The rise and rise of railtour tickets No. 55019 Phase 1 appeal successful

IT is both fascinating and worrying to see the escalation of prices charged for charter railtours. At the luxury end, operators offer sumptuous travel in glorious vintage Pullmans with prices to match: one trip this April comes in at up to £750 per person, believed to be the highest daily charge for a rail charter yet. At the other end of the scale, the average Standard class fare on most railtours now tops £100.

Railtour operators have taken a real battering thanks to the Covid pandemic and are now getting back to normality. Let’s hope punters can dig deep despite pay not keeping pace, and many associated costs (petrol and hotel accommodation, for instance) adding to railtourers’ burdens when considering booking on tours.

THE Deltic Preservation Society’s appeal to raise £18,000 to fit GSM-R radio equipment to Deltic No. 55019 Royal Highland Fusilier has been attained. This is the first part of returning No. 55019 to the main line.

The next appeal – Phase 2 – is now in hand to raise £17,000 for updated AWS and TPWS equipment. Already over £5000 has been donated by Deltic supporters – the DPS welcomes any donations to this cause – please see its website for donating details:

www.thedps.co.uk

Meanwhile, the start-up of

No. D9009 Alycidon is now imminent, three years after its disastrous failure when returning from Edinburgh, which damaged six traction motors and one main generator.