The "Merseyrail Experience" Tour!

[M28361M]

Was surprised to see Merseyrail announce this on their twitter feed today:

Led by a tour guide with more than 30 years’ worth of tales to tell about life on the railways, The Merseyrail Experience Tour offers visitors exclusive access to hidden gems of the network, such as the rarely used Platform 2 at James Street station with its spectacular brickwork, 19th century tiling and four panelled plaster sculpture ‘Dream Passage’, which was installed at the station in 1992.

Visitors will also be invited to walk up the notorious – and arduous - Water Street ramp, and to step inside Hamilton Square Station Tower, with its beautiful arched windows and clustered shafts, which is usually closed off to the public.

Train lovers won’t be disappointed either, as they’ll be given the chance to explore an empty train, ride on the current fleet before it is replaced in 2020, chat with train crew and station staff and have their photo taken in a train driver’s cab.

Then, to top it all off, visitors will have the chance to see close-up the inner workings of Liverpool Central station, from being shown how the gate line works to seeing how trains are dispatched on the platform, before enjoying a Costa Coffee from Mtogo and a debrief at the staff building at the back of Liverpool Central station known as the ‘MOD Block’.

Each tour accommodates just 4 people, and there are four tours scheduled at the moment, so only sixteen lucky people will get to go on this. The price tag is £125(!) per person for a tour lasting a little over four hours.

Personally, I think I would be interested if there were a depot visit thrown in, but there isn't enough here to entice me to splash out that much. However, I'm sure some enthusiasts would be interested!

Link with more details and booking form is at https://www.merseyrail.org/tickets-...ation-tickets/merseyrail-experience-tour.aspx

 

[gazthomas]

£125 for four people would be reasonable, sounds a bit steep! Though if they threw in a driver experience around the circle I might be tempted

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The "rarely used platform 2" at James St was used over many weeks in the past few years, what with station rebuilds and slab track replacement on the loop.
A run on the interchange line would have been interesting.

 

[Polarbear]

The bit I’d be interested in is the tower at Hamilton Square station. Other than that, it’s a heck of a lot of money for not very much in my opinion.

 

[Foxcover]

I have to confess I checked the date when I read the announcement ...

 

[185143]

Not sure if this has already been posted, but Merseyrail are running a couple of "behind the scenes" experience tours. I seem to recall a thread a while back where Merseyrail wanted views from enthusiasts on things they could do for us, though IIRC it was focussed mostly on things they could sell. I'm assuming this is based on feedback from that?

https://twitter.com/merseyrail/status/1156187409719136257

 

[_toommm_]

Afraid so:

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/the-merseyrail-experience-tour.187238/

 

[Djgr]

I can see 1 of the 3 dates is sold out already