Re: )Vic) Robinvale Tour Borochure Available

[James Brook <ajmbrook@ozemail.com.au>]

Stuart Thyer wrote:

> If you book Mark, we'll tell you. If you're prepared to book and come all
> the way over from America for it, we might well take the board off 'just for
> you'. But we won't stoop as far as stocking American beer to keep you
> happy..... :-)

Even if Steamrail took the headboard off on this tour (which would be
good) many people can't book on this tour because of the high price and
the dates of the trip.

1. The price of the trip:

The cheapest sleeping car option is $515 twin share plus $125 for meals.
For many people this is simply too expensive, especially if it is a
family booking on the tour. To get a single berth you have to pay $595
plus $125 for meals. This works out to more than $700 just to go to
Robinvale! The cheapest option for this tour is a bench seat in a
sitting car at $455 per person plus the $125 for meals. If it was a
traditional weekend tour with just two nights (Fri and Sat) then this
may be ok, but only the most hardy traveller can cope with 4 days in a
sitting car! I think this price will stop many people like me from
booking on this trip. I was looking foward to this trip since 1998 when
I first heard Steamrail was planning this weekender, but the price will
prevent me and my parents from going on it.

2. The dates and length of this trip:

As the date includes a working day (the monday between the weekend and
cup day) this will prevent many people from travelling on this trip. I
am a uni student and this date is right at the start of my exams.
Although I don't know if I have an exam on this day at the moment, I
can't take the risk of booking on this trip even if I had the money. I
won't be the only person who can't go on this trip because of the poor
choice of the date. 
As for the length of the trip, I think it is too long. If you book on a
tour to Robinvale do you really want to spend all night at Inglewood and
Boort as well as sight-seeing in Bendigo which is within easy day trip
distance from Melbourne? Also, what is the point of travelling in a
sleeping car if you don't travel during the night? This is half the fun
of a trip like this anyway. It also means you can cover more distance
within a shorter period of time. On the Panitya tour we travelled from
Donald to Panitya overnight and then returned during the day. On the
Kulwin tour we travelled from Melbourne to Wycheproof overnight and then
travelled to Kulwin at a relaxed pace during the day.

If this tour was run as a traditional fri-sat-sun trip then it might be
cheaper and it would fit in with people much better than the currently
proposed timetable. I find it hard to believe that the formula that made
the Panitya and Kulwin tours of 1998 such a success wouldn't be
appropriate for the tour to Robinvale. I think that the destination is
sufficiently different to make it a success without adding extra time
for sightseeing just to spread it out over more days.
         
Do other people on this newsgroup have similar problems with this tour?
Maybe they should run a railfan weekender to Robinvale in a few years
and see what happens. I know I would book on it :-)

-- 
- James Brook -

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