A clearly (I) ludicrous idea/Preposterous tales.

[hirez]

In poking around randomly on that Wikiwiki site (theme song 'Jam on it' by Newcleus), vaguely looking for Hymeks as it turned out, I discover Cotswold Rail, who keep a loco named 'John Peel'. It was the work of mere seconds to idly speculate about the wisdom or running a London -> Whitby special, to enable the drinking to begin on platform 33 1/3rd and continue until the return.

Were it not for the fact that no-one would be able to agree on the departure and return dates, the bogs would be ankle-deep in toxic lager piss and hair-dye slicks by the time you hit Watford, you'd have to travel via odd places (Brum, Sheff) in order to get the numbers up, several hopless bastards would set the smoke alarms off due to sneaking into the septic bogs for a cancer-stick, there'd be mithering about the cost and the people I'd like to have along would touch the idea with someone else's bargepole and/or aren't fithy g*ths... It would be a top thing to think about.

Hey ho. I'm not sure why I mention it. Devilment, probably.

Comments

[lee-chaos.livejournal.com]

It's certainly my idea of fun. But then so was a busful of musicians to Belgium & back in 72 hours... and the above scenario indicates that you remember this all too well.

[hirez.livejournal.com]

The Eurorock fun-bus (and arrangements surrounding same) was, as you correctly divine, at the front of my head when writing that.

That said... It's an interesting thought experiment.

One of the things that has never been much fun is the drive to/from. The section over the moors on the way is jolly D if the sun's out, but otherwise I Have Always Driven Because No Other Fucker Is Any Use and I would quite like to put my feet up and have a kip on the way back one day.

Hm. Up Thursday, back Tuesday.

[lee-chaos.livejournal.com]

Agreed: The travel should be part of the adventure, the prologue and epilogue of the festival. Or indeed when dealing with a band at customs, an adventure in itself...

Would be nice to get a price and see what happens from there. I suspect that locomotives would be treated with *marginally* more respect than coaches, but perhaps I'm being optimistic.

I'd be up for it, but then I'm aware that I'm not a yardstick for what most people consider normal behaviour...

[hirez.livejournal.com]

Bugger normal, to paraphrase the goddess-like Shuv.

Were one going for the full-on experience, there'd be a Whitby-prologue gig on the Wednesday night in order to tempt people down to That There Londons.

[lee-chaos.livejournal.com]

Now that bit I can help with... ;)

[jozafeen.livejournal.com]

I think it is an utterly fabulous idea but does it have to go to Whitby? ;-)

[meltie.livejournal.com]

Re: loco:

May I drive?


Please?

[redcountess]

Have you been on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, BTW? It's rather fun, but it didn't give me much time for exploring Pickering.

[poggs.livejournal.com]

...nor eat lunch!

[poggs.livejournal.com]

A charter to Whitby would be great fun. London Euston, platform 18 to Watford Junction, Milton Keynes Central, Rugby, Birmingham New Street, Derby, Sheffield, Leeds, York, Darlington and Whitby.

Except maybe stations from Doncaster onwards wouldn't attract enough high-paying customers. But you could hire a pair of 37s and some MkII stock, then make the announcement "We have a Shop on board in coach C, selling teas, coffees, snakebite and black, cider and black and a variety of pills and drugs".

[hirez.livejournal.com]

I kind of hoped that you'd come up with a workable route.

[lee-chaos.livejournal.com]

...and maybe part hoped he wouldn't, since this now puts the idea in the realm of A Feasible But Mad Plan?

[hirez.livejournal.com]

:p

Oh, this is a diesel-driven money pit and stands about as much chance of happening as, um, the Sisters gig at the NEC, for pretty much the same set of reasons. I have no doubt that the train people would want a hefty deposit, which would have to come from advance subscriptions... (This is why there was a hack-train from, um, some part of Germany to one of the Hacktic events. And indeed why the next one didn't happen.)

Blast. I'd better email them, hadn't I?

[lee-chaos.livejournal.com]

It's worth a poke, just as a feasibility study. Lordy, perhaps you can even get a grant or subsidy for using a more efficient means of transport than sending 60-odd cars across the Moors.

On similar line of madness, I have an idea on the back-burner to charter a light aircraft from Cheltenham to Norwich & back again, since they're the only people capable of holding club nights with the same level of decadence & fun as I've managed to accidentally culture at Judder...

[sarah-mum.livejournal.com]

Ho YES!

[meltie.livejournal.com]

That's entirely the route I had in mind too. Via Brum and Sheffield makes a lot of sense tbh...

[goth-twiglet.livejournal.com]

It would be cool fun though. *chuff-chuff*

[sarah-mum.livejournal.com]

Will there be chocolate frogs?

I rather like the idea of a sleeper train full of people with no intention of sleeping.

[nemesis-to-go.livejournal.com]

It's certainly possible to charter a train to take anyone to anywhere in the UK, subject to the usual logistics (if you wanted to bring a charter train into Waterloo at the height of the rush hour, for example, I dare say you'd be politely told to get stuffed) and subject to someone fronting up a good few thousand pounds to pay for it.

These people (http://www.trainchartering.com), these people (http://www.ews-railway.co.uk/services/services_rail_charter.asp) or these people (http://www.steamdreams.co.uk/_pages/_corporate.html) could probably sort you out.

You can even travel on the Hogwarts Express (or, at least, in the same rolling stock as Harry and his pals) if you charter your train from these people (http://www.steamtrain.info/WCR.htm).

So, it can be done. I dunno if it would be viable, in a common-sense-money-and-everything way, mind, but it can be done!

Let's say the train accommodates 400-ish people. That represents a 7- or 8-coach train: the charter probably wouldn't be viable with fewer passengers. So, all that's necessary is to get 400 punters to make their Whitby travel plans based on the train's timetable/route/calling points, and show sufficient commitment to fork out for tickets comfortably far in advance.

Unfortunately, I think that's where the idea is likely to become derailed. Not only because persuading 400 goths to sign up to the same plan is probably beyond the skills of even the finest cat-herders, but also because...400 people? That's about 30% of the entire WGW crowd. Frankly, it's never going to be possible to get such a large proportion of the crowd to travel by just one train. I fear the potential punter pool here is just a bit too small. Which is basically the problem with goth-stuff in the UK generally, of course.

Then again, if one of the charter operators comes up with a cheapo price...who knows?