Sir Nigel Gresley failure at Shrewsbury

[LUYMun]

Seems not a good summer for steam railtours, with another example being 70001 Britannia breaking its crosshead near Chilworth.

 

[william.martin]

Is Sir Nigel back in Shed at Bishops Lydeard or is it parked up at Shrewsbury somewhere?

 

[SuperLuke2334]

Is Sir Nigel back in Shed at Bishops Lydeard or is it parked up at Shrewsbury somewhere?

In Crewe now, went up on Thurs evening.

 

[william.martin]

In Crewe now, went up on Thurs evening.

Thanks, I never realised it was shedded at Bishops Lydeard until I saw it on Wednesday however when I was driving in the area on Friday I made a detour to see it closer however to my disappointment she was missing.

 

[Iskra]

The snacks in first consisted of two packed boxes (one in each direction) with a very odd miscellany of items that looked as though they were randomly selected from what was left over after a fete or similar event. The breakfast one included a plastic wrapped croissant, that wouldn’t have been much flatter had it been run over by Sir Nigel.

We would have expected something like a simple choice of fresh croissants or pastries for breakfast, and maybe a simple cream tea later on. It wasn’t the dining option admittedly, but snacks are advertised, and for first we expected something a bit better than you would give a school party on a day out at the zoo.

We were welcomed on board by someone and they also came along to say goodbye before we left. In both cases they sounded scripted, with no effort to properly engage with us, ask us had we had a nice day or apologise for the problems. We didn’t see them the rest of the day. If that’s all they do all day then they might as well not bother, save the cost and reduce the price.

Oh, and the welcome fizz was a sickly bottle of Buck’s Fizz between two that would have cost around 1.50 per person in Tesco. Could they not have run to a half bottle of Prosecco each, or even just one poured glass of Prosecco.

I did the run behind Sir Nigel yesterday (great day). I’ve put full details in my trip report thread, but I actually thought the offering was very good. Our host was fantastic throughout, with an ample supply of tea and coffee throughout the morning and afternoon. The coffee service slowed in the evening as most people switched to booze instead but I requested a coffee later in the evening ahead of my Crewe-Sheffield drive and this was delivered with no fuss at all. Nothing was too much trouble. Our host and other LSL staff onboard that I spoke to were fantastic, knowledgeable and took the time to chat very openly and informatively when possible around their duties. I found the contents of the snackboxes reasonable, they were both wedged with items. One such snackbox would have met my expectations, but two surpassed them. I can understand the quibble about the packaged contents, but fresh products would add to the operational complexity, the cost of which would be passed onto the customer. I do agree that the bubbly was a little on the cheap side, but it was possible to order decent stuff from the bar which I found reasonably priced and it was delivered to the table so you didn’t have to trek for it.

On the Locomotive- it didn’t miss a beat yesterday and provided great noise particularly in the afternoon, certainly a fantastic and memorable trip, with my opinion of LSL being improved.