STEAM DREAMS PLANS REGULAR LONDON MIDWEEK STEAM – FOR UNDER £50

Operator experiments with short, low-cost trips from Waterloo to Windsor.

we hope it’s successful and, if it is, we may do more of this sort of thing DAVID BUCK

£49 for around four hours of main line steam. Every week. That’s what’s on offer from Steam Dreams with its new ‘Sunset Steam Express’, an evening bash round the Surrey hills planned to leave Waterloo on Tuesdays this summer.

The launch event for this and a regular series of shuttles to Windsor to run on the same days (see also SR491) took place on April 9, with ‘B1’ No. 61306 specially posed at the bufferstops of the LSWR’s London terminus.

Together, the package is a big step for Steam Dreams – chairman David Buck says the plan “virtually doubles” the number of trains the promoter runs.

In a sense, the ‘Sunset’ trips are subsidiary to a trio of Waterloo-Windsor Riverside ‘top and tail’ shuttles each running day.

Aimed at tourists, these are due to run for 14 weeks, on every Tuesday, from June 4 to September 3.

Running from Platform 19 on Waterloo’s ‘Windsor side’, the trains are to leave at 08.00, 11.10 and 14.10. While the latter two run over the direct ‘conventional’ route, the first takes a more roundabout path via Kensington Olympia and round to Kew East Junction. That allows a stop at Willesden’s South West sidings for a water top-up – which David says will be enough to allow his ‘B1’ to run the rest of the day’s shuttles without another refill. For that reason, the first train takes a little longer than the others to reach its Berkshire destination, rolling

into Riverside at 09.36. Arrival times for the later two are 12.27 and 14.27. And that’s it – by which I mean that the trips are one way; instead of offering the ‘back leg’ on the charter, Steam Dreams is offering a return by regular South Western Railway train among add-on options that also include Windsor tourist attractions.

Instead of taking passengers, the trains then run back empty and diesel-hauled after only around a quarter of an hour or so in Windsor. That allows the stock to be prepared on the move for the next run; layover back in London is for a similar time to the other end. Load is to be ten carriages, including support coach, plus the diesel on the tail.

Adult one-way tickets on the ‘Royal Windsor Steam Express’ start at £35.

Then, after the third trip, the train once again runs via South West sidings for water, before coming back to Waterloo for the roughly 18.00 departure of the ‘Sunset’. That returns shortly after 22.00.

“This is very different,” David says of the programme, “we hope it’s successful and, if it is, we may do more of this sort of thing.”

Tuesdays have been chosen, he says, because they fit nicely into a schedule that already includes a number of trains on Thursdays and at weekends. As for finding people, expect adverts to appear in hotels and on the ‘Tube’ and, David says, it’s hoped to introduce the trips to travel agents’ palettes.

This is certainly a bold attempt to try something new. And while the main focus might not actually be gricers, what’s not to like about an evening trip from London for less than £50?

●● Cover for David Buck’s ‘B1’ No. 61306 on Steam Dreams trips this summer will come through a ‘Black Five’ from Ian Riley’s stable, David reports. The arrangement will involve an LMS 4-6-0 based at Southall between mid-May and the end of August, so that “when ‘Mayflower’ is having washouts, maintenance and so on, the ‘Black Five’ will stand in.”

There may also be times when, dependent on ‘load and road’, the engines double-head – and there is one trip that’s planned to be ‘top and tail’. That’s the July 20 bash round the south including Portsmouth Harbour from Victoria, a day that involves reverses of the train. A similar itinerary last year went with No. 45212 and diesel.

The move to bring in another Class Five doesn’t, however, preclude Steam Dreams using a bigger engine when appropriate, says David.