Heritage Rail Charters (Not Steam)

That Jekka Gal

That Jekka Gal

That Jekka Gal

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I want to take my other half on a rail journey in the uk but my requirement is that the locomotive power and rolling stock is circa 1970s.

I know there are outfits that charter old locos but, not wishing to cast aspersions on all trainspotters, we won’t want to be surrounded by trainspotters & these tours seem to be very rail fan centric.

Some of these folks are very far from the nerdy stereotype. A colleague of mine told me he went on one organised by an outfit called the “Peak Army” and they made a 1970s football special look like an outing of the Townswomen’s Guild. There were several fights, the carriage was knee deep in empty beer cans and some of them were even urinating out of the windows over people standing on the platforms of the stations through which they passed.

So, if anyone has any recommendations of more reputable tour operators, I’d love to know.
 
They actually own their own loco's these days and all the trouble on the trains are long gone now although many will have rail enthusiats on them as they are the target passengers of most. This is a list of the main providers although there are others:-

West Coast Railways - Based at Carnforth they run mostly steam railtours including the excellent Jacobite which is well worth a trip.
UK Railtours - They run a mix of steam and diesel both heritage and modern loco's.
Pathfinder Railtours - Mainly heritage diesel hauled and a mix of premium multi day tours and single day tours.
The Railway Touring Company - They have a large fleet of Steam loco's and mainly Mk1 coaches and tours range from single days to a complete holiday.
Steam Dreams - Steam loco's with a mix of Mk1 and Mk2 coaches. Tours all over the UK.

LSL (Locomotive Services Ltd) has become a major player and runs many tours under different brands:-
The Midland Pullman - HST in the livery of the 60's/70's Midland Pullman. Coaches have been converted to first class and luxurious Pullman standard with tours all over the country. Not cheap though.
Inter-City - 60's/70's/80's Diesel and Electric loco's with mostly Mk2D/E/F air conditioned coaches. Tours all around the UK.
Saphos Trains - Steam railtours all aound the UK with mostly Mk1 coaches.
Statesman Rail - These are luxury trains with premier first class and Pullman coaches and are not cheap.

Belmond - Operates named trains under three different brands. All are the height of Luxury and run into several thousand pounds per multi day tour.
The Belmond Royal Scotsman - I have seen this one in Elgin, eleven coaches including sleeping accommodation for just 36 people. There are more staff than passengers!!
The Belmond Britannic Explorer - A new train starting later in the year takes luxury to a whole new level and the price with it. As a example the Cornish trip from London to Penzance starts at £6300 for just three nights!!
The Belmond British Pullman - Again expensive luxury Pullman travel around the UK.

Hopefully you can find something in that lot but if not how about a day at a heritage railway which will work out much cheaper. If you go to one of the larger ones such as the Severn Valley Railway, Nene Valley Railway, Great Central Railway, East Lancashire Railway and many others, you can get to ride behind several different loco's over the day.
 
pastymuncher said:
They actually own their own loco's these days and all the trouble on the trains are long gone now although many will have rail enthusiats on them as they are the target passengers of most. This is a list of the main providers although there are others:-

West Coast Railways - Based at Carnforth they run mostly steam railtours including the excellent Jacobite which is well worth a trip.
UK Railtours - They run a mix of steam and diesel both heritage and modern loco's.
Pathfinder Railtours - Mainly heritage diesel hauled and a mix of premium multi day tours and single day tours.
The Railway Touring Company - They have a large fleet of Steam loco's and mainly Mk1 coaches and tours range from single days to a complete holiday.
Steam Dreams - Steam loco's with a mix of Mk1 and Mk2 coaches. Tours all over the UK.

LSL (Locomotive Services Ltd) has become a major player and runs many tours under different brands:-
The Midland Pullman - HST in the livery of the 60's/70's Midland Pullman. Coaches have been converted to first class and luxurious Pullman standard with tours all over the country. Not cheap though.
Inter-City - 60's/70's/80's Diesel and Electric loco's with mostly Mk2D/E/F air conditioned coaches. Tours all around the UK.
Saphos Trains - Steam railtours all aound the UK with mostly Mk1 coaches.
Statesman Rail - These are luxury trains with premier first class and Pullman coaches and are not cheap.

Belmond - Operates named trains under three different brands. All are the height of Luxury and run into several thousand pounds per multi day tour.
The Belmond Royal Scotsman - I have seen this one in Elgin, eleven coaches including sleeping accommodation for just 36 people. There are more staff than passengers!!
The Belmond Britannic Explorer - A new train starting later in the year takes luxury to a whole new level and the price with it. As a example the Cornish trip from London to Penzance starts at £6300 for just three nights!!
The Belmond British Pullman - Again expensive luxury Pullman travel around the UK.

Hopefully you can find something in that lot but if not how about a day at a heritage railway which will work out much cheaper. If you go to one of the larger ones such as the Severn Valley Railway, Nene Valley Railway, Great Central Railway, East Lancashire Railway and many others, you can get to ride behind several different loco's over the day.
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Brilliant - plenty to peruse there but inter-city looks good at first glance.

Did go to the West Somerset Railway once but had time constraints so couldn’t be picky & we wound up riding a DMU which wasn’t quite what I had in mind!

Edit: Am I right in saying that a private operator was running a regular service pulled by a class 50 out of Paddington down to Bristol ? Sure I read it somewhere & it was doing well as it was so much more comfortable than the Hirohito’s Revenge
 
That Jekka Gal said:
Am I right in saying that a private operator was running a regular service pulled by a class 50 out of Paddington down to Bristol ? Sure I read it somewhere & it was doing well as it was so much more comfortable than the Hirohito’s Revenge
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I can't quite remember but it may have been a running in period for one of LSL's 50's after a refit. There have been loads of class 50 tours over the past couple of years, many into Cornwall and mostly double headed too so a total of 5400hp pounding away over the devon banks!! They would have had Mk1 and Mk2 carriages so a million times more comfortable than the awful Hitatchi IET's.
 
pastymuncher said:
mostly double headed too so a total of 5400hp pounding away over the devon banks!!
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I’m just imagining the thrash!

In fact your post put me in the mind to check out the Night Riviera Express.

Seems a much better product than the Caledonian Sleeper judging by the YouTube vids I’ve seen. Very tempted…
 
It bloody well isn't. The class 57/6's that GWR use are the most unreliable loco's in the UK and are always breaking down. GWR (what a farce that they have the nerve to call themselves that!!) currently have a pair of hired in class 57/3's to replace their broken class 57/6's at Laira. The week before last the overnight down train broke down on three separate nights. The first night it was rescued by a class 47, the second night was rescued by a spare class 57 and the third night the train was terminated at Menheniot and dragged back to Laira by a pair of back to back HST power cars. The passengers were dumped on the paltform at Menheniot and left to make their own way home. Hopefully the next service train was told to stop there as not all trains call there. This is the normal routine with the Night Riviera sleeper and it must be costing GWR a hell of a lot of money in compensation as most days it's also late arriving, that's when it does get there!!
 
pastymuncher said:
It bloody well isn't. The class 57/6's that GWR use are the most unreliable loco's in the UK and are always breaking down. GWR (what a farce that they have the nerve to call themselves that!!) currently have a pair of hired in class 57/3's to replace their broken class 57/6's at Laira. The week before last the overnight down train broke down on three separate nights. The first night it was rescued by a class 47, the second night was rescued by a spare class 57 and the third night the train was terminated at Menheniot and dragged back to Laira by a pair of back to back HST power cars. The passengers were dumped on the paltform at Menheniot and left to make their own way home. Hopefully the next service train was told to stop there as not all trains call there. This is the normal routine with the Night Riviera sleeper and it must be costing GWR a hell of a lot of money in compensation as most days it's also late arriving, that's when it does get there!!
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Ah, I guess the YouTube vids that I saw must be quite dated then.

Pretty sure I’m seeing a Brush 4 up front on these - though I’m out of touch with any post 70s motive power.
 
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I take it you know about the diesel galas that the Bluebell Railway run (and I expect the other heritage railways also run). Full black smoke thrash clatterfest if that’s your thing and they like running them because they’re so much cheaper to put on than the steam weekends.
 
Just come to the North of Scotland, still using Intercity 125s up here on the east coast line for the regular services!
 
Jonny69 said:
I take it you know about the diesel galas that the Bluebell Railway run (and I expect the other heritage railways also run). Full black smoke thrash clatterfest if that’s your thing and they like running them because they’re so much cheaper to put on than the steam weekends.
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Yes, but we want to do a proper long journey. Definitely not thrash merchants- my brother, however, loves a bit of clay
Jokester said:
Just come to the North of Scotland, still using Intercity 125s up here on the east coast line for the regular services!
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Before they’re shipped off to Nigeria & Mexico :-)
 
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