Can you have a private train?

Random thought that came out of (totally unrelated) boring work meeting musings today.

If I was super rich and scared of flying, could I own a private train and use the rail network to be driven around the country? I could have a country pub carriage, cinema carriage, gym, luxury restaurant and sleeping quarters. I’m thinking James Bond Villain/Orient Express/luxury hotel /man cave style.

Are you allowed private trains?

The royals have one I think

It must be what the owners of Northern have, they keep clearing the lines at weekends to go places on it

Yes there are many train enthusiast trips that are essentially private companies running or loaning their trains to run on the  U.K. rail network

When my team won promotion to the premier league last year

a lad put on a 3 or 4 carriage train to Wembley

Yep, i thought about the private charters but assume they plan ahead weeks or months in advance. What about if I want to tell the staff to get the train ready for a spontaneous trip to that London for lunch tomorrow?

Yes you can have one but no you can’t go wherever you want whenever you want as you have to fit around scheduled services…  unless you own your own railway like Bill McAlpine!

You can if you’re Kim Jong Il.

I know someone who used to have a few trains!

admitidly they owned quarries in the mendips and Scotland and also a few ships to move ore about but the principle is the same. They owned tracks coming out of the quarries that were connected to the main network so could move ore where they wanted.

made a few quid as well…

McAlpine died a few months ago, but his estate is (was?) amazing. Four mile long full gauge line, steepest full gauge line in the world. Very impressive.

He held a couple of events a few years back – amazing collection of stuff, and animals galore. Very eclectic, very eccentric. More info here

Yes you can have one and you can go wherever you want whenever you want because there are strikes and cancelled scheduled services all over the network, thereby creating vast areas of train tracks being unused (at taxpayers expense)

FIFY

Private jet/helicopter would be more practical.

Private jet/helicopter would be more practical.

Unless….. the drugs and vomit bags might get expensive

If I was super rich and scared of flying,

I’ve got a private train pencilled in for when I win the Euro millions. A Deltic hauled gold carriage to be kept on a siding in Saltburn. Should be good 🙂

I could have a country pub carriage, cinema carriage, gym, luxury restaurant and sleeping quarters. I’m thinking James Bond Villain/Orient Express/luxury hotel /man cave style.

You could charter the Belmond Royal Scotsman

Like going on a cruise but by train

Surely you’d still have to disembark at a station with all the poor people though. I can think of nothing more distasteful for a man of your standing.

I know someone who used to have a few trains!

admitidly they owned quarries in the mendips and Scotland

But their trains would have been scheduled and only used for aggregates. When they travelled between Scotland and the Mendips they used a private plane (although not sure if they still have this since they sold the quarries).

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/aug/17/brad-pitt-angelina-jolie-train

Now there’s a thought. Assuming you can make arrangements to go where you like on your private train. Also assuming you could take it through the Chunnel, how far round the world would you be able to take it? The far side of China?

But their trains would have been scheduled and only used for aggregates.

The one I mentioned above travels to its own schedule- obviously that has to fit between the schedules of other trains.

I remember a thread on here about MTB riders (including a several posters on here) cheekily  using the Rannoch Viaduct on their understanding that ‘its fine because you know when the trains are coming’… you only know when the scheduled trains are coming 🙂

@scruff9252 assuming you go on the same gaige (width rails (or have adjustable ones) the world is your oyster

I happened across this film while doing a bit of family tree research

‘Tubby Slater’ at the start of this clip was the next door neighbour of an ancestor of mine known as ‘Bluey Green’

it’d be awesome travelling the globe on my own private rattler, especially like the one detailed above! But id be shit scared of hijacks or piracy in some of the rougher, more desolate corners of the planet, Los Cabos, Mogadishu… Liverpool.

Didn’t Damon Albarn charter one for the African express thingy he did a few years ago?

 Also assuming you could take it through the Chunnel, how far round the world would you be able to take it?

Approximately as far as Eastern Europe, I think. Maybe more if you go via Turkey?

Going the other way, if there was a train ferry (which there isn’t) you’d have issues in Ireland for starters.

Isn’t there a newly opened line that gets you a lot further than Eastern Europe/Turkey these days?  I thought you could basically get to China without changing now.

Okay, sort of: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yiwu–London_railway_line

@scruff9252 assuming you go on the same gaige (width rails (or have adjustable ones) the world is your oyster

Not strictly true, as the train protection systems used in most countries aren’t interoperable with the adjacent country, it would be impractical to fit a train with equipment for each country so you’d have to mitigate the risk some other way, for examply by driving through each country at a greatly reduced speed if their infrastructure owners let you on at all.

Once we get ETCS up and running everywhere though….

But their trains would have been scheduled and only used for aggregates. When they travelled between Scotland and the Mendips they used a private plane (although not sure if they still have this since they sold the quarries).

Sounds like you know them too. I believe the plane is still an option but rarely used these days.

Surely you’d still have to disembark at a station with all the poor people though. I can think of nothing more distasteful for a man of your standing.

If you walk / ride down the Monsal Trail in Derbyshire, there’s still the remains of some of the stations. One is about 100m away from another and it’s the private platform of one of the railway owners (or mill owners, something like that). Basically he didn’t want to wait with the workers and proles so the train stopped at the main platform and then moved 100m up the line and stopped for him where he’d board his private carriage.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38497997

China have already ran one it’s an old link sorry

Railways? Where we are going, we don’t need railways…

Used to have one :-))))

My son’s best friend’s mother has several private trains. She is the owner of a train company!

That China-UK service needs to either change bogies en route twice, or swap the containers to other trains, due to the different track gauges.

So “how far can a train go?”… not all the way to China without something changing. ie about as far as Eastern Europe.

Most train companies don’t even own their own trains these days – they are leased from rolling stock companies – typically consortia of banks and financiers – so if you own your own train then you really are in a privileged minority!

All trains are privately owned.

Yes you could have your own but you would still have to fit into the existing timetables and find an empty slot to suit your purpose. You can’t just set off and go.

The network is full of private train journeys; all the freight trains and steam hauled specials are private. Technically Virgin, East Midland Trains etc are also private.

Heaven help us all if Corbyn  re nationalises them. Northern Rail will be fondly remembered as a good service.

Ive been on a private train before in the UK. Did the three peaks challenge by rail back in 2009 raising money for a charity called Railway Children. Our transport was provided by the rail companies – one provided the train (think it was an old GWR but was entirely 1st class (helped for sleeping in between mountains and for not getting cramp), another company provided the food and chefs, Network Rail signalled us (we were timetabled for some of it, but some was off timetable and we had slots we could fit into) and we had a great time.

Hey Disben – I did it in 2004 then 2005 and lastly in 2014.  A really great event!  I have particularly fond memories of scampi and chips at the Ratty Arms after Scafell Pike!

One is about 100m away from another and it’s the private platform of one of the railway owners (or mill owners, something like that).

Which one is that? Although I think if you are rich enough to have your own train you can probably afford a team of big ugly bodyguards to keep the common scum away.

Not quite the same thing but IBM used to have a station (IBM Halt) in Scotland for one of their big plants. Its finally been removed as a stop several years after the plant closed down (which is when i heard about it on one of the tech websites).

On the private vs current rail services thing. At Eridge station in East Sussex they have a Southern rail platform going in and out of London and the termination of a heritage railway at the other platform. Its quite impressive just how different the two stations look. One is pristine and the other not so much. Two guesses which way it falls.

On the private vs current rail services thing. At Eridge station in East Sussex they have a Southern rail platform going in and out of London and the termination of a heritage railway at the other platform. Its quite impressive just how different the two stations look. One is pristine and the other not so much. Two guesses which way it falls.

It’s like that at Grosmont on NYMR. One side is nice and well kept. The Northern Rail side is a dump.