Shambles today

[RJ]

Well, today was a pretty bad day for railtours. It was rainy and dull, 33103+33202 left B'ham 15 down, increasing to 105 down at Northampton, 86 down at P'boro, and a complete failure at Newark! Left there 240ish down and was dragged to Donny by 56302 where it was caped! Then the Blue Pullman was dismally late as usual, and the 37 tour managed to go without too much trouble after 37405... Oh dear!

 

[87015]

more dissapointment for Fragonset...where'd it all go wrong?
What happened to the Blue Pullman, not the sort of clientelle you mess about with, although saying that the keithley job was £89 a shot. Can't see many impressed normals....

 

[matt]

Then the Blue Pullman was dismally late as usual

I thought the Blue Pullman usually ran to time?

 

[RJ]

Not the last 2 or 3 times I've gone out for it . Part of the ECML being shut wasn't very helpful either . Is it me or have all the FM Rail steam tours been cancelled since the slipping incident?

 

[David]

33103+33202 left B'ham 15 down, increasing to 105 down at Northampton, 86 down at P'boro, and a complete failure at Newark! Left there 240ish down and was dragged to Donny by 56302 where it was caped!

Just copied the following from WNXX about this tour....

Just to tip salt into an already gaping wound, it appears that (from a very reliable source..) the punters that got booted off at Doncaster were told to go home by service train, either Virgin or GNER, and they would be ok to use their railtour tickets to get home as an agreement existed or had been arranged between FM or whoever and the TOCs concerned. Pity nobody told Virgin or GNER that.....
Full price open single please!!!!
Ker ching££! Just to round the day off nicely.....

 

[Ascot]

Not JUST railtours but also the 57 on the Manchester Holyhead went up as well at Chester. Still had a fault as we left. Wasn't all rainy and dull in North West Wales

 

[RJ]

I hope that 33202 gets fixed up soon. And I hope that everyone on that railtour got a full refund!

 

[jonb]

FMRAIL are just crap the Blue Pullman is ALWAYS late and their locos leave a lot to be desired. You'd think with their own maintenance facilites the locos would be in top form, obviously not! And they can't even keep the DESIGNATED locos on the Blue Pullman!

 

[RJ]

I got that horrible feeling of deja vu yesterday - waiting at a cold, wet Ally Pally AGAIN, with the ECML being shut, infrequent FCC services, GNER being diverted via Hertford, no Blue Pullman and the Railtour Network Yahoo group being filled with messages from a certain Deltic fan at Crews Hill. Except that this time, I was expecting a pair of 33s as well
[EDIT]
It is rather poor, the weekender tour had an 87 on! No 47. 47709 has to be one of the crappest 47s ever, it spends more time being fixed than running. They need to scrap or sell it and replace it with 47703. 47712 has been on it less and less lately. It always seems to be their advertisement 47, 47832!

I hope that the steam people start trusting them again if it means more duties for 47703!

 

[87015]

There are a lot of rumours going around (dont know if its any more than that), that FM have/are running out of cash. As a result lack of maintenence.
Also, a lot of the loco's they actually use in service seem to spend most of the time away from Derby, not sure what maintence gets done elsewhere.

Hopefully they will sort it as its good to have 31/33/47 power out and about, plus 45112!

Easter Highlander was booked GBRf 87. The summer highlanders/Edinburgh blue pullmans jobs should also be sevens out of the Cross.

 

[960012]

Is it me or have all the FM Rail steam tours been cancelled since the slipping incident?

Yes i think it is to do with that!!! the other thing is that there usual loco tangmere is dead at the ELR from a "slight" valve gear problem!!

 

[theblackwatch]

Is it me or have all the FM Rail steam tours been cancelled since the slipping incident?

Quite a lot have been cancelled, but a couple have run I think - there was a trip to the West Country in early April. There's a Steam Dreams train on Tuesday, don't hold your breath for a kettle though!!

 

[AJP]

http://www.ajp.fotopic.net/p29460577.html

Classic!