It should have been a lovely day! We have been on several railtours before, and always enjoyed them very much, so that when we learnt that UK Railtours were organising a trip to Durham with an optional excursion to the Beamish Living Museum (link), I treated us to the day as part of the Swan Whisperer's Christmas and birthday presents.
We started off by cutting it really rather close to get on the train as we had called in at McDonald's to get a breakfast (you would have thought that it would be quiet at 07:00, but no!). However, we got to our seats in the end, which were very comfortable, but very difficult to get into and out of as the armrests didn't move, and there was very little room between the armrest and the table! Another couple joined our table at Potter's Bar, and promptly latched on to us for the rest of the day, which cramped our style rather!
I should have packed a couple of peppermint humbugs to keep my blood sugar going, as eating breakfast two hours earlier than usual, and then not eating lunch until we arrived at Beamish was a Big Mistake, especially as there were queues everywhere. We found a café that could sell us a packet of biscuits, which helped, but there wasn't really time to do more than find another café that did us rather nasty toasted sandwiches, and took so long about it that we then had to go straight back to the buses! On our own, we could have probably seen a lot more than we did, even if only very quickly, and especially if I hadn't had that hypo, but as it was, it was rather a waste of a visit. I only took two photographs, one of the tram shelter all dressed up for Christmas
and the other of two buses at the stop once we had arrived back at the exit.
We got back to the buses in good time, and they got us back to the station in good time. The train left slightly late, but had a scheduled stop to make up time and find its path - but it got there and then broke down!
Fortunately the train remained warm and lighted, and the buffet was still well-stocked with sandwiches and so on, but we sat in what was pitch darkness outside for literally three hours! They did keep us informed. The engine drivers turned it all off and on again, to no avail, and eventually a freight locomotive was removed from its train to shunt us into a siding while we waited and waited for a replacement engine to arrive from York or somewhere like that. This took an hour, and by the time we moved off, it was nearly the time we should have been arriving back in London, and felt even longer! Eventually we were told we would arrive back in London about 00:30 instead of the 22:10 it should have been!
They went round the train checking that people would still be able to get home that night - I don't know what they did for those who couldn't, but I expect they arranged cars or something. We had been allowed to go on a quicker route than planned, so would have made up some of the time, but then they said we were going to stop at Doncaster, and LNER said they would take the London-bound ones and arrive in London about 45 minutes faster. So we decided to do that. The Azuma train wasn't nearly as comfortable as the charter had been, but much easier to get in and out of the seats. But it, too, was delayed, and arrived in London at about 00:10! Still, there was no sign of the charter, so I think we did get there before it.
There was no way I was going to face the Night Tube, so we took a taxi, which was horribly expensive, and eventually got home at about 00:45! Of course, had it been a regular train we could have claimed Delay Repay, which would have covered the cost of the taxi - as it is, I doubt we will be offered compensation, but I hope they do acknowledge what a nightmare it was.
And why I thought somewhere like Beamish on the Saturday before Christmas would be a good idea, I do not know!
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