The Railway Touring Company - King's Lynn

Katrina Doughty

Had a fabulous trip on Clan Line on 24 August 2024 with RTC to Worcester on the Cotswold Adventurer tour. So grateful for the professionalism and friendliness of all staff involved, but especially for the expertise of the driver who saved the trip from being abandoned due to a broken rail. Everything ran very smoothly from booking tickets to when we arrived back at London Victoria at the end of the day. Well done to everyone involved in organising this trip - it was superb!

Fred Chapman

Amazing day out from Northampton to Carlisle. The staff were all lovely, food was excellent despite a few incidents, through no fault of the Railway Touring Company it actually gave us a longer time on the train which suited us fine, we were in no hurry. Thank you to Steph and the lady who accompanied us throughout the entire journey (sorry my lovely didn't catch your badge name)
Such great service can't wait to do it again.

Martin Miles

We had a superb day on the Paddington to Minehead trip on Saturday. Joined the train at Newbury and had just standard seats. The crew were superb, the train ran to schedule and the seats very comfortable (unlike GWR!). The buffet served sandwiches, snacks and drinks and the bacon rolls were very welcome. I can thoroughly recommend.

Helen Francks

Excellent trip from York to Carlisle being hauled by the magnificent Flying Scotsman in its centenary year 2023. The food in premier dining was very good and the staff from The Gravy Train company serving the food and drinks were very friendly and efficient. It was a fabulous day out and a dream come true to travel by a world famous train. Thank you.

Alan S

Steam and Christmas Markets in Germany 30/11 - 08/12/2023
After many years of day trips with RTC, 3 Great Britain trips (myself) and a Scottish Highlander Holiday we embarked on the Steam and Christmas Markets in Germany tour recently. The mix of Picturesque Rail travel, Steam Railways visits, great Christmas Markets and free time to explore worked very well for us both. Relaxing views from the trains were a lot better than what you miss flying, albeit it takes a bit longer. Taking manageable cases also helps when changing trains en route and Taxis helped for our journey to/from the Bonn Hotel. The Maritim Hotel a short tram (short walk/frequent service) ride south of Bonn is a big quality Hotel with spacious rooms and a large Breakfast choice.
The three Heritage Railways (2 short, one long up to levels of Snow) had bags of Character and were very welcoming with hot drinks, Gluwein and Cakes. Run pasts, shunting, ‘fake’ arrivals and shed visits were all arranged for Photographers. We also found the Christmas Markets so very atmospheric, loved by locals and visitors alike. The cruises on the Rhine and Main were very enjoyable with seasonal snacks, drinks and Music.
In our second location the Railway themed Altora Hotel we understood was new to RTC, smaller but meant our group had its room for Dining. To reach it we had a Luxury spacious coach operated by an established tour operator. (Brochures in the seat backs) We didn’t expect this Hotel to be the same as the previous one being smaller and further East but generally we had no real complaints. In fact my wife who doesn’t like meat dishes found all she was offered was very tasty. The railway in the dining room is an attraction itself and you can see Steam pass just across the road, on movements from the station and sheds which are about 15 minutes’ walk away. It’s also a similar walk in the opposite direction to the town centre with a good and less crowded Christmas Market than larger cities. It has a large variety of smaller shops and mini trains to take you up to the Castle which has wonderful views. The rides up to the Brocken summit revealed a Winter Wonderland behind impressive powerful Locomotives, memorable on both days
The Journey home was changed due to a German train drivers strike but RTC pulled out all the stops and Leaving Wernigerode at 7.00am our Luxury coach got us all the way to Liege in Belgium (around 7.5 hours incl stops) instead of Hannover station around 2 hours. From there we got a train to Brussels Midi with plenty of time before our booked Eurostar to London.
Our Tour Manager Ian Stanley was very helpful plus knowledgeable throughout aided for a few days with important planning from Andrew Thompson too

Jane Letts

We travelled on Saturday 21st September on the Coast to Coast from Liverpool to Scarborough. We enjoyed our trip and the quality of the food was very good, however, the train carriages were tatty and needed a total refurbishment especially the upholstery. We travelled Premier class carriage B seats 16F & 16B and expected a more comfortable experience, one of our seats was broken but as there was no other seats available we just put up with it. The servers Emma & Kelly (hope I have the names right) were superb went the extra mile and worked well as a team. This wasn't the same for the silver service waiting on team, they did not communicate well or work well as a team and we observed passengers who joined the train at other stations forgotten about for their food and even when they had pre-ordered their return meals they were no longer available even though we had seen their meals brought into the carriage but then returned to the kitchen. Barry the server sloshed the soup he was serving splashing other crockery on the table and the tablecloth and the train was steady at the time! Peter the volunteer steward was so informative and was a smashing chap.
The tannoy was not working great in our carriage so unfortunately we could not hear the announcements which was worrying as we could not hear the health and safety briefing for travelling passengers. Overall it was not worth £295 per person!
We would not travel again with this company.

tommtwemm

I had the privilege of travelling on The Railway Touring Company's Stratford Flyer, pulled by 46115 Scots Guardsman on 11/03/23 with my girlfriend and it was amazing.

We travelled First Class, mighty expensive but an unforgettable experience. From the very start, seeing 'A Private Charter' on the departures board at Manchester Victoria certainly added to that excitement to the journey. Everyone on board was great, our main drinks steward was Jamie and he was lovely. Our bacon baps on the morning service were out of this world, the pastries afterwards were equally as delicious. We were never left waiting to ask for a drink, myself and my girlfriend were both very well looked after on board.

We had a generous amount of time in Stratford-upon-Avon, enough to have a nice meal and see some sights. Upon being seated for our return journey we were greeted to our table with sandwiches and a scone with butter & jams. These were great and since they were cold we could have them at any point we wanted on the return trip.

We had a slight alteration to our itinerary in that we would be stopping at a different station than planned for a long water stop, this was well communicated by staff on board and we were kept in the loop with them answering any questions we had. Whilst at our long water stop we were lucky enough to be allowed to step onto the footplate too! Before long we were back in Manchester with immovable smiles on our face.

Many thanks to The Railway Touring Company and all staff involved, we had an amazing time, it certainly beats a Northern service. Tickets across all classes of travel are expensive but you're paying to keep a steam train on the main line, paying the staff that make these days out possible and paying those behind the scenes making sure everything runs on time! I fully recommend booking a steam train trip with The Railway Touring Company and I hope to be able to do just that again soon.

Stephen B

We had an absolutely brilliant day out from London to Weymouth. It was great to finally travel on a steam train travelling at main line speeds. The food (breakfast on the way out and dinner on the way back) was superb. The staff were very friendly and knowledgeable.

Our only very small issue was that it was a bit too hot in the carriages and it wasn't a particularly hot day outside.

We will definitely be looking to do another trip in the future.