Water palaver… but support services pull out the stops
WITH LONG-TIME railtour water supplier Bells and Two Tones no longer able to service main line steam locomotives following the result of a recent court case (SR529), the ability to refill tenders at a rapid rate – especially in the south of England – has diminished somewhat.
“It’s always sad to see people leave the market and it does make things more difficult. We’ve had a long and productive relationship with Bells and Two Tones since Tornado was completed,” Graeme Bunker-James, commercial director at the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust told me. “Anywhere south of Grantham we would be expecting to use Bells and Two Tones, so we will be considering which other operators are able to work with us.”
In the past, ten-minute splash-anddash water stops were able to be booked taking advantage of Bells and Two Tones’ bowsers that have high-pressure outlets with two pumps, allowing two hoses to fill a tender at once at the rate of 500-600 gallons per minute. However, with the firm no longer able to supply the industry, Graeme cautioned some paths previously used may not be available anymore.
“There are certain pathways – particularly on the Southern but also elsewhere – that only work when you’re able to pump in 500 gallons a minute or faster, and we now have to question who has that capacity to fill or are we going to have to plan differently?” he mused, though one upshot could be that passengers may be able to see the locomotive more frequently.
“It will make promoters think differently, and one of the complaints we get is that people want to see the locomotive and a water stop is an obvious opportunity to do that. If you’re at somewhere such as Salisbury, where you’re taking water for 20 minutes, it’s an ideal opportunity for passengers to get up close, but if all you do is rapid water stops in loops, it doesn’t offer the opportunity for people to see the loco,” Graeme added.
Since September 2021, new and existing suppliers have been filling the void left by Bells and Two Tones and others, such as 1st Defence Fire and Rescue Services, in order to keep tenders refilled.
One company that is relatively new to supplying water to steam is Droitwich Spa-based Larkins Transport. “The issue is our flow rates aren’t massive because the tankers are designed to carry drinking water as they are mainly used to contribute water to homes that are cut off from the water supply,” operations and transport manager Nathan Griffiths told me, adding his lorries are only able to pump in around 230 gallons a minute of water into a tender.
While it is theoretically possible for the firm to upgrade its tankers to have faster pumps, the company can’t justify the outlay at the moment, Nathan said: “To invest a large amount of money and adapt tankers specifically for steam would be difficult, as charters don’t run every day.”
Already, slow flow rates have caused issues: in SR527’s Down Main, I wrote about how a ten-minute water stop turned into being stationary for 24 minutes, while on the return leg of March 5’s Railway Touring Company-promoted ‘Cotswold Venturer’ trip with Flying Scotsman, the tender could not be refilled fully in time at the Kemble water stop on the return leg, with the ‘A3’ subsequently having to take on more water than originally planned for at Milton Junction, leaving the train out of path as that water stop overran.
Meanwhile, Maidstone-based G1
Fire and Rescue has made a hefty investment in order to supply water to steam locomotives, having gained a full operators’ licence and arranged for its drivers to go through Certificate of Professional Competency training specifically for the charter train work.
“We have two vehicles that will have high delivery and two that have the capability to push 900 litres a minute (197 gallons a minute). With two pumps, that’s 1,800 litres a minute (395 gallons a minute) that we can push at full chat,” James Wigely, a director of the firm, told me. “We’ve had to put the vehicles through MOTs and disconnected the blue lights, but we’ve done it because that’s what the steam guys need.”
G1’s first refilling job was Steam Dreams’ Flying Scotsman trip to Canterbury on
WE’VE DONE IT BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT THE STEAM GUYS NEED JAMES WIGELY, G1 FIRE AND RESCUE
March 17. “The day went without a hitch. Steam Dreams was really happy and we’ve been booked in for future trips. We’ve had really good feedback from the industry and it is great to supply steam locomotives with water to keep them moving,” James told me, adding his company is also being booked by the Railway Touring Company and the Merchant Navy Locomotive Preservation Society.
Speaking of Steam Dreams, its chairman David Buck told me in SR524’s Down Main that he was investigating buying tankers to distribute treated water from a reverse osmosis plant that has been built at Southall for ‘Mayflower’. The plant is now up and running and “we’re using a mixture of our own water and others’ water but we’re going to use as much of our own water as possible”, David told me, adding that while it is more expensive to source water this way “it will protect the boiler.”
David also told me that he is still pursuing the idea of investing in his own lorries, while he added he is also considering modifying the ‘B1’s’ tender in order for No. 61306 to carry more water than at present.
“We are looking to see if we can increase the water capacity of the existing tender because getting 10% extra capacity is a very useful thing. We did also look at a second tender, but the problem is that will increase the length of the train which could mean we’d lose a carriage, so it is unlikely we’ll be going down that route,” he said.
Railway Touring Company MD Kelly Osborne told me: “It is a shame that we’ve lost Bells and Two Tones and for us it is the end of an era. It’s the end of an era for them too, and they’ve been a huge supporter of us over the years. We and the industry wish them all the best for the future. Larkins, Ian Buxton and others we’ve used have stepped in at the last minute and pulled it out the bag and they’ve been phenomenal. We’ve got cover going forwards.”
Pathfinder looks to focus more on steam as senior leadership changes
IT’S ALL change at Pathfinder Railtours, with the Stroud-based promoter looking to focus more on steam-hauled charter trains in the future amidst a senior leadership shake-up.
By the time you read these words Peter Watts, who has been running the company in its various guises since 1973, will have stepped away from the firm. New marketing manager Jack Boskett told me that Pathfinder will now be led by a team consisting of new and existing
employees. “Running Pathfinder will be a team effort between senior members of the company,” he said.
Pathfinder has been on something of a hiring spree lately, too, with three new admin assistants joining the company in March. “They come with a load of skills that weren’t there before – from design to front of house on the train,” Boskett explained.
Historically, Pathfinder has focused more diesel railtours along with the odd steam-hauled excursion, but Boskett told me this is set to change.
“We don’t just want to be a track-bashing company any more. We also want to run more ‘come and have a nice day out’-type tours; as such we want to introduce more steam excursions to the portfolio and visit areas to which other promoters don’t run,” he said.
To that end, the firm has launched its first steam-hauled trip of the year: September 3’s ‘Cumbrian Fells Express’ with air-smoothed ‘Battle of Britain’
No. 34067 Tangmere hauling the train from Carnforth to Carlisle via Shap, and the return leg taking in the ‘S&C’, with the train being operated by West Coast Railways.
DB Cargo UK has generally been the firm’s go-to TOC; however, Boskett explained that because of resourcing issues the promoter is “having cause to look at other avenues” to deliver certain trips.
Settle-Carlisle Railway Development Company to celebrate 30th anniversary with one-off charter
The Settle-Carlisle Railway Development Company is to promote a steam-hauled charter train to celebrate its 30th anniversary later this year.
Set up in 1992, the not-for-profit firm aims to promote the line and works alongside the wider railway industry and local businesses, including restoration and improvement projects up and down the 72-mile line.
Planned to run on September 17 and operated by West Coast Railways, the train will start out from Carlisle to York and return. Additional pick-ups/set-downs are being offered at Appleby, Settle and Skipton. Provisional timings indicate the train will leave Carlisle at 8.00am and will return at 9.30pm.
“It’s quite unusual for a steam train to start at Carlisle – though quite a lot end up there – so we think there are people out there who will want to travel on the excursion. We also think a steam-hauled charter train is a great way to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the company,” John Moorhouse, chairman of the Settle-Carlisle Railway Development Company, told me, adding he has requested that the train will be hauled by ‘Royal Scot’ No. 46115 Scots Guardsman throughout.
Tickets for the railtour are priced from £90 and can be purchased via the company’s website: https://settle-carlisle.co.uk
MNLPS to promote its own railtour – with the RTC’s help
Here’s something I didn’t see coming prior to its announcement: The Merchant Navy Locomotive Preservation Society is promoting its own railtour this summer.
July 30’s ‘Stratford-Upon-Avon Pullman’ trip will feature Clan Line visiting the West Midlands town once again, with the
WE WANT TO RUN MORE ‘COME AND HAVE A NICE DAY OUT’‑TYPE TOURS JACK BOSKETT, PATHFINDER TOURS
Railway Touring Company acting as the booking agent for the tour.
“The Clan Line guys wanted to promote a railtour but they don’t have the platform that we do, and we are therefore working with them. They’re not doing the trip for us, we’re acting as the booking agent for the society,” Kelly Osborne, RTC’s MD, told me. “It’s a bit different; we did it previously, a long time ago, so it isn’t something that’s new to us. We were asked if we could assist ,and it would have been rude to say no. I really hope it is a success and there may be more dates to come in 2023.”
Osborne added: “If it is a success and they want to do more of their own charters we would act as the booking agent.”
This isn’t the first time a locomotive owning group has run its own railtours with an ‘established player’ acting as a booking agent on its behalf – UK Railtours managed bookings for the A1 Steam Locomotive Trust’s tours until 2019 when bookings and promotion were taken in-house under the Tornado Railtours banner – but nonetheless, this is a pleasing development.
“We’ve got a very good working relationship with RTC and we very much enjoyed the trip to Worcester last year [August 21’s ‘Cotswold Venturer’ – Clan Line’s first ever trip with the Kings Lynnbased promoter]. We had the opportunity to work with Kelly and the team again and we’re thrilled to be working with RTC again,” James Cummins, MNLPS’ press officer, told me. “We’re very happy to go back to Stratford – it’s a nice route and it’s a tried-and-tested operation which we’ve done before. It is also nice to offer the Pullmans via another promoter.”
Clan Line is also down to haul three RTC-promoted tours this summer – July 2’s London Waterloo-Exeter and return ‘Atlantic Coast Express’, July 9’s London Victoria-Weymouth and return ‘End of Southern Steam’ and August 27’s London Victoria-Worcester and return ‘Cotswold Venturer’ – though don’t expect there to be too many trips away from Clan Line’s bread-and-butter ‘British Pullman’ work in the future.
“Our work is predominantly with Belmond and DB Cargo UK, but we’ve looked into other options to supplement the ‘British Pullman’ income when we can. It’s nice to do the one-off trips every so often but at the end of the day it’s equally enjoyable to work with Belmond and DBC because that’s what’s going to get us across the line to pay for the next overhaul. The majority of the income comes from DBC and British Pullman, but it is good to have the work with RTC as well.”