Take a seat
CHARTERS GET TOUGH ON STANDING PASSENGERS
We asked, and you responded. Readers have spoken out about what they want from main line tours… first up: why a ‘vestibule ban’ puts train timing under threat. Steam Railway readers are calling to once again be allowed to stand in coach vestibules, something increasingly restricted in recent times. The plea comes in a ‘wish list’ for how to improve main line steam that follows our request for people’s thoughts last issue. Performance fans in particular have named the now-common practice of stopping people standing in carriage ends as a reason for not travelling. That’s because, they say, even a window seat is no guarantee of being able to see mileposts - especially as the markers can be on the wrong side to the seat you’ve been given. In a vestibule, you can choose which side you stand. To be clear, timers are not saying they need to lean out of the windows - but they are saying they need a clear view that’s often not possible from an allocated seat. A ‘vestibule ban’ is a relatively new thing. For while leaning out of the window has been against the rules for as long as anyone can remember, standing in the vestibules has not. Indeed, on the modern railway, where overcrowding means that propping yourself in carriage ends with opening windows is a regular occurrence, it still isn’t. As Keith Garwood from Manningtree pointed out: “It’s strange that there is nothing to stop one doing this in the Mk 3 coaches on the London-Norwich trains, which race along at 100mph.” It is mainly since the West Coast Railway Company incident of the signal passed at danger at Wootton Bassett Junction with Tangmere in March 2015 that a widespread clampdown on standing in the vestibules has been enforced. However, that rule has not come from the Office of Rail and Road. When I asked in February, Britain’s safety authority told me: “ORR has not mandated that passengers cannot stand in vestibules. That’s not something that has come from us.”
Risk aversion
Instead, the move has emanated from within the charter community itself, as West Coast’s Pat Marshall confirms. The MD of the primary main line steam operator told me: “There’s not really any need to be in the vestibules. Everyone has a seat, and it creates a risk.” “It certainly hasn’t come from the ORR,” she agrees, adding: “It’s the stewards keeping things as they should be, and protecting us. “We’ve been through so much that we’re not prepared to take risks, because in the end it will come down to us, not the promoters.” As for train timers, she suggests they request window seats when booking. She does offer a small glimmer of hope to those who fail to get one, but who ask nicely: “I think it comes down to the discretion of the stewards and the train manager and guard on the day. If it is requested in the proper manner, then maybe.” Tyseley says it is not only fully supportive of WCRC’s position but that it would enforce a ‘vestibule ban’ if it does - as proposed - end up establishing its own TOC (SR461). It also accepts that this might end up with people deciding not to travel. Says Vintage Trains’ Ben Mason: “We continue to receive some quite extreme comments regarding our policy of no ‘window hanging’ and loitering in the vestibules. Many of the comments are based solely on hearsay and rumour. My favourite comment began: ‘I have never and never will travel on Vintage Trains, but your new policy of not letting people leave their seats is disgusting!’ “To clarify our policy (once again), passengers are only restricted to their seats during the transition from our starting point at Tyseley Warwick Road onto the main line; we ask passengers to remain seated between Tyseley and Small Heath, less than two miles in each direction. At other times passengers are more than welcome to get up, visit the buffet, bathroom, friends, etc. “We’re still not allowing people to loiter in the vestibules, because we then have to have someone (a steward) there to make sure they don’t hang out of the windows… We are not so concerned about the ‘professional’ timers, but other passengers might see them at the window and then think it’s OK to copy them… “For anyone who thinks the rules don’t apply to them, or that nothing will happen to them because they are ‘careful’, look at the terrible incident of the enthusiast and preserved railway volunteer who died on the Gatwick Express last year… because he had his head out of the window. “We firmly believe we have lost many enthusiasts, not only in Standard Class, over this - but it only takes one person to be seen doing this on a train to cause trouble.”
Bar humbug
“There is a solution to this, but it’s not one we’re prepared to do,” he adds, recalling something once imposed by BR, “and it’s bars on windows.”
What then does Ben say to those who, to be able to enjoy their day, need to be on the correct side for the mileposts? “People call us and say ‘I’m a timer, can I have a seat on the milepost side?’ and we say we’ll do our best to get them a window seat, but what we can never guarantee is that it’ll be on a certain side. That’s because the seating plans are done two weeks before the train departs. “Our train formation is not a fixed set of vehicles; it is configured to the number of tickets sold. During the train’s preparation, it can be shunted, turned and so on. We simply cannot guarantee which way around the coaches will be. We always do our best, but…” Underwriting that Tyseley’s stance on this is independent even of its operator’s
policy, Ben says the modus operandi would remain the same even under the proposed new VT train operating company: “The rules and policies should remain consistent, irrespective of promoter, equipment or TOC.” As for other promoters, Steam Dreams boss Marcus Robertson says: “The reason we impose it is because we’ve been asked to impose it. West Coast’s safety documentation is extremely thorough and we have to follow it - and quite rightly. Given that safety issues end up in their in-tray, it is only fair we do as we’re asked.” Would the ‘Cathedrals Express’ promoter be prepared to make an offer of a window seat when people request it? “We always make a note of those requests and nearly always it is accommodated.” Meanwhile, for his outfit, the Railway Touring Company, Nigel Dobbing takes a slightly differentiated line: “We understand West Coast’s policy is what it is, but as Pat [Marshall] has already said, within reason and with permission from the West Coast guard and our train manager, we can accommodate people’s wishes - as long as they commit to not putting their heads out of the window.” Of the promoters that use DB Cargo as their operator, Charles Paget for Pathfinder/ Torbay Express reports: “We’ve had some serious problems with people leaning out on railtours, to the extent we had to put a mitigation plan in place. “There’s a safety notice on each window, that says ‘Passengers are not allowed to lean out of this window. It must remain in the up position.’ There’s another saying passengers should not congregate in the vestibules. “It’s not a complete ban - we allow the windows to be ‘slightly open’ and it still allows train timers to see the mileposts - but it is about discouraging the wrong behaviour. We must make sure people are not putting their heads or bodies out, and making the train out of gauge. “The stewards are there to make sure the rules are followed. We are being tolerant - but those rules must be followed.” As for trains promoted by the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, Tornado ops director Graeme Bunker says that for his outfit’s tours: “We have to take our guidance from DB Cargo, so our view is whatever they say we will do. In my opinion it’s not as relaxed as it was - there are a small number of people who spoil it for the rest, although in terms of our own tours, we’ve never had significant issues. “I’m particularly aware of the issues for timers, Mike Notley having been a personal friend. Timers are a minority, but an important part of our customer base and we want everyone to be happy. “We don’t want people to have to stay in their seats, but the guidance we’ve been given is that people shouldn’t be in vestibules for
a long period. But we keep it under review, and I’ve never had a complaint reach me that people couldn’t be in the part of the train they needed to be, for example to time. As long as our operator is happy, and people don’t take liberties, then I’m happy.”
A kick in the vestibules
You can read what readers think of all this in the box on page 51, but I’ll leave you with just one of those comments, from W.H. Chester of Feltham: “While I appreciate that the imposed rules really do have to be enforced, it’s still rather tough on the enthusiast who doesn’t get a window seat. Sometimes I’ve had the thought that there might as well be a diesel up front - I think most dining passengers wouldn’t care if there was!” A ‘vestibule ban’ was just one factor of many raised by readers in what they would like to see changed about main line charters. Others include diesels in the train, changes of locomotive and the chance to take pictures. We’ll return to these next time…