX]

Post removed and humble apology is offered.

 

[43167]

Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the RPSI have this morning confirmed the tour and are accepting actual bookings (mine will be in the post on Tuesday).

Note that the Whitehead to Dublin positioning train is likely to be steam 461 now and not a 111 class GM and that the Dublin-Belfast leg on the Sunday planned for the NIR Diesel is now steam 186

It will be a dissapointment if the Whitehead-Dublin train is steam hauled.

It also says on the website the friday isn't confirmed an 071 due to a mantainence backlog. What are the alternative's?.

The 1st 2 days were looking very good, 111 on Thursday, 071 on Friday and I was looking forward too it.

 

[4SRKT]

It will be a dissapointment if the Whitehead-Dublin train is steam hauled.

It also says on the website the friday isn't confirmed an 071 due to a mantainence backlog. What are the alternative's?.

The 1st 2 days were looking very good, 111 on Thursday, 071 on Friday and I was looking forward too it.

Quite. The disdain with which the RPSI holds diesel enthusiasts is all too obvious. They also appear completely oblivious to the fact that their tours, steam or diesel, can only run if supported by enthusiasts from GB. We have to make arrangements well in advance if this is to be economically viable. This disdain is amply demonstrated by PFX's contemptuous comments in post #9.

This tour has been so spectacularly badly organised from beginning to end that it has seriously tarnished the RPSI's reputation. I've never heard of anything so ridiculous as 'reserving' a tour; anyone who tries to pretend this is normal practice (in Ireland or Britain) is being disingenuous; it isn't. I for one will not be coming back next year if this farce finishes up with NONE of the advertised traction on the first two days. I can understand well enough the coded 'this tour will be a 201 because someone in the RPSI wants that and has no idea about catering to the majority of the customer base' message; the swift reversal with caveats in the face of what must have been an onslaught of requests for refunds was telling, but if it DOES turn out to be a 201 we will draw our own conclusions.

As for the 461 on Thursday business, that is the pits. Surely they must always have known this would happen because 461 has to work south anyway, and this makes much more sense to than running it LE.

 

[43167]

Well as things stand now I will only book the Friday tour and see what happens with the thursday tour and if it is diesel will join at Lisburn or Portadown.

Last year I did the thursday which was steam, no probs with that, as it was advertised and my flight connected nicely so it made sense.

This year I planned to sail overnight Tuesday night/wednesday morning, do something wednesday daytime, then head north to belfast for the thursday. Now I dont know at the moment.

 

[PFX]

Post removed.

 

[4SRKT]

The Portrush Flyer and other such established trips that are mainly for normals are what the RPSI excels at (and does better than anyone here). These days are unparalelled value and I'll concentrate my future Irish odysseys on them.

 

[waffles]

Panic over I guess,
Irish Rail are - were re-viewing there current national passenger and freight timetables again (the one introduced Jan 2013) this was subject to change in May if changes were needed this delayed bookings as exact running times could not be confirmed by Irish Rail while the Timetable was under review.
As I said before everything else was in place.

You cant blame the RPSI for the Irish Rail timetable review,
Irish rail are keen to maximise revenue at least cost hence the re-view, they are required to by the Irish minister of transport tourism and sport with the help of an outside consultancy

Better to run 461 LE to Dublin just to make sure its running well and any tweaking needing to be done can be done without having to fail the loco with a railtour attached to it.

The RPSI are still learning about Diesel traction, give them a bit of time and some cash to help pay for running certification that is required for the North of Ireland.
The two small Gms were delivered without drivers manuals nor maintenance manuals.
Their is a good chance that these locos will be getting a lot of use in the future.

 

[4SRKT]

Panic over I guess,
Irish Rail are - were re-viewing there current national passenger and freight timetables again (the one introduced Jan 2013) this was subject to change in May if changes were needed this delayed bookings as exact running times could not be confirmed by Irish Rail while the Timetable was under review.
As I said before everything else was in place.

You cant blame the RPSI for the Irish Rail timetable review,
Irish rail are keen to maximise revenue at least cost hence the re-view, they are required to by the Irish minister of transport tourism and sport with the help of an outside consultancy

Better to run 461 LE to Dublin just to make sure its running well and any tweaking needing to be done can be done without having to fail the loco with a railtour attached to it.

The RPSI are still learning about Diesel traction, give them a bit of time and some cash to help pay for running certification that is required for the North of Ireland.
The two small Gms were delivered without drivers manuals nor maintenance manuals.
Their is a good chance that these locos will be getting a lot of use in the future.

thx. Does this mean 461 or a blue GM will work on the Thursday?

 

[I T S]

Panic over I guess,
Irish Rail are - were re-viewing there current national passenger and freight timetables again (the one introduced Jan 2013) this was subject to change in May if changes were needed this delayed bookings as exact running times could not be confirmed by Irish Rail while the Timetable was under review.
As I said before everything else was in place.

You cant blame the RPSI for the Irish Rail timetable review,
Irish rail are keen to maximise revenue at least cost hence the re-view, they are required to by the Irish minister of transport tourism and sport with the help of an outside consultancy

Better to run 461 LE to Dublin just to make sure its running well and any tweaking needing to be done can be done without having to fail the loco with a railtour attached to it.

The RPSI are still learning about Diesel traction, give them a bit of time and some cash to help pay for running certification that is required for the North of Ireland.
The two small Gms were delivered without drivers manuals nor maintenance manuals.
Their is a good chance that these locos will be getting a lot of use in the future.

Who is your source about running these locos in the future? Giving the fact that 141 hasn't run since sometime in 2010? and 142 has been dumped out the back of the shed (same place as 102) since September 2012.

 

[89-763-733]

It is normal railtour practice that final times are not released until the tickets are dispatched but that does not stop operators taking firm bookings. If it is correct that confirmation of the tour was held up by the timetable review but "everything was in place" then I see no reason for not accepting firm bookings earlier.

The RPSI cannot be held responsible for the actions of Irish Rail but their lack of communication concerning this tour has not shown them in a good light.


On the subject of what will work the tour how about 077? (If anyone can find it in its "Steath Bomber" livery hock: That is going to take some getting used to!)

http://chrisplayfair.smugmug.com/Tr...39913_VVj3Vm#!i=2451711909&k=5Kr38Qv&lb=1&s=A

 

[waffles]

Who is your source about running these locos in the future? Giving the fact that 141 hasn't run since sometime in 2010? and 142 has been dumped out the back of the shed (same place as 102) since September 2012.

a plan under review more news soon,
trying not to go off topic.

 

[43167]

RPSI website updated. Thursday train confirmed a tea-making device.

 

[waffles]

Hi all just to let you all know that the IRRS and the RPSI in conjunction with the May Rail Tour, will be having a joint open evening at the IRRS Headquarters The old Goods Office Hueston Station Dublin on Thursday 9th of May From 18.30.
All are welcome.
Come and view our archive and library,
light refreshments will be served,
So don't be a stranger come and say hello.

This event is not listed on our website

 

[waffles]

hope all enjoyed the tour and that you all got home safely.
sorry about the weather it comes with the territory,
It was great to see so many old faces and a real privilege to meet so many new ones,
we hope to meet you all again in the near future,
wishing you all good health in the future.

 

[749259]

I only did the 071 tour to Sligo and very enjoyable it was too ... as was the drinking in Temple Bar!

Anyway, thanks to the RPSI/IE for making it happen. So much for it being "in doubt".

See you on the next one!

 

[102 fan]

Quite. The disdain with which the RPSI holds diesel enthusiasts is all too obvious. They also appear completely oblivious to the fact that their tours, steam or diesel, can only run if supported by enthusiasts from GB. We have to make arrangements well in advance if this is to be economically viable. This disdain is amply demonstrated by PFX's contemptuous comments in post #9.

This tour has been so spectacularly badly organised from beginning to end that it has seriously tarnished the RPSI's reputation. I've never heard of anything so ridiculous as 'reserving' a tour; anyone who tries to pretend this is normal practice (in Ireland or Britain) is being disingenuous; it isn't. I for one will not be coming back next year if this farce finishes up with NONE of the advertised traction on the first two days. I can understand well enough the coded 'this tour will be a 201 because someone in the RPSI wants that and has no idea about catering to the majority of the customer base' message; the swift reversal with caveats in the face of what must have been an onslaught of requests for refunds was telling, but if it DOES turn out to be a 201 we will draw our own conclusions.

As for the 461 on Thursday business, that is the pits. Surely they must always have known this would happen because 461 has to work south anyway, and this makes much more sense to than running it LE.

BIB - No argument there.