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RichardB
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« Reply #30 on: January 16, 2020, 17:19:56 » |
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LiskeardRich
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« Reply #31 on: February 07, 2020, 16:02:28 » |
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Appears to have entered administration today.
Screenshot from Percy the station cats Facebook page. Can’t find anything more formal as yet.
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All posts are my own personal believes, opinions and understandings!
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johnneyw
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« Reply #32 on: February 07, 2020, 17:21:26 » |
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Sad news, I've had some entertaining visits there, once bordering upon the surreal. I hope the situation can be satisfactorily salvaged.
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RichardB
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« Reply #33 on: February 07, 2020, 23:12:43 » |
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Appears to have entered administration today.
Screenshot from Percy the station cats Facebook page. Can’t find anything more formal as yet.
Sorry for those who have lost their jobs. Hope for much brighter news re Okehampton very soon and hope too that at least the buffet will reopen in time. |
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Umberleigh
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« Reply #34 on: February 08, 2020, 19:25:37 » |
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It is a massive shame for all those involved.
BARS always struck me as a bit ‘odd’ in that all the heritage operations had to be supported financially by the freight operation, and that always looked a long shot.
Perhaps it’s for the best that they didn’t get permission to run the Open Access service between Okehampton and Exeter as I fear the class 31s might have proven both too expensive to operate and too unreliable. The scheme failing might have then sapped the political will for any future GWR▸ timetabled daily services.
A final note: a glance at the DR website saw them wanting to charge £150 for a family of four (or £200 for four adults) to have Sunday lunch on this line. Sorry, but that is extortionate and not at all sound business thinking.
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johnneyw
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« Reply #35 on: February 09, 2020, 11:19:19 » |
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I fear the class 31s might have proven both too expensive to operate and too unreliable.
Indeed. On one of our visits, the loco gave up about 1/2 mile short of Okehampton on the return leg from the Sampford Courtenay direction. After a while the driver and guard decided everyone had to abandon the train and walk back to the station. Cue a mass disembarkation from the front carriage down the steps to the trackbed. It must have been a fairly comic scene for everybody waiting on the platform to see a substantial column of passengers appear on the trackbed and make their way back to the station. All the passengers involved were offered free cake in the cafe as compensation but we declined the offer as both of us considered that the whole episode was already sufficiently unique and hugely entertaining. |
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grahame
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« Reply #36 on: February 09, 2020, 12:31:10 » |
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A final note: a glance at the DR website saw them wanting to charge £150 for a family of four (or £200 for four adults) to have Sunday lunch on this line. Sorry, but that is extortionate and not at all sound business thinking. Very interestingly ... on the Weardale last summer, the bubble car I was travelling in with a handful of others on a public service passed a top 'n tailed class 31 train running one of these "afternoon tea specials", and it had a goodly number of people on board. Speaking with staff at the top of the line - Stanhope - where such trains start and end, they do good business even if the price per head is breathtaking. |
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Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
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broadgage
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« Reply #37 on: February 09, 2020, 13:36:45 » |
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£50 a head for Sunday lunch, including a first class return trip on a heritage railway, is not bad IMO▸ , presuming that the lunch is of good quality.
Lunch would cost about £50 on the GWR▸ Pullman in addition to the fare.
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A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU▸ is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
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Umberleigh
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« Reply #38 on: February 10, 2020, 12:34:02 » |
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£50 for the Bluebell Railway Sussex Belle lunch. But then that’s a steam-hauled train and they have a lot of experience in getting these things right.
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Umberleigh
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« Reply #40 on: March 19, 2020, 10:39:55 » |
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How was the historic Stockton and Darlington railway allowed to partiality close? Just seems such neglect of a national heritage asset
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bradshaw
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« Reply #41 on: March 19, 2020, 12:47:57 » |
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The line from Shildon to Darlington is on the route of the Stockton and Darlington. The original route crossed the ECML▸ north of the station, once marked by a sign. It rejoined the route to the east of the station, where the old sleeper depot used to be, and followed the current line, but to one side to the Tees at Stockton.
North of Shildon the line traversed two inclines, steam powered stationary engines, to the colliery.
The line toward Weardale is a later construction and absorbed by the S&Dn
The 200th anniversary of the opening is in 2025 as plans are already being drawn up for uts celebration. However an argument has started regarding Hackworth’s Locomotion No1. The NRM» want to relocate it to Shildon from Darlington where it has been based for decades. I remember seeing it at Darlington Bank Top station in the 1960s,
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grahame
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« Reply #42 on: March 02, 2021, 18:54:38 » |
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I am getting lost in the complexity of organisations ... but lots of rolling stock including two thumpers up for sale. http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/dfsall.pdf |
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Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
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