[Football] Seagull Specials (train)

[ringmerseagulltoo]

There seem to be plenty of "Steam Specials" that cross operators boundaries, as well as the successor to The Orient Express. Given sufficient notice I imagine therefore it should be possible, I am equally sure that Sky would stuff it up by changing the match to a Friday evening .

 

[Eeyore]

I recall paying the princely sum of £4.00 (could have been £4.50) for York City return, and we won 1-0.

Week's bloody wages in those days !

Edit: Actually match is 24.00 with inflation. Pretty good.

 

[ditchy]

No reason not to run one, shame someone didn't ask Barber last week at the forum. Many clubs still have them

Enrest , givin your knowledge of all things rail .. are you saying that it could be done ? and if so how easily ?

 

[Ernest]

Enrest , givin your knowledge of all things rail .. are you saying that it could be done ? and if so how easily ?

I could run one if i was prepared to pay the cash, so could you that's why I said someone should have asked Barber at the forum or asked Bloom as that was the opportunity

 

[Simontheseagull]

Hi guys , i was having a discussion today with a fellow football fan (Chelsea) about why clubs do not run football train specials anymore ? , Yes i can see why they stopped re damage etc in the 70's 80,s , , but surely would it not be feasible for the club to try and run the odd away day to say Newcastle . A lot more fans could travel and surely the old bill would be better off policing . . The club could even sell match tickets and train as a package?
My question is though , why do they not ?

Perhaps some of the railway officienados such as Earnest could enlighten me .
If not , why dosent the club look into it as iam sure the uptake would be good .

Lots of feedback already on why chartering a train as a seagull special would be difficult, if not impossible. Having been on a Seagull Special in the 1970's, the train carriages used were ones already trashed. Would anyone nowadays really want to travel all the way to Newcastle on a clapped out ancient Thameslink train with no toilets on it?

I may be wrong but I am sure the players/staff travel to some away games (e.g. Newcastle) by plane. Perhaps it could be possible for the club to charter a plane from say Gatwick with 200+ ish seat on it and sell some seat to supporters. It might be cheaper for the club to do this rather than travel on a scheduled airline?

 

[Justice]

Not much point in the PL is there? Small away allocation and all that.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

My experience was a disaster. Special train for the away cup tie at Forest which famously never made it. 13 hours we on that feckin train and I vowed never to use another one and I never have. Always remember loads of people piling off at some field near Kettering after we got stuck for several hours behind a broken down train. We listened to the game on someone's little radio and the train nearly tipped over when Wardy equalised. Lost 3-1 though.

I was probably on the same train.

Generally they were excellent though


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Hiney]

In the museum at The Amex

 

[Blues Rock DJ]

Hi guys , i was having a discussion today with a fellow football fan (Chelsea) about why clubs do not run football train specials anymore ? , Yes i can see why they stopped re damage etc in the 70's 80,s , , but surely would it not be feasible for the club to try and run the odd away day to say Newcastle . A lot more fans could travel and surely the old bill would be better off policing . . The club could even sell match tickets and train as a package?
My question is though , why do they not ?

Perhaps some of the railway officienados such as Earnest could enlighten me .
If not , why dosent the club look into it as iam sure the uptake would be good .

reminds me ,I did the SS to Newcastle when we got promoted, missed the first goal ! Re the thread, with all the grief on train travel at the moment, probably wouldn't work !!

 

[Blackadder]

My experience was a disaster. Special train for the away cup tie at Forest which famously never made it. 13 hours we on that feckin train and I vowed never to use another one and I never have. Always remember loads of people piling off at some field near Kettering after we got stuck for several hours behind a broken down train. We listened to the game on someone's little radio and the train nearly tipped over when Wardy equalised. Lost 3-1 though.

We were also on one of the two trains that didn't make Forest. Remember standing in the corridor (That was separate to the seats in the carriage) listening to someone's radio as well (maybe it was the same one).

It wasn't the club's fault but to be fair to them they gave us free travel to Charlton and we were able to watch a replay of the Forest defeat at Hove Town Hall.

 

[Bodian]

Having been on a Seagull Special in the 1970's, the train carriages used were ones already trashed. Would anyone nowadays really want to travel all the way to Newcastle on a clapped out ancient Thameslink train with no toilets on it?

Have you been on a northern train from Carlisle to Newcastle recently? Or Leeds to Morecambe? That's where they are now!

 

[GT49er]

You're probably right, although I thought the GWR trains went to Malvern rather than South Wales.

There is a through Brighton to Gloucester service via Bristol, and regular Bristol - Cardiff services by the same company. Might need to change drivers at Bristol, but that's about all.


But............... 2004 was 14 years ago - things haven't got any better since then! Pretty sure the franchisee has changed since then, and TOCs have even less spare capacity than, due to trying to economise and maximise profits.

 

[LowKarate]

I took one of these to the Liverpool FA Cup game in 1991. It sort of worked, but there were long periods where the train sat waiting for track clearance and it felt like it took far too long to return.

 

[theboybilly]

Didn't Tony Bloom/Paul Barber look into a special train to Middlesborough for the final game in 2016? I think it was possible most other weekends but engineering works scuppered things on that May 7th

 

[smudge]

Seagull Special on the way back from Wrexham, 1st game of the season, I think 77. Attacked by Wolves just outside the station with bricks, many windows put in. It was a hot day though so all good!
Fiver return, can't argue with that.

Got to see Mullers rip Teddy Maybank a new one for skylarking on a skateboard at Brighton station too.

 

[GT49er]

Didn't Tony Bloom/Paul Barber look into a special train to Middlesborough for the final game in 2016? I think it was possible most other weekends but engineering works scuppered things on that May 7th

That has an unmistakeable ring of truth about it!

And that folks is the story of why we can't have our own special train like Coventry did in the 1960s with their Sky Blue Special.

 

[Bolton va va]

Did you ever have "The League Liner " ? .....the train that the football league organised & was supposed to be more civilised than the specials - it had a disco carriage- in the hope that it would put a stop to trains getting wrecked.

We had it 3 times but they used to publicise where it was going in The League Review, meaning that the local herberts were waiting for it resulting, for us, in running battles at Bournemouth & a lot of its windows getting smashed coming away from Portsmouth Fratton. It didn't last long.

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

I may be wrong but I am sure the players/staff travel to some away games (e.g. Newcastle) by plane. Perhaps it could be possible for the club to charter a plane from say Gatwick with 200+ ish seat on it and sell some seat to supporters. It might be cheaper for the club to do this rather than travel on a scheduled airline?

Club use private charters for their flights already - no scheduled flights from Gatwick to Manchester or Newcastle that can be used. Plenty of air charter companies out there who could offer the service but someone needs to accept the risk around hiring the plane and not selling the seats.

I remember that in the gory years when our away following was not as large as it is now, Liz Costa always worked out the cost of a coach based on 70% capacity over a season. Where coaches sold out it helped cover the costs of those that didn't to ensure people could always get to games. Would be more difficult on a one off air charter.

 

[origigull]

We were also on one of the two trains that didn't make Forest. Remember standing in the corridor (That was separate to the seats in the carriage) listening to someone's radio as well (maybe it was the same one).

It wasn't the club's fault but to be fair to them they gave us free travel to Charlton and we were able to watch a replay of the Forest defeat at Hove Town Hall.

Christ!! There wouldn't have been any room at the Brighton end of the ground if those other trains had arrived on time.

 

[GT49er]

Club use private charters for their flights already - no scheduled flights from Gatwick to Manchester or Newcastle that can be used. Plenty of air charter companies out there who could offer the service but someone needs to accept the risk around hiring the plane and not selling the seats.

I remember that in the gory years when our away following was not as large as it is now, Liz Costa always worked out the cost of a coach based on 70% capacity over a season. Where coaches sold out it helped cover the costs of those that didn't to ensure people could always get to games. Would be more difficult on a one off air charter.

Ah! - the beloved gory years!