Let steam take strain to keep Britain moving

Heritage operators hope passengers opt to travel by festive charters as strikes bring rail network to a halt

A FESTIVE jaunt on a chartered steam train would be considered a rare treat for most.

But as strikes bring railways to a standstill again today, and with a month of disruption over the Christmas period ahead, steam operators are hoping passengers choose their vintage trains to get from A to B.

Railway tours are the only trains departing from some stations as drivers from 12 operators walk out.

Those wishing to reach Kettering, Leicester, Alfreton or Chesterfield could take the York Yuletide Express, which is running a return journey from Ealing Broadway to York.

Railway Touring Company, which operates the charter, has put arrangements in place so passengers can board and alight the train at various stops.

“This weekend is good news for us because we can still operate normally, as we’re not affected by the Aslef strike,” said managing director Kelly Osborne.

“We have received notifications we will be granted access to the stations and our passengers will be able to continue as normal.”

The empty lines have allowed the promoter to divert the return leg via Wakefield Westgate and Leeds.

Other firms are taking advantage of the strike to persuade passengers to travel with them. The Medway Valley Christmas Pullman, which costs £400 a head for a five-course lunch and uses original Pullman carriages from the 1920s and 1930s, is the only passenger train leaving London Victoria.

The train’s promoter was forced to email passengers earlier this week to clarify that “information from certain train operating companies stating that London Victoria is closed is incorrect”.

Simon Farrow, the operations director at the family-owned company, said: “It isn’t every day that we get to be the only train running from a major London terminus.” A third steam train – Saphos Trains’ Great Western Christmas Envoy charter from Crewe to Bristol Temple Meads and return – will be the only train to call at Stafford, Tame Bridge Parkway, Coventry, Leamington Spa and Bath Spa. National Rail tickets are not valid on any of the three trains, nor are pay-on-the-day bookings accepted.

Train drivers at 12 operators are striking today, with members of the Aslef union at Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, Crosscountry, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, Greater Anglia, LNER, London Overground, Northern, Southeastern, Transpennine Express and West Midlands walking out over a long-running pay dispute.

It comes as Christmas is set to be disrupted, with the RMT union announcing two 48-hour strikes on Dec 13 and 14, and Dec 16 and 17.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “It’s very disappointing Aslef is choosing this unproductive strike action, which will ruin millions of people’s weekend plans. This dispute has gone on far too long. We urge union leaders to reconsider this action.”