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Tour Programme - 2008

Enthusiast Holidays celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2007, and it has survived when many others who entered the railway enthusiast tour market, have come and gone. But nobody ever said it was going to be easy!  It is an unfortunate fact that many countries where steam survives, are or have recently been, politically unstable - look at Burma, for example, or the former Jugoslavia. The takeover of Kenya Railways by a South African consortium has meant that their priority is firmly on getting it to be an efficient freight railway, and steam was defintely on the back burner even before the post election violence. In Pakistan we have to cope also with monsoons that washed half the Khyber Pass away and a m.g. system based on Mirpur Khas that hasn't seen working steam for three years. And now the Ukraine has steamed its last, with all the locos. to be scrapped later in 2008 as it is uneconomic to keep them. The following tour programme is therefore presented in spite of all these problems! Click to print a PDF version of these tour programme pages

ERITREA October 14 - 22 (24) in association with the LCGB, with optional Cairo stopover; PAKISTAN + CEYLON Jan./Feb. 2009 if the political situation improves; JUGOSLAVIA Spring Bank Holiday 2009; and Mike Hedderly's "Burgandy Express" (May 2009) and "France-Italy Express" (October 2009; JAVA July/August 2009; Also: Ceylon needs grease! see tour text below

For further details of any or all of the tours described below, contact us at the address/tel/fax numbers on the preceding page, or complete the details on the next page and email it to us. Some of our tours are strictly for the dedicated photographer, and make few concessions to tourism. Others, however, recognise that many enthusiasts now wish to see something of the country visited, as well as getting great pictures, and so visits to the principal touristic sites and places of interest are included.

UKRAINE February 16 - 23     £1,095 incl. return flights London/Kiev by British Airways; single supplement £195 (if available); optional extension in Ukraine after tour possible.

n.b. tour departed - the images are left here for the time being to remind us of what may not be seen again!

"Dzherelo" has operated many steam special trains in the Ukraine, and neighbouring parts of the former Soviet Union, over the years, and many enthusiasts have obtained some great photographs and film/video as a result. However declining patronage and the vastly increasing costs of maintaining their fleet of steam locos. have meant that it is no longer economic, and they expect that they will all be scrapped in 2008.

This tour is therefore a "farewell tour" and Enthusiast Holidays is, although saddened, proud to be promoting it on behalf of "Dzherelo", along with other operators, in order to achieve a viable group size (which is now guaranteed - the tour is closing with c.110 participants). Click on this link for the itinerary (as received from Kiev). And bear in mind that you don't need a visa any more to visit the Ukraine!

Mike Hedderly's 2008 "Luxembourg - Champagne Express" didn't quite make it,

but planning is already well advanced for a Spring tour ("Burgandy Express" and "Mountaineer") using the 241P and the 241A, and possibly the 231G, plus the 141TB pictured left; and an October trip to Italy using 141R's.

Click on this link for the latest details (10 June 2008) and on the image below for a video clip.

 

 

 

Enthusiast Holidays (Trainseurope Ltd.) will also be offering best available Eurostar fares for travel between St. Pancras and Paris, together with National Rail tickets to/from London, and extra nights in London and Paris as required. Watch this space for a link to updated details and a booking form once full details become available.

Above: Mike Hedderly

JUGOSLAVIA provisionally Spring Bank Holiday , 2009 Serbia, Bosnia and Slovenia, and possibly Italy (Trieste area) where the Vila Opicina tram is also an attraction.

 

 

 

 

This tour will be largely a repeat of what we achieved in 2007, based on the fact that former Jugoslavia is the last country in Europe using steam locomotives in any numbers in a wide variety of industrial locations - we will concentrate upon those which are the best for photograhing steam in action, rather than hunting down rusting hulks! Click on this link for the provisional itinerary, which is (20 Jan.) almost complete. A 45min DVD (origination HD) of our 2007 tour is now available at £19.95 incl. VAT

Following the 100th anniversary of the Bohinj Railway, with Slovenian and hopefully Italian special trains - with ex-JZ "25" Class 2-8-0 (below) and the latter with Borsig "06" 2-8-2 (pictured just inside Austria in 1971) l the next day with the "06" or "25" (or the FS version, the "728") and a visit to the Ljubljana railway museum; Bosnia for working "Kriegloks" and n.g. "83" 0-8-2's in industrial sites, and Serbia for the spectacular Mokra Gora n.g. system also with "83", other industrial locations with USA tanks, 900mm Davenport 0-8-0's, Skodas and many more; a main line steam special on one of the scenic secondary lines, with the Serbian "01" 2-6-2 (below). As soon as the itinerary and price are established, you will be able to click on links for latest itinerary and a booking form, which will include a variety of travel options for getting there and back.

 

 

 

 

 

       Left:  Serbian "01" 2-6-2 on the 

     May 2007 Enthusiast Holidays tour.

     Click on the image for a video clip of

     one of the n.g. systems we visit. 

       

 

 

 

"Ten days or so in PAKISTAN"  now planned for Jan./Feb. 2009

We thought we had run our last tour to the metre gauge network based upon Mirpur Khas - conversion to broad gauge of the "main line" is finished and indeed in February 2006 the first broad gauge train operated across the border from India to the Pakistan border town of Khokhrapar - but sadly with diesel traction!

That, we thought, sounded the death knell to the metre gauge Nawabshah and Jhudo Loop lines which would be abandoned. But apparently, not so! Pakistan Railways is repairing monsoon damage to these m.g. lines and the remaining SP 4-6-0 and YD 2-8-2 may well live on to steam again - in time for our next tour.

Because, sadly, due to the Travel Advisory issued at the end of January 2007 by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, by which all tour operators must abide - Peshawar and the surrounding region have been declared a "no-go" area and we were reluctantly forced to postpone our tour. We had been looking at early 2008, since the summer is not the time to visit Pakistan, and also because the LCGB planned an India tour then (which we would follow with Pakistan) but they have cancelled it, so it might even be 2009, as the political situation is still volatile, and bad weather washed away much of the upper reaches of the Khyber Pass railway. The very recent (December 2007) and shocking assassination of Benazir Bhutto doesn't help.

However, the locos. are there - some time ago the Pakistan Railways Chairman gave orders that 10 steam locomotives were to be rehabilitated. Two of them - SGS 0-6-0 2473, and SPS 4-4-0 3078, have been restored at Lahore and have now arrived at Rawalpindi apparently in grubby but working order! We had previously thought that they had all been scrapped, but one wonders what the other 8 locos. are! Certainly there have been reports of XA and XB Pacifics hidden away in Lahore, and we plan to get to try to see them on the tour, as well a cache of SGS and other 0-6-0's in Northern Pakistan, at a location belonging to the irrigation authority, and although they have not steamed since 1994 and probably are in no condition to work, we are inclined to include this location in our tour so that at least they can be seen and photographed. The full report about these discoveries can be found on Rob Dickinson's web pages International Working Steam Locomotives. as The surviving CWD 2-8-2 5735, is due to go to Lahore for repairs to its motion and should easily be back by the time of our tour, which will also include two days on the Khyber Pass railway with 2 x HGS 2-8-0 - assuming that they get around to repairing the flood damage! As of today (4.10.07) there is unfortunately little evidence of this.

So all of those locos. we plan to use on our tour, and you will be able to click on a link for the itinerary. Given the PR Chairman's positive attitude to steam, I wouldn't rule out for future trips, part of the Bostan Jcn. - Fort Sandeman line with its unique narrow gauge sleeping cars! Sadly, up to now, neither PR nor the local tourism authorities have shown any interest in reopening part of the Bostan Jcn. n.g. line as a tourist attraction, despite the fact that the Aga Khan owns a five-star hotel there (the Quetta Serena) which is reportedly practically empty most of the time! but in view of recent developments, anything could happen! One of the two narrow gauge locos. that were overhauled for the revival of that line in 1998, which never happened, is now plinthed near Rawalpindi.

We hope that the future tour will include a revived Mirpur Khas metre gauge system, on which the trains will once again be able to claim the title of "last State-railway operated, regular, non-tourist, steam-hauled passenger trains in the world!" and if the political situation in Sri Lanka (Ceylon) has also calmed down, the Pakistan tour will be followed by a few days steam railtour in that delightful island. Broad gauge locos. 240 and 251 are both said to be operational, as are n.g. J220 and the Sentinel steam railcar (pictured above) - not that these can go very far as there is little narrow gauge track!

But the Sri Lankans' main problem is grease! Caltex, the main supplier, will only supply a minimum quantity of 5000kgs, whereas they need only 50-100kgs!  We are looking for someone - maybe a UK preserved railway - who would be prepared to sell some of their grease to Ceylon. If you can help, please contact me on info@enthusiasthols.com

JAVA July 15 - August 3 Now been and gone, as in 2006 the 2008 tour turned out to be far more successful than we had dared hope, mainly because the level of steam activity was greater than anticipated. A similar itinerary would be followed in 2009 - perhaps with a little more non-railway interest as well as the steam - a link to the itinerary and booking form will be uploaded once the programme is fixed.

Again working with Java expert Rob Dickinson, and flying into and out of Jakarta probably with Etihad Airways via Abu Dhabi, this tour is based upon expected mill activity during the 2009 sugar harvest season, and follows a west to east progression of this Indonesian island without having to retrace our steps.

Since the demise of "real" working steam in Cuba, many enthusiasts have come to appreciate the sugar mill operations in Java, but steam is now rapidly declining here too. In Java, unlike Cuba, the (often ancient) mill machinery is there

to be seen and photographed.

But the real highlights of the tour will be the steam locomotive activity anticipated at Tersana Baru, Jatibarang, Pangka, Sumberhajo, Sragi, Tasik Madu, Purwodadi, Merican, Gempolkerep, Semboro and Olean. Click the image above for a clip.

In addition we will have special steam trains at Ambarawa (the site of Java's railway museum), to recreate the days before road transport took over. Accommodation will be more than adequate, if not luxurious; and most meals will tend to be Chinese rather than Indonesian, because the British palate is more familiar with Chinese food, and most Indonesian restaurants tend to be "dry!" But the climate should be pleasantly warm with breezes, as much of Indonesia is high, with attractive mountain scenery.

Basic price for this tour is anticipated to be around the £2,400 mark, including flights from/to London, and the internal flight from Surabaya to Jakarta. Single room supplement (subject to availability) c. £200.

Prices are based upon an exchange rate of $1.95 US = £1

 

In KENYA - though the first demonstration run with restored "59" Class Garratt took place in November 2001 (illustrated below crossing the Tsavo river), and KR has overhauled 2-8-4 No. 3020 (which can work north of Nairobi, which the "59" cannot) and now a third loco., Vulcan Foundry 4-8-0 2409, is restored, there have been few steam excursions since, most of them for local people, promoted at short notice.

However Kenya Railways is now privatized! The deal was finally signed on 23 Jan. 2006 and the concession to run Kenya Railways (and Ugandan Railways) for 25 years, has gone to a South African consortium called "Rift Valley Railways", which is not as anti-steam and anti-passenger train as originally feared - negotiations are in progress of being finalised for a formal charter contract between it and Trainseurope Ltd. (Enthusiast Holidays) leading to the international marketing of the steam train (probably in the Mombasa tourist catchment area, operating weekly or twice-weekly destinations like Voi and Mtito Andei (for Tsavo west national park) - trips aimed at the large numbers of "ordinary" tourists staying in the Coast hotels, and whose numbers are essential to guarantee the long term future of restored steam locos. like 5918 "Mount Gelai" - the "Maroon Giant!" - and the other locos.

However, the new operators only got their hands on Kenya Railways in late August 2006, and they quickly found that fixing it up to be a viable freight railway would take longer than at first thought, and whilst they appreciate the potential for special steam trains as described above, that business is definitely on the "back burner" for the time being.

The tour provisionally planned for Enthusiast Holidays in September 2007 had to be postponed, and similar postponements can be expected of tours planned by other groups, whose interests Enthusiast Holidays have agreed to represent. Rift Valley Railways, whose principal task is to get freight moving, have found that the state of the track dictates speed restrictions of 25kph on some sections; a large number of wagons, passenger carriages, and diesel locomotives are defective, and all of these facts mean they can barely accept two thirds of the freight traffic offered to them. They are not anti-steam - indeed they can see the romantic attraction of a Colonial style steam train gliding through the bush - as opposed to bumping over the potholes in those ghastly Jap. minibuses with lifting roofs - the passengers being served drinks or lunch by an immaculate white-uniformed waiter in the 1950's restaurant car, observing game out of the window - but they acknowledge that getting Kenya Railways right will take time. Of course Rift Valley Railways did not take over the steam locomotives nor the Museum as part of the portfolio, and they are therefore not responsible for funding their restoration or maintenance. Who is, and who has the finance to do so, is a question as yet unanswered.

Hopefully, when the time comes, all three of the restored locomotives will be used on charter trains - passenger, mixed and freight - covering the entire line from Mombasa through Nairobi to Kisumu close to the border with Uganda, offering ample opportunity for spectacular photography. By popular request, the trip will also include two days in TANZANIA for steam specials with No. 2927 from Dar-es-Salaam. Click here for outline itinerary and booking form - bearing in mind that, for the moment, it is academic - the itinerary affords the chance of seeing some wild life on "game drives" by staying at the comfortable game lodges, and on excursions (for example) to Lake Bogoria for the flamingos, and the Nairobi national park (for Rhino especially); and the chance to relax by the Indian Ocean will come from an optional stay at the Serena Beach Hotel, with the opportunity for snorkelling or scuba diving on the nearby reef if you are that way inclined! We will also be arranging tours for other U.K. and European railway enthusiast tour operators.

The stunning revival of the railway in ERITREA, with its pre-war Italian 0-4-4-0 Mallets, 0-4-0 Breda shunting tanks and the classic 1935 Fiat "Littorina" railcar, continues to attract those who want spectacular photographs and film/video of this amazing railway, which winds for 117kms from the Red Sea coast with its dhows and harbours at Massawa, through the desert mountains to the capital, Asmara, which is a bit like an Italian provincial town; we had thought our previous tour would be our last, because virtually everybody who has wanted to sample Eritrean steam, has been; however this 2008 tour is now full at just over 30 participants! One of the limiting factors is the capcity of the "Littorina" railcar.

However in October 2009 we plan to operate this tour again, using Egyptair (rather than Eritrean Airlines who caused us so much grief in the past, changing their schedules at a week's notice!) It will also allow us to offer an optional 2-night stopover in Cairo on the way back for c. £195, to see the Pyramids and - more importantly - the railway museum - see http://www.touregypt.net/railmuseum.htm   Subject to the continued strength of the £ against the $ the basic tour price remains £1490 on dinner, bed and breakfast basis - packed lunches on the charter trains (although not drinks), and gratuities, are also included. There will be a link to a full itinerary and booking form, and meanwhile if you want a preview of what you are likely to see, get the Enthusiast Holidays' video which covers our 2002 and 2005 tours, £19.95 incl. VAT on VHS or DVD. Click on the images above left and right for movie clips.

 

 

 

Also in France we are planning a series of short (long weekend) Summer tours covering many of the "Great Little Trains of France" - many of them steam, like the "Trieux Steam Train" in Brittany, which uses a 231K Pacific; the Vivarais; the "train of the seagulls" and the Somme Valley railway, both on the Atlantic coast, and other steam trains; plus a couple of spectacular vintage electric trains - the "Rhune" near to the Spanish border in the Basque country; and the "Mure" in the Alps. The tours will operate unescorted but will be available on an individual basis i.e. no minimum group size. Watch this space for more details.

In Germany a similar range of short tours will be available to the Harz, including accommodation, tickets for travel on all the steam lines, and flights to/from Hannover (which we can book, or you can arrange yourself through the internet) and the trams in Halberstadt and Rubelandbahn; these tours will also be available throughout the summer, but we are now urgently working on a group tour to cover some of the steam n.g. lines in Saxony, and to include main line steam specials.

U.S.A.

We have always had a soft spot for Colorado, with the Durango & Silverton and Cumbres & Toltec railways, plus various other lines, and we have covered it both in the winter, and in June - both excellent times for photography. We will be looking for other special steam events in neighbouring states, to link with, and then we will present the tour. So again, watch this space!

Details of these and other tours will be posted as soon as available. Our programme of tours is however constantly being updated, so keep an eye on this website! Ensure that your name is on our mailing list by writing to the address below, or completing the form on the next page. To book any of the above tours - send £100 deposit, which is refundable if, when the details of the tour are confirmed, usually 6 - 8 weeks prior to departure, you decide to withdraw. If you want your deposits to be acknowledged, please include a stamped, addressed envelope.