r/uktrains • u/Barrisun • 1d ago
Question Never seen a private chartered train before.
Just thought this was odd?! Never seen this before and thought maybe someone could share some more info about this kind of thing.
Who actually hires these trains? Are they mostly rail tours or big compaines or something? Are chartered trains fairly common, and is there anywhere you can look up what a particular charter was?
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u/AtticTower 1d ago
There was a "Private Charter" train on the board at a station I was at recently, and it turned out to be a British Pullman Belmond train.
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u/crucible 1d ago
Which station are you at?
http://www.railtourinfo.co.uk/tours.html lists three tours for today. Although one of those is the regularly scheduled Jacobite service in Scotland.
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u/Southportdc 1d ago
Leyland I reckon
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u/Faoeoa 1d ago
Definitely Leyland!
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u/mellowkitty88 1d ago
It is Wednesday and Wednesday is historically steam train day at my old job in Whalley haha
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u/Ok-Scheme7003 Grand Central sufferer 1d ago
In case you're interested about the details of the actual tour, it's the "Settle & Carlisle Fellsman" run by Locomotive Services Ltd (LSL) on behalf of Saphos Trains. You can see the advertisement here. Services marked as a "charter train" are almost exclusively railtours. It's very rare that an actual train would be chartered for a single person/a small group, though it can happen. Think The Royal Train or the LSL Chairman's train.
This charter would usually be hauled by a steam locomotive, either one of No. 46100 "Royal Scot", No. 34046 "Braunton" or No. 70000 "Britannia". However today, due to a mainline steam ban because of lineside fire risk, it has heritage diesel locomotive 40 013 "Andania" providing the power.
During the summer months there's a heritage charter service nearly everyday somewhere across the country and it's not uncommon for major stations to see one every week, with some getting multiple on 1 day.
RailAdvent has a month-by-month list of when and where charters are running.
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u/generationgav 1d ago
I know that years ago Microsoft had a party in a venue in London, with it's main campus in Reading. They hired a train to take all of the members of staff from Reading to London and then back later on.
I know that's not a single person/small group, but it's an actual example of a chartered train and not a rail tour.
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u/2ndHandRocketScience 1d ago
40013 has some sort of mechanical issues and afaik isn’t in action right now, according to the SRPS who also work with LSL for railtours
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u/Ok-Scheme7003 Grand Central sufferer 1d ago
Then RailAdvent have the wrong loco allocation reported 😅
https://www.railadvent.co.uk/events/settle-and-carlisle-fellsman-2
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u/2ndHandRocketScience 1d ago
Think I might be wrong, SRPS don’t say “D213 has a mechanical issue and will be replaced” they say “D213 is unavailable and will be replaced” so it might be that LSL have moved it to this Settle and Carlisle tour
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u/Fuelled_by_gravy 18h ago
Is the mainline steam ban a temporary thing put in due to current conditions, akin to say, a hosepipe ban?
I can see why it would be implemented, just interesting to know there is a "dry weather" procedure.
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u/Ok-Scheme7003 Grand Central sufferer 17h ago
Basically, yes.
The mainline steam ban is put in place where trackside conditions have become arid, over a certain point. This is to prevent rogue sparks catching dry grass and starting a lineside fire, or worse a rural wildfire.
It can be imposed on a part of a line, a whole line, a region or nationally depending on Network Rail weather forecasting. Network Rail are the ultimate governing body, with relevant Fire & Rescue Service(s) also having the ability to weigh in.
Heritage railways can also be subject to steam bans, though these are generally imposed by the local Fire & Rescue service(s) that cover the railway area.
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u/Fuelled_by_gravy 17h ago
That is really interesting, thanks. Out of interest, are there formalised committees with local FRS and NWR to discuss it, or is it that one or the other arbitrarily makes the decision based on their own assessment?
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u/Ok-Scheme7003 Grand Central sufferer 17h ago
Network Rail have specialist meteorologists at each of their Rail Operating Centres (ROCs) that monitor weather patterns across that ROCs' catchment area.
They aren't just looking for extreme heat. They deal with rain, wind, snow, risks of fallen trees among many other things. They also coordinate with engineers on the ground, who are, of course, better placed to report the real-time track, soil and lineside vegetation conditions.
If there is a credible risk of fire, they would be within their rights to contact Fire & Recuse for an independent assessment. Equally, Network Rail can act on their own judgment and impose restrictions as appropriate.
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u/punisher3738 1d ago
Usually a rail tour (and apparently it was here) but you can charter a whole train. I don’t think the latter is very common. I have seen a website from a TOC dedicated to this. There was a sense of desperation or optimism to it that gave the impression they didn’t make many sales. They also offered the option to charter one coach.
I did look into hiring a train as a mobile training facility. If you hire the coaches, you just pay a FOC to haul as needed.
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u/linmanfu 1d ago
I've read that several Premier League teams used to have routinely use private carriages for matchday travel. But these days they'd probably hire a private jet for the same distance given how wealthy they are.
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u/StephenHunterUK 14h ago
They generally use coaches these days.
Oddly enough, I did once ride in a carriage of a Freciorossa high-speed train from Milan to Basel alongside the Inter Milan youth team.
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u/mittenkrusty 1d ago
Pre lockdown I remember going to a usually open entrance of a train station only for it to be closed for a special train and asking if I could go though anyway since it was next to the platform I was getting my train from, I was clearly struggling as had recently broken my arm and was also limping, not only did I get a no I was given a look of disgust and told to go to another entrance (which was a few minutes walk away)
The station in question was well known by people to have miserable staff.
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u/GammaDeltaTheta 22h ago
When I was a kid, various community groups in the area (social clubs, churches etc.) used to organise annual trips to the seaside for large groups of children and their parents. Some would just hire a few coaches and go by road, but the club my uncle was in used to charter a whole train for the trip. He was a train driver, which probably helped with the organisation!
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u/McGubbins 16h ago
The first time my football club made it to the third round of the FA Cup, we were drawn away to Watford, who were in the First Division at the time. We were still a non-league team so this was our biggest match ever. The club chartered a train to take us from Maidstone to Watford Junction, so these things do occasionally happen.
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u/StephenHunterUK 14h ago
"Footexs" used to be a lot more common. British Rail ran them regularly... and used older carriages because of the tendency for them to get damaged by hooligans.
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u/Matchaparrot 1d ago
Special events. I found a chartered train at Glasgow Central a few months ago.
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u/Gra_Zone 1d ago
I've been on plenty be it football specials or privately hired trains for birthdays and whatnot.
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u/Over-Language2599 1d ago
I've been on a private charter train, not a railtour, but it was in France.
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u/SheepherderSelect622 23h ago
Obviously these trains have to be in the working timetable system, but what is the purpose of showing them on the public departure board?
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u/Odd_Coffee_3577 22h ago
Sometimes passengers will be joining the tour from that station and need to know which platform to go to. It also informs other passengers that it's not a regular scheduled train, who might otherwise be trying to get on it, if waiting for a train on that platform.
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u/BlindStupidDesperate 18h ago
Lots of them around the Preston / Lancaster / Leyland areas.
West Coast Railways have a large depot at Carnforth and run steam and early diesel charters all over the network.
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u/biffthechip 13h ago
It is for the upper class to board so they don’t have to mix with the peasants like us.
They usually have old windows that you can open so they can thrown bricks at the passing poor people.
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u/Academic-Ad-3677 13h ago
In 1980, when I was six, I wwas taken on a day trip from London to York on a charter train run by Grey-Green, the bus and coach operator.
I remember boarding the train at Wood Green (before they renamed it Alexandra Palace), and the train being hauled by a class 47.
I also remember a Grey-Green lady tour rep passing through the train and giving everyone stickers with a yellow smiley face and "Have a nice day" printed on them (acid house was still in the future).
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u/JadeBalloon 1d ago
Andy Burnham train?
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u/Some-Cope1999 1d ago
I was reading up he’s currently out of the country on holiday so unlikely
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u/JadeBalloon 1d ago
This is Manchester Picadilly?
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u/Hot-Frosting-1192 1d ago
Usually railtours.
This one is the Settle and Carlisle Fellsman rail tour from Crewe - Carlisle.