Railtrail Main Brochure 2024

The History of Railtrail Tours

by Owner & Managing Director, Dave Felstead. As an enthusiastic supporter of travelling by train I launched Railtrail Tours almost 45 years ago for like-minded people who appreciated the joy of travelling by train to wonderful destinations throughout Britain, and subsequently Europe, at a time when the media was only too keen to portray the opposite view. The ‘Tours & Travel’ world was a different place at that time with package tours flying to exotic destinations appearing to be so much more attractive than the nationalised British Railways, the butt of comedian’s jokes. The channel tunnel was just a dream so if you wanted to avoid flying or driving to Europe you would take a train to a port, a ship across the channel, followed by onward train travel often travelling through the night in a couchette or upright seating. As a teenager previously working for British Railways, I was entitled to complimentary rail travel for both Britain and Europe which enabled me to discover a love of train travel that has subsequently lasted my lifetime. Oh, how the railway world has changed during that time … Here, in Great Britain, there is now a real public desire to experience the relaxation of travelling by train, whilst protecting our environment. It is simply the most environmentally friendly and personally relaxing mode of transport. Thanks to the Channel Tunnel the continent of Europe is now reachable by train in a few hours and is a wonderful alternative to the stresses and strain of air or road travel. Journeys aboard European trains travelling at speeds up to 320kph sees road traffic left far, far, behind! These superb new high speed train services are a delight to behold and experience. Bringing countries and famous cities ever closer together. For instance, our numerous tours to Switzerland see us leaving the UK in the morning and enjoying an evening meal in beautiful Basel, or on the shores of Lake Lucerne. For our UK tours we are, to the best of my knowledge, the only rail holiday specialist that includes the rail travel from your home station to the tour base as part of the published tour package fare.This leaves you free to enjoy your tour from the moment you depart from your home station safe in

the knowledge that, should a hic-cup occur en-route, your tickets are fully flexible and a simple phone call to our office, or word to your Tour Manager, will see you back on track in a relaxed and stress-free manner. For those wishing to organise their own travel to the tour hotel we offer a reduced fare under the title Tour Base. I am proud that my hobby has resulted in the creation of a truly independent rail holiday company with a family ambience. I also know that the travel arrangements we make on your behalf are completed by some of the most talented people in the rail travel industry. New tours are being designed and launched on our website throughout the year. They are often booked up purely from website and other online publicity, so may I suggest that you view our website at www.railtrail.co.uk and register your interest in receiving new and current tours information electronically. Thank you for taking the time to read our story to date. It is an ongoing story that will see Railtrail Tours travel from strength to strength now driven by my son Paul, daughter Julie, and granddaughter Megan alongside our fantastic office team assisted by a wonderful and much treasured group of Tour Managers.

Back (Left to Right) Megan, Summer, Ellie, Julie, Paul, Gail, Ulrich, Mark, Dave Front (Left to Right) Esther, Phil, Marie, Carla, Rachel, Bethany

Les Tindall

Henry Allum

Rosie Sharp

Jim Ayres

Ken Larkins

John Barnett

Your Railtrail Tour Managers Every Railtrail tour is escorted by one of our team of caring and experienced Tour Managers.We are a family business and so we have hand-picked people to look after our customers who share our values.They are a very well-travelled bunch of people, with the most experienced having over 100 tours under their belt! Your Railtrail Tour Manager is there to make sure things run like clockwork.They have the experience and knowledge to make your travel arrangements straightforward and your holiday as relaxing and enjoyable as possible. Plus, they are great company too!

Shawn Buck

Michelle Blackwell

Graham Croucher

Les Snaith

Chris Lewis

Yvonne Cox

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