To boldly go...
Railways have been transforming their sphere of activities for as long as they've been around - a couple of months ago we told of how the pioneer Liverpool & Manchester Railway promoted its new and revolutionary form of passenger transport by offering exploratory excursions to the inquisitive in what the author portrayed as self-promotional 'public relations' exercises. Between the wars the grouped railway companies moved into the world of holidaymaking by installing camping coaches at attractive seaside and inland sites to cater for the growing market for 'getting away from it all' and at the same time deriving additional income from the required minimum numberoftrainfaresforthe party to reach its escape destination, as delightfully portrayed in our last issue and this one.
A growth area over the last decade or more has been that of 'pleasure travel' by rail, largely just for the sake of it, over routes of particular scenic attraction, in coaches of decent accommodation to standards scarcely available to everyday passengers (that's to say in comfortable seats!), with windows generously provided so as to enable you to view the world through them and with an epicurean service of food and drink brought to you at your seat.
But as we've found in Backtrack before - there's not much that's completely new... 'Circular Tours' for tourists were being advertised by pre-grouping railways before the Great War, principally those lines which traversed wild and 'romantic' scenery and notably the Scottish companies within whose territory mountains and lochs abounded.
An article this month shows how the new generation of more adventurous travellers of the Edwardian age was prepared to embark on outings which involved a train journey, perhaps some brisk walking, maybe a sail on a pleasure boat and a train back, all furnished with well-meaning advice on what should be seen and where to obtain sustaining 'luncheons and teas'. By the time the inter-war years were in full flow it was but a step forward to come up with a plan to gather these intrepid railway travellers together in a special train of their own and take them off on a week-long package 'rail tour' embracing pleasing landscapes and places to visit of a generally improving nature.
The arrangements for these touring trains - in which the publicity-aware London & North Eastern Railway took the lead, bestowing on them the name 'The Northern Belle' - were undertaken with some gusto. The formation included not only restaurant and sleeping cars (in which showers were available) but also a hairdressing saloon, no less, with coiffeurs available for both men and women, while two chambermaids were taken to plump up the pillows and turn down the sheets. Although the train was self-contained, advantage was taken of the prestigious railway-owned hotels in Edinburgh and York to lay on dinner dances for passengers, so presumably posh outfits would have had to be packed into the considerable quantities of luggage with which they'd likely have set forth - though dressing formally for dinner was still then the thing to do in the higher echelons of society! So - nothing new? In the late 1960s and 70s British Railways stepped into the holiday business with weekend breaks to London and gradually elsewhere and full-week 'Golden Rail' holidays to popular resorts, with all-in train travel and hotel accommodation packages. In recent years the 'railtour' market, once the haunt of enthusiasts prepared to put up with a lot in return for steam haulage, unusual motive power and rare mileage, has pitched itself more at the leisured tourist with money to spend on 'premier' class travel and silver service catering during journeys along Britain's most scenic lines, ideally with a destination of interest in its own right in which a couple of hours can be agreeably passed. Tours of this type are now in the hands of specialist railway travel companies and from personal experience these 'day cruises' and 'circular tours', while not offering the chance to have a quick shower or get a new hairdo during duller parts of the itinerary, certainly provide a classy day out of the sort only the railway can do that well. I have encountered fellow passengers - whether couples or single participants-who have adopted the practice of embarking on such tours on a fairly regular basis as an alternative to taking a more conventional holiday away at a hotel and staying in one place for a period of time. It might be that the 'staycation' being urged in this post-pandemic world tempts even more people to experience the delights of our country from the comfort of a special railway train.

Custom has it that regular publications, be they newspapers or magazines, carry some choice words from the editor wherein he or she pronounces sententiously on a topic of current moment. This traditional column is 'The Editorial', though my local paper has largely abandoned them except for a when a precious old theme can be dragged out of the cupboard for another pounding. I have some sympathy for those facing the daily quandary of what to say, for I find the once a month editorical often the most difficult part of the magazine to fill. I too must hold up my hand to returning to pet grouses to heap another load of opprobrium upon them; doubtless I'll be unable to refrain from doing so again. Regular readers will be aware that on occasions when the muse has failed to stimulate me an archive photograph has occupied this space, but you'll also be aware that a call goes out from time to time for guest editorials written by readers. And I do so now again. If you'd like to air your thoughts of some aspect of railway history of relevance to Backtrack, expound a philosphical view on its content and direction or unleash a rant on a favourite grievance over the state of the railway world of today (and who doesn't possess one, at least, of those?), then this could your cue to step forward to deliver sound or fury in between 850 and 1,000 words. Be inspired by Admiral Napier of the Royal Navy at the time of the Crimean War, whose uplifting words pre-battle were quoted in a BTarticle in 1996 (he had a 'Jubilee' Class locomotive named after him!): "Sharpen your cutlasses and the day is your own".