Intercity has an opportunity – but will it take it?
Intercity, one of the many charter train promoting arms of the Locomotive Services’ empire, got off to a flying start in 2021 with a series of trains taking some of its classic ex-br locomotives to places old and new.
There was a trip behind a pair of Class 40s to Plymouth, Class 20s to Blaenau, a Class 55 Deltic to Newcastle, and some of its AC electric locomotives working on the West Coast Main Line. The train itself was typically a rake of Mk.3 First Class ‘air-cons’, although it was Mk.1s to Blaenau because of clearance issues with the Mk.3s.
The programme never really got going, partly due to one of the brains behind it (on a freelance basis) getting a full-time job. But there was also criticism about the coaches – and yes, I am one who doesn’t especially relish air-con coaches (more on that later).
But the fares were reasonable. A First Class seat – there was no Standard Class option – was the same price, or in some cases cheaper, that a Standard Class seat on other promoters’ trains. That was partly because Locomotive Services can do it all in-house – it has the locomotives, train crew, coaches, and operator’s licence – so it can price up a train far cheaper than many others, with the exception of West Coast Railways.
Intercity reacted to the criticism concerning some of the coaching stock and the lack of a cheaper Standard Class fare by seriously curtailing its programme, although it since ran an excellent push-pull tour in February 2023 taking 47712 Lady Diana Spencer not only to Inverness, but also for a couple of trips along the ‘E&G’ between Edinburgh and Glasgow Queen Street. Now that is ‘old school’!
For 2024, Intercity has announced three trips so far, the highlight undoubtedly being the ‘Whistling Highlander’, taking Class 40 D213 Andania from Crewe to Inverness and back on February 24/25. This train runs via
Aberdeen on the way out and via Aviemore on the return, and all at – by today’s standards – a bargain price of £159 First Class for the two days. Okay, you have to book your own overnight accommodation in Inverness, although for that weekend I found cancellable rooms in a well-known budget hotel for £40. The set-up, with – assuming Network Rail plays ball – relatively sensible timings and just one night away may actually work out cheaper for many than a single-day tour. You’d not realistically get from Crewe to Inverness and back in a day on a charter train with a Class 40, unless it was close to being a 24-hour endurance test. However, you might get Crewe to, say, Stirling.
But even then it would be a stupid o’clock start and finish time, and that means – depending on where you live in proximity to Crewe – unless you are happy or brave enough to endure long drives before and after the trip, you’d need to spend two nights in Crewe.
So, a later, sensible start time from – and return to – Crewe means that, actually, you only end up incurring one night’s hotel cost.
Plus, in this format, you get a night socialising in the Highland capital, and that is never a bad thing.
So, the two-day tour format might actually provide the punter with more mileage, less hotel costs, and more sociable timings. Assuming you can spare two days, of course, then in many cases it’s a total win-win. Perhaps more two-day tours should be considered by more promoters? If they can achieve trains with better, more sensible start and finish times, more mileage and a decent night out, they could be on to a winner? One to ponder. I can’t say it would be to everyone’s taste (nothing ever is), but certainly food for thought.
I still wish Intercity would look at the feasibility of using its Mk.1s on these trains, or at the very least inserting one or two Mk.1s into its Mk.3 rake to give those who really enjoy the sound of a locomotive working hard the best experience possible. D213 thrashing over Slochd and Drumochter will be something passengers should be able to enjoy aurally. But Intercity also has the option to offer some really good heritage traction days out. And here is why I say it has an opportunity, if it chooses to take it.
All being well, in 2024 it should have – some, or all of – four Class 20s, three Class 37s, a Class 40, a Class 45, several Class 47s, a Class 55 and its Class 86, 87 and two 90 AC electrics at its disposal. There is great scope for tours ‘recreating’ the past days, not to mention the potential for some firsts, or repeats of trips that have only ever happened once or twice before, and many years – even decades – ago, and are kind of in need a re-run!
From a purely selfish point of view, taking Class 20s to (some or all of ) Fishguard, Pembroke and Milford Haven would be ‘massive’; I’d like to think a trip like that would sell, and sell well, especially given 2023 has seen just 34½ miles of main line Class 20 passenger action, and LSG’S 20s don’t work too many charters. Going to Tweedbank with Class 20s would also be highly sought-after. A Class 40 trip from Crewe to Manchester, then on to Skegness, should also be a popular trip as well. That hasn’t been done since 1984, and the train could take in two different routes, via Lincoln and Nottingham. A Class 47 trip to Newquay (and perhaps Falmouth too) would most likely get the 47 followers out in their numbers
When it’s back, there’s lots for 45118 The Royal Artilleryman to go at – though please don’t advertise any trips until the locomotive is fit and has proved its reliability – and also don’t ‘flood the market’ with six or eight Peak trips in quick succession! For starters, a day trip from Liverpool to Newcastle or Scarborough would be a winner. Likewise, a North East/south West trip would also be popular. What about a two-day trip from York to Penzance or Paignton, returning via Cardiff and Birmingham New Street?
Taking a Class 45 into or out of St Pancras is a must, of course, but St Pancras to Glasgow via the route to the ‘Thames Clyde Express’ – with an overnight stay in the city – might prove tempting for many. And if the increased costs of running empty coaching stock is worrying, then, if possible, open them up as one-way charter trains on the Friday and Sunday? That could also appeal to Joe Public as a cheap way to get from Cheshire and the Midlands to London for a mini-break, and the trains could even go into Paddington on the Friday and out of, say, Euston on the Sunday.
I’m hoping by the time you read this, D9000 Royal Scots Grey will have performed admirably on its late November King’s Cross to York legs for Saphos. Assuming the Deltic is ready for regular use in 2024, there could be some nice Deltic trips for Intercity to consider – again, classic Class 55 routes and something different, or new.
There is great potential for Intercity in 2024, assuming it runs the right level of trains, with some exciting and interesting destinations, itineraries and traction. I hope it takes up the baton and runs with it. Of the aforementioned Intercity charters announced, January 13 sees either 86101 Sir William A Stanier FRS or 87002 Royal Sovereign working with the Mk.3 set from Crewe to Ayr and return on the ‘Ayr Extension’, which runs via Glasgow Central.
On February 10, one of the two LSG Class 90s will haul the ‘West Riding’ trip from King’s Cross to Skipton and Bradford Forster Square. It will be interesting to see if either or both of these sell well.
The air-con debate
As alluded to in the opening piece of this month’s From The Front Coach, there’s not a great deal of love for charter trains with ‘air-con’ coaches, and the debate gets discussed repeatedly.
The old argument is ‘back in the days of BR, you didn’t boycott air-cons’, and that is true, but it was different world back then.
For a start, few – Deltic men aside – had little alternatives to air-cons. If you did Class 50s, for example, the chances are you didn’t do too many Paddington to Penzance moves out and back in a rake of Mk.2 air-cons, with those awful fixed armrests. You got on and off trains throughout the day. You had choices.
Another argument was ‘well, if a ‘big’ Healey Mills Class 40 was working an S&C drag on air-cons, you wouldn’t have ‘flagged’ it and not travelled.’ Again, so very true, but you would have stood at the vestibule, window open, enjoying said 40 thrashing itself to within an inch of its life on the climb to Ais Gill. And no one would have batted an eye. We’re not allowed to do that on a railtour these day! The ‘pleasure police’ have stamped that out because its ‘dangerous’.
But rail travel was also so much cheaper back in the days of BR, as rovers were so cost-effective. Family railcards allowed cheaper long-distance travel for both those under, ahem, the age of 18 (sorry, I mean 16!) and the adults who had the railcard! Long-distance was rarer for haulage enthusiasts, while railtours were almost exclusively formed of Mk.1s.
The current Mk.1 restrictions facing the market are over-the-top, as I have repeatedly argued, but we are stuck with more trains that are formed of air-cons. It’s up to every individual to take every itinerary on that basis. I sit in between. I’d do a trip to Kyle of Lochalsh with Class 20s in air-cons, or even a Class 158 drag if it meant getting there behind Type 1s, but I’d prefer it to be in Mk.1s! However, I wouldn’t necessarily do a pair of Class 37s on air-cons to Yarmouth as it’s, well, just nothing new. And yes, I did lots of Class 37 trips to Yarmouth with Greater Anglia in recent years, but that only cost £20 and you could stand at the window if you wanted to. And one final issue with air-cons – both in BR days and today in the private charter sector – often, the air-con simply doesn’t work, or work properly, and you either end up close to being boiled alive on a hot day or frozen to the core on a cold one!
So, while many passengers don’t like air-cons, some will tolerate them, but I’ve yet to see anyone jumping with joy at the thought of 16 hours on a railtour in a Mk.2 air-con coach.
Midland Pullman dates for 2024
Locomotive Services has announced a full programme of trains for its high speed train Midland Pullman for 2024, with 37 trips planned throughout the year.
The first is the ‘Whitby Jet’ from Shrewsbury to Whitby on March 5, with Whitby also the destination four days later on March 9, starting from Barrow-in-furness.
There are eight dates set aside for the ‘Torbay Riviera Pullman’ to Torquay and Paignton. They start on April 1 from Hull and are repeated on May 31 from Carlisle, June 27 from Crewe, July 9 from York, July 16 from Holyhead, August 14 from Chesterfield, August 21 from Norwich and September 14 from Leeds. A Plymouth to Llandudno ‘North Wales Coastal Pullman’ runs on April 5. There are two three-day ‘Cornish Riviera Pullman’ trips advertised; these head to Penzance on the Friday and a return on the Monday, with the Saturday being a spare day in Cornwall. Passengers must book their own accommodation. The first trip is set for April 12/14 from Berwick-upon-tweed and the second is from Dumfries on August 30, returning north on September 1. On both weekends, on the Saturday the HST is used for a day trip from Penzance, on April 13, the ‘Torbay & Dartmouth Pullman’ heads to Kingswear on the Dartmouth Steam Railway, while on August 31, the ‘Bath Spa Pullman’ visits Bath. The scenic 72-mile Settle & Carlisle Railway will be visited on 11 trips by the Midland Pullman, with some trains starting in the south, others from the north, and a few from the east. Those originating in the south are called the ‘Settle to Carlisle & Coastal Pullman’ and head north over the S&C and return via the Cumbrian Coast line. The first starts at Wolverhampton on April 18. June 12 is from Gerrards Cross, June 22 is from Holyhead, July 4 is from Derby and the last is from Watford on October 18.
Those from the east also head north and return via Hexham on the ‘Settle to Carlisle & Tyne Valley Pullman’, and May 11 is the first which starts at St Albans. It runs again on September 7 from Potters Bar and from Romford on October 23.
Finally, those from the north cover the route southbound and head to Blackpool as the ‘Settle to Carlisle & Blackpool Pullman’. They are set for April 27 from Dundee, May 25 from Dundee and on July 27 from Perth. The ‘Highland Clansman Pullman’ on April 23 starts at Chester and heads to Aviemore, and this trip is repeated on September 27 from Thirsk.
The West Somerset Railway’s terminus at Minehead is the destination for the three ‘Exmoor Coast Pullman’ trips. These are set to run on May 18 from Whitchurch, on July 2 from Chesterfield, and from Carnforth on September 17.
The first of four trips to the West Highland Line heads for Fort William on May 28 with the ‘Ben Nevis & Lochaber Pullman’, which starts its day at Morpeth. The second train to Fort William is on October 4 from Lancaster. Oban is visited on June 18 from Preston and again on August 7 from Darlington
The first of two ‘Beamish & Durham Pullmans’ will run on July 20 from Chelmsford and heads to Durham with a visit to the Beamish Museum. This is revisited on September 21 from Newport.