‘Plandampf’ AFTER THE S&C - WHAT NOW?
S&C ‘Plandampf’ is a success, but could - and should - we do it again?
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BR never did ‘Plandampf’, and it almost certainly never would. But if it had, it would have done a decent job. That’s because the nationalised railway knew something that many others seem to have forgotten over the last 20 years - that steam is a great tool for promoting the railway to the media and public alike. ‘I LOVE S&C’ just retaught us that lesson. Retaught it… and etched it on the blackboard for all to see. Surely nobody could deny that effect now. BR knew this. ‘KGV’ paralleling an HST out of Paddington was good news; Network SouthEast’s events (see also Clan Line story), put smiles on the faces of local communities. Don’t just take my word for it - Neil Howard reminds us that BR “did understand” the effects of steam. He should know; he was public affairs manager at NSE’s South Central Division. “The lead policy was put down by [chairman] Sir Peter Parker at Rainhill in 1980,” says Neil, “and BR knew it was a tiny corporate commitment for the benefits it generated.” Yet one of the sad effects of privatisation’s carve-up was that this almost instinctive knowledge was cast away. Fragmenting the railway institutionalised a split between franchised operators - which at the time were mostly trying to look fresh rather than ‘backward looking’ - and a charter scene that now relied on private backers for survival. In many ways that’s not been a problem for steam. Freed entirely from BR’s ‘approved routes’ shackles, it rapidly covered new ground; no other country has as much main line steam as the UK.
Divorced
Yet that new ‘divorced’ structure meant that, with a few notable exceptions, the privatised railway has enjoyed few of steam’s PR benefits. Instead, many of the modern railway’s interactions with steam only occur when it interferes with normal services, or otherwise
causes problems. That’s unhealthy. Not only is it a wasted opportunity, it can foster a view that steam’s presence is, at best, a neutral one. ‘I LOVE S&C’ is a reboot. Unless you’ve been hiding under a stone I hardly need tell you of the TV, radio and press coverage it generated; the boost to local communities; the smiling presenters, happy passengers… you couldn’t script it better. For story-writers, steam on ‘real trains’ is irresistible. Part of this is about a key joy of ‘Plandampf’: it’s accessible to almost everyone. Charging normal prices (£17.70 return in this case) means that rather than the publicity having the effect of driving people to the lineside, it draws them to the trains. Families might not be big consumers of main line steam, but there were plenty who took part in ‘I LOVE S&C’. Rightly, the modern railway banked much of the reward. For it was the modern railway that created this. Steam was indistinguishable from Northern’s service because that’s exactly what it was. Nigel Harris has already explained in RAIL (and see pages 74-78) how regional devolution and cross-industry cooperation were key to making it happen - but it’s worth again putting on record the gratitude due to Northern, Network Rail and DB Cargo - plus the A1 Trust and Friends of the SettleCarlisle Line.
‘Nice problem’
Let’s give this a bit more context. In easily measurable terms, rather than the ten-fold uplift in tickets previously estimated (SR464) it seems ‘I LOVE S&C’ actually resulted in a TWENTY-fold increase. Around 5,500 seats were sold across the three days - compared to normal average figures of just under 300. Of course, a huge spike like that brings challenges, but that had been considered beforehand (not least with the increase to eight passenger coaches), and Northern laid on a relief DMU too. Plus, isn’t such success a ‘nice problem’ to have? There’s another thing - just as important, but now easily overlooked. For steam was not only a vital part of a good news story; ‘I LOVE S&C’ also swept away any lingering doubts that using our favourite motive power on service trains can be successfully delivered. Sir Peter Parker was right - steam does warm the market for railways. ‘Plandampf’ has just done it in particularly potent, modern, form.
More ‘PlandaMPf’? Yes, but…
So it works, it’s hugely popular and the PR is to die for. In that case let’s crack on, eh, and see if we can do more, maybe elsewhere? Well yes, and no… let’s not get too giddy about this. To make an obvious point, the technical challenges (see SR463 for a detailed look at this) mean steam won’t make any widespread comeback, even for special occasions. The number of places where it could hope to manage today’s services is just too limited. That’s a good thing. If that sentiment surprises you, let me explain. Quite apart from those logistical limitations, ‘Plandampf’ requires big commitment from parties across the railway (NR, train operators, the British Transport Police…). Their buy-in is essential. On its own that’s a pretty strong argument for keeping this nicely manageable.
Keeping it special
Aside from that, a big part of what made February’s event so special was its rarity value. Every time you do it, that becomes diluted - for passengers, communities and the media. So there’s another reason to limit this making it a treat every time. Even if none of this mattered, too much ‘Plandampf’ would surely not be in steam’s overall interests. For while it might be a great advert, the bedrock of the main line scene is specials, not real trains. That seems unlikely to change: ‘I LOVE S&C’ might have employed Tornado for three days, but collectively the charter promoters occupy engines for hundreds of trips, every year. Now I suspect many ‘Plandampf’ passengers were new to main line steam, or at least that they weren’t regular travellers. That’s great and it grows the market - especially if some of them become charter passengers in future. Even those who didn’t travel but heard about it might now fancy a steam ride. Yet if it grew too big, might ‘Plandampf’ actually start to draw people away from the charters the movement relies on? That certainly seems possible - especially given the likely cheapness of regular tickets over a standalone charter with all its costs.
Sweet spot
So somewhere in here is a sweet spot. A balance that maximises the goodwill, the happy new customers and publicity - but minimises the potential downsides. That means careful planning. Perhaps it’s about finding a reason to do it, like publicising a new service or trains. Maybe it means moving the concept round the country so everyone gets a slice, but nobody too much (if we peer hard enough, I’m sure we can all suggest places it could work well). In other words, making sure there’s not too much of a good thing. For a good thing it certainly is. ‘Plandampf’ is long established in Germany and now it’s shown powerful potential here - having maybe even more of an impact than in its home country. For irony of ironies, ‘I LOVE S&C’ even made the news over there. So more? Yes please - just not too much.
nortHern ‘vIndIcated
Northern’s Paul Barnfield, the company’s ‘Regional Director - East’ who was deeply involved with the event and its planning, says of ‘I LOVE S&C’ that there “were quite specific circumstances that all came together to create a perfect opportunity.” “It was phenomenal - great for our people, great for customers and great for the communities up and down the line. What we achieved with very little time to plan was brilliant.” However, he also says something that should be cautionary for anyone thinking how to do more: “Commercially, it needs a bit of thinking through. But we set ourselves a target of delivering something very special without losing money and both those objectives were achieved. “The way that we could stack this up commercially is again down to the specific circumstances. It was great PR - and as a result of this we can anticipate that people will come back to the railway quicker than they otherwise would. While it was never about making money, without doubt we won’t lose money - it did wash its face.” Now, you’ll see elsewhere on these pages that former BR special trains boss David Ward was critical about the event’s timing, arguing that it was too early, given that the S&C doesn’t reopen throughout until the end of March. Northern’s man, however, stands by the February decision: “It was about the communities, so it was a good fit with Half Term - and given the ‘I LOVE S&C’ tag, with Valentine’s Day too. Plus, we’ve got Flying Scotsman coming up here at the end of the month, so a month or six weeks ahead of the reopening was the right time.” As for some issues of train capacity, given the massive increase in numbers of people travelling over the S&C for the event, he says: “This was a normal timetabled train service… we didn’t want to make it fully reserve-able, we wanted to maintain its authenticity and give people along the line the chance to travel on the day. “The difficult train was the 10.44am from Skipton. We didn’t leave anyone behind with other trains, but we did on that one, which was disappointing. But because it’s a service
train, you can’t completely predict demand. We delighted over 5,500 people - and there was a small number that we couldn’t. “However, we did everything we could, from adding capacity on the train itself, to running a DMU behind so people could board the Tornado train on the way back from Appleby and still get the chance to experience it”. In among all the detailed aspects that inevitably belong in any ‘wash-up’ of such a phenomenon as ‘Plandampf’, let’s not now forget something absolutely key about what just happened on the S&C: without Northern’s ambition and confidence to back something so pioneering, it couldn’t have happened. Previously, I’ve said it deserved to be a great success - and I’d argue now that it has been. More importantly, it seems the company that did it shares a positive view. “I feel vindicated... What we achieved over the three days was phenomenal. I’ve had lots of e-mails from our staff, saying what an amazing thing it was to be part of - it was a massive team effort to pull it off. “We demonstrated it can be done. To do it again you’d need to ask, first, is it operationally viable? Secondly, can we make it work so it’s not loss-making? Finally, does it fit in with the broader railway environment? Running a steam train on the S&C is pretty special - on other lines it might not be. “I’d certainly like to do it again should the right circumstances arise.” “At this point, I’d like to say thank you to all the people who got involved. It was a real team effort - we couldn’t have done it on our own - and as a railway family we should take heart from that. “There were a few sleepless nights, but it was worth it!”
COULD DB DO MORE?
“It was a resounding success. It demonstrates that timetabled steam can work in the UK as much as it can in Germany.” So says DB Cargo’s Richard Corser, who, behind the scenes and away from the headlines, did so much to ensure ‘Plandampf’ actually worked. For while the trains were Northern’s, they were actually operated by DB - that company having a passenger licence for steam; both outfits are ultimately owned by Deutsche Bahn, Northern because it is part of Arriva, which was acquired by DB in 2010. “It showed that if all the partners pull together to make it work, wonderful things can happen,” Richard says. “The secret to this is in the planning. In the run-up to this we were having weekly conference calls. “We’d done a ‘pre-visit’ at Appleby Graeme [Bunker], myself and the local ops manager - to ensure we had adequate servicing facilities. It was also about things like understanding the nuances of Appleby water tower - Tornado takes 5,000 gallons out of the tank - so what’s the fill rate, given it was coming back at lunchtime? “It was about planning with the signalman - he was most cooperative about how we would achieve the various shunting movements, running round, and so on. Network Rail cleared vegetation on the Warcop branch - it rose to the challenge. “NR went above and beyond what I’d expected of it. I think we should pay tribute to the gauging engineers who did work at very short notice...” In terms of the ‘why’ rather than ‘how’, Richard points out that his organisation “was very keen to support its fellow group company Northern in its quest to increase the profile of the route in the run-up to formal re-opening, and we were very keen to shout a bit louder that there’s a railway that runs along the backbone of England. It highlights that the railway is there and that it’s running, encouraging people to use it.” So… now the key question: from DBC’s point of view, could there be more ‘Plandampf’ in future? “Yes. I think the success was sufficient that we could do this elsewhere. If there were other train operators that wanted to do a similar thing - it’s absolutely do-able. I think someone else said there needs to be a ‘hook’ - or something that needs bigger trains, but if there is, then why not? We should do it.” That, it seems, has official backing from the top; DBC boss Hans-Georg Werner was there for the last day of ‘I LOVE S&C’. “My chief executive was very positive and he thoroughly enjoyed the day,” says Richard. “He was very supportive.” Looking back to this event for a moment: was there anything that could be better? “We probably underestimated the popularity of the event, the interest the media would take in it - and because of that much greater crowds turned up. There were some disappointed people at Skipton unfortunately - but that was a casualty of its popularity. It was the first of its kind in this country. “Generally, I think it was about right. The length was probably about right - too long and the effect would wear off. It’s a mini-festival that’s going on here.” In terms of general logistics, Richard suggests that any future event should be no longer than ‘I LOVE S&C’: “If we can devise the day to keep within one set of drivers it brings economies, and if it’s a block we can lodge the drivers. I think three days is probably enough - it’s quite demanding.”
‘A1’ would keep tIme
What about the locomotive custodian’s point of view? In this case, that of the A1 Trust? Ops Director Graeme Bunker, who helped ‘breathe’ on the timings to ‘steamify’ them, reckons another time he’d look to tweak them due to the difficult southbound climb from Kirkby Stephen: “On the southbound legs I deliberately loaded it a bit so we had some recovery time on the southern end of the route. On reflection I should have taken a bit of that time and put it in north of Ribblehead. The overall time was correct, but - and I take responsibility for it - I put too much south of Ribblehead. “From Kirkby Stephen southbound, the ‘67’ took a bit of the weight up to 20mph. The ‘A1’ has rear sanders, but only on four wheels, not six. That was the prudent thing to do; we were effectively a double-headed train and had the back-up if we needed it. “Going north, there was nothing much to query, the locomotive worked well.” As we know though, running times are just part of a schedule - and German experience shows station stops can cause problems because you can have big crowds wanting to get on and off. How did that work out? “Intermediate dwell times were fine, but if we were ever to do this again, I’d suggest allowing ten minutes to load the train at the end points given the queuing system. But we got the timings right - recovery from the late Skipton departure on Day One proved it.” As a comparison, the morning steam schedule allowed 92 minutes between Skipton and Appleby - it’s normally 71min for the DMU. On that first morning, in a performance that brought happy smiles from the train, Tornado did it in 84 to arrive just a minute late. It was a superb effort - but was still outside the normal timings, which demonstrates once again the conundrum of steam on service trains; if you take a small load you can’t hope to cater for potentially hundreds of passengers, but a large train can’t keep the normal times. “Steam has not disgraced itself - but it was a Class 8,” says Graeme. “You could have put a ‘Duchess’ on the front, No. 71000... though the ‘A1’s’ advantage is water capacity. Otherwise, you need to time it accordingly. Also, don’t time it to within an inch of its life - that’s not what it’s about - leave some room to manoeuvre. It’s about giving people a good time, not setting records.” “You’ve got four times the weight of a ‘156’ [DMU], so you need four times the power, and that’s what you’ve got. However, you’ve got to ‘match’ the timetable because smallwheeled diesels are nippy away from stations - big-wheeled ‘Pacifics’ are not. A ‘9F’ might be a pretty good start!” However, he also says: “If you’re going to have 20min between stations, you actually want something that will go a bit, and at higher speeds.”
Conundrum
Interestingly, Graeme reckons the ‘A1’ could keep normal schedules - but with that ‘Plandampf conundrum’ catch: “The ‘A1’ is more than capable of keeping time on
the 9.47am from Leeds - but it’ll only be a short train with limited capacity. The way to mitigate that is to run more trains - but that costs more money.” Would the trust do it again? Graeme’s answer is perhaps no big surprise… “Yes. My team are all sitting there asking if we can do this for six weeks in the summer.” What of the logistics? After all, the support crew had to work around the engine being outside for three days, without a pit, and with much of the servicing in the dark. “The engine is always better than all of us. The guys in the drawing office in 1948 knew what they were doing.” Some of the 21st century tweaks with the new one have helped too, he argues: “The locomotive is designed not to have to be connected to shore power - it charges batteries and so on as it goes along, and it’s got a turbo-generator for when it’s stationary. That makes all the difference; the engine looked after itself in that way. All the things we designed it to do, but never really so far had to test, it did. It was the same with the support coach - it’s got a generator which meant no problems for the team.’ “We split the team in half - it was just shy of 11 hours, without ‘prep’ and disposal. So we had two shifts, and it worked really well. “The only thing I would say is it’s difficult to clean it going along, and it’s not so easy in the dark, even with all the lights on. So it ended up looking ‘more authentic’! “Would it have been better with a pit? Yes, but there are actually some jobs on the ‘A1’ that are easier without; it’s got full roller bearings, it’s got a very big hopper ashpan. Appleby-Skipton is a 100-mile round trip, then you’re cleaning the fire - there was no way it was going to get in trouble with that. “We took a thorough look at it during lunchtimes and evenings at Appleby. We did more inspections than normal in some regards, but without a pit that was the right thing to do. “You couldn’t have done this without the support of many people… approaching this with a positive attitude. Without that it doesn’t happen. You are asking people to go ‘above and beyond’ and do that little bit extra, and do it with smiles on their faces.”
WARD: ‘Why not LeeDs-CARLIsLe?’
At least one person was critical of ‘Plandampf’ - former BR steam boss David Ward. “My main gripe is that the timing was wrong. If it had been the first week in April it would have been more useful. “People say it was Half-Term, but frankly there were more dogs than children! “The thing that needs promoting is that the S&C is alive again. The thing to have done would be to do it in the last week in March, or the first week in April. “Also, had it been April that last train would have run in daylight.” He’s sceptical too about the publicity benefits - despite the wall-to-wall coverage. “I agree the publicity was superb, no doubt about that, but I ask, what has it done? “If we’d had that the week before it reopened, it would have been invaluable, but it’s six weeks before - what will be left? It will be forgotten.” David said he went to Skipton for the event himself, but “was told there was little likelihood of getting on, but I could run forward with the DMU later.” All of which might make you think the man who for years was in charge of steam doesn’t really think much of the ‘Plandampf’ concept at all. It turns out that’s not the case: his argument is that once the line is reopened, running the 9.47am LeedsCarlisle and the corresponding return working throughout “would make a very nice ‘Plandampf’.” Under his formula, the train could be made available for full reservation, have catering facilities, and - of course - a prestigious engine. If that sounds familiar, it’s probably because it has echoes of the ‘Wardy’ special trains concept from BR days. Such a train, he says, would be an “ideal job for the new ‘P2’.”
It WAs ‘fAntAstIC’ but not too muCh
Statesman Rail’s Peter Watkinson reckons the Settle-Carlisle ‘Plandampf’ in February was “fantastic” as a one-off - but do it too often and it might encroach on the charter business. Talking months before the first of this year’s ‘Fellsman’ S&C trips runs in July, things are looking pretty decent right now: Peter reports that the first two are already full with the remaining three half-full. “It’s the ninth year now and they’ve always all filled, all the time,” says Peter - and while he says that the bookings so far represent “pretty good going,” he also says they’re “on a par with previous years.” Now, while the S&C closure meant no ‘Fellsmans’ ran in 2016, five is a low number of trains compared with previous years. There are a number of reasons for going for a limited season, he says - one of them being perception (“looking back a few months ago, everybody knew the S&C was closed. Now, since the Tornado event, that’s changed”); fitting around engineering work is another. So, now the bookings are flowing in, might Statesman decide to add more trips? “It’s something we could look at, but the marketing’s done, the leaflets are out. You can end up catching a cold with these things. “It’s not really likely,” considers Peter before throwing in engine availability as yet another thing to think about. However,
there’s potentially more positive news for next year. “It probably makes more sense to look at 2018 - and go back to the full 14 trains.” Now… we all know the S&C has been beamed across the airwaves recently, but does he reckon the ‘Plandampf’ made any difference to bookings? “We did get a blip that week on the website hits. I wouldn’t say it had a massive effect, but it had an effect.” As for why the ‘Fellsmans’ are full, or at least well on their way, he responds: “I don’t know. Perhaps... we got the marketing right.”
almost-‘PlandamPf’
For such a simple concept, ‘Plandampf’ seems to generate an awful lot of debate about what qualifies - and ‘yes, but…’ correspondence has been flowing in to SR in recent weeks. So to restate it: ‘Plandampf’ is the running of steam on service trains; you take a diesel or electric off, you put steam on. It means if you simply want to ‘get from A to B’ this is your train; it means normal tickets are valid. That might not be easy to achieve, but it’s easy enough to understand, surely? Even if there may be some ‘grey areas’… So suggestions that the ‘Jacobites’ qualify, or the North Yorkshire Moors trains to Whitby, are wide of the mark. For while they may be great, they’re not national rail service trains. If they were, someone might have to explain why normal tickets aren’t valid (Fort William-Mallaig, £14.30 off-peak return; ‘Jacobite’ standard class adult £35), or why such trains use Mk 1 coaches; these days that would be in contravention of the Railway Safety Regulations 1999. But they’re not service trains; even if they run frequently, they’re specials. Other than things like last-minute substitutions - of charters picking up stranded passengers and the like - I can only think of one previous occasion anyone has brought ‘Plandampf’ to passenger trains in the UK. As we’ve said before (see SR463 and SR263/264), that was on the West Highland Extension in 2001.
‘Clandampf’?
However, one thing raised as potentially ‘valid’ certainly seems worthy of further investigation - and that is the use of Clan Line on commuter trains back in 1995. I confess - I’d forgotten about the rebuilt ‘Pacific’s’ exploits on the ‘Sou’ Western’, despite it being reported on back then in this magazine. Fortunately, though, there’s someone around who can help blow away any mental cobwebs - Paul Blowfield, then of BR’s special trains unit, and now (as of this year), the Merchant Navy Locomotive Preservation Society’s Communications and Marketing Officer. Paul has sat on both sides of the fence - and you’d like to think that if anyone knew, he would. He does. So, did No. 35028 take over existing services, or were its exploits ‘extras’? “It was the latter,” says Paul. “You couldn’t compare it with what happened on the S&C; it was an additional train.” The idea was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Woking Borough Council, and Paul explains that the trips (from Woking to Waterloo in the morning, and back in the evening) were “a gesture” from the council, aimed initially at season ticket holders who could apply for places. “Even in those days, the best slot the timers could provide was the 6.56am off Woking,” recalls Paul. “These days, you wouldn’t get a path at all.” March 24 - when it happened - was a Friday, and the trips were only part of a three-day event that marked the special trains unit’s swansong, just the week before it was disbanded. On that first day, something was also put on for schoolchildren, while the Saturday brought public excursions, with more on the Sunday using ‘M7’ No. 30053.
Fantasy fulfilled
“Then, in the evening, because it was the end of the special trains unit and I was indulging my fantasy, we split the set in half and sent it ‘Up’ to Waterloo behind Clan Line and the ‘M7’.” Even looking back 22 years, and even if the commuter trains weren’t exactly ‘Plandampf’… Good Effort. These days Paul - who you may remember that post-BR was also the man behind LSW Railtours - is more preoccupied with the Bulleid 4-6-2 itself, which is now on the verge of returning to steam. By the time you read this, final assembly should be well under way at LNWR Heritage in Crewe - the boiler having passed its steam test earlier in March. Speaking at the beginning of that month, Paul said Clan Line’s people were “still very much hoping” for completion in late April. Exercising the marketing man’s brain now is what he expects the overhaul cost to be not for this rebuild, but the next one. “We’ve got ten years to raise £1m. Alright, it’s a bit of a cigarette packet calculation, but we’ve got to think like that. We need to raise £100,000 - in profit - each year.” This season has a number of high-profile trips planned, in addition to Pullman work (SR462), while already in mind for 2018 is a possible series of Salisbury-Yeovil shuttles (à la 1990s?), as well as a hope that the ‘Merchant’ might make it to the West Somerset.