hardCore steam… this is your ChanCe

Hardcore steam - is it the future? Reader Bill Howard from Eastwood (Nottinghamshire) says Steve Dymond’s suggestion last time for ‘stripped out’ tours aiming to faithfully recreate the past is “spot on” - though he also says to “remember not all gricers live in the south”. John Jeffery of Oxford describes such trips as “just what we need.” Well, there could be good news - because the Railway Touring Company’s Nigel Dobbing says he’d consider giving the idea a go. Nigel notes that one of his more ‘gricer-ish’ tours this year - with ‘B1’ 4-6-0 No. 61264 and ‘4MT’ 2-6-0 No. 76084 to Whitby - was sold out; he’s already convinced that if trips are different enough, they’ll be attractive to enthusiasts. But there’s still a walloping note of caution: for what he’s not yet convinced of is how big the audience really is. “If only 20 people want to do it, it’s dead in the water. If 200 want to do it, it’s not.” So, if you do want this to happen, you need to pipe up now. This is your chance. We’ve still got rucks of your responses that we’ve not yet been able to use on what you want generally from main line steam. Worry not though, the topic is not dead: the Editor tells me he’s planning a ‘Mailbag Special’ next issue.