Compass Tours
 | |
| Type | Railtour Operator |
|---|---|
| Industry | Railway |
| Founded | 2003 |
| Founder(s) | Kevin Melia |
| Headquarters |
46 Hallville Road, Liverpool, L18 0HR |
| Key people |
Kevin Melia - Operations Manager John Melia - General Manager Rob Sturgess - Office Assistant Anthony Lloyd - Website |
| Services | Railway Charter Tour |
| Website |
Official Website Facebook Page |
Compass Tours is a UK railtour organiser specialising in excursions with heritage diesel locomotives such as the Class 37, Class 40 and Class 47 and also using Steam Engines such as the LMS Black 5.
History
The brand was originally conceived in 2003 by Kevin Melia [1] when he joined with 2 friends, Shaun and Nick to operate 30th August 2003 "The Tayside Liner" railtour from Crewe and stations in Cheshire and Lancashire to Stirling and Perth.
As the company grew, Kevin's older brother John Melia joined the company in 2006 as General Manager.
Compass Tours now
The company is still in family ownership and is currently run from their office in South Liverpool.
They promote the environmental advantages of trains over cars. Over 200 tours have operated (to Dec 2003) with many thousands of passenger journeys being taken with Compass Tours. The tours are typically very popular, and usually carry between 400-600 passengers.
They have become one of Britain's main rail excursion organisers in the North West, West Midlands, North Wales, and Scottish Borders and have recently expanded the scope of their tours to start from stations in the East Midlands, Yorkshire and North East of England.[2]
Compass Tours are supported by team of volunteer stewards who staff the coaches and buffet when their services are operating.
Website
In 2007 Compass Tours also launched a new website with online booking. This was later improved again to include full automated PayPal payment system.
Notable Operations
- A list of all current tours can be seen on the Compass Tours by Rail website at www.compasstoursbyrail.co.uk/tours
- A list of all previous tours and the locomotives used can be seen on the sulzerpower website at http://compasstours.sulzerpower.com
In 2011 Compass Tours ran its first steam operations with 5 Mersey Moorlander trips running every Monday during August. This service operated from Crewe via Liverpool to Preston, where the Steam Engine was attached to run to Carlisle via Settle and returning directly to Preston via the West Coast Main Line over Shap Summit.
In 2012 Compass Tours ran a second set of three steam tours this time to York, under the name of "The Roses Express". These tours operating from Southport, Barrow-in-Furness & Hooton.
Rolling Stock
Compass Tours do not own any rolling stock but hire in coaches and locomotives from a train operating company or locomotive preservation group as required.
In recent years they have used West Coast Railway Company, based in Carnforth to provide both locomotives and rolling stock, but have also used DB Shenker (previously EWS), Cotswold Rail, FM Rai, Direct Rail Services, Freightliner, Riviera Trains and AC Loco Group in the past.
A full list of locomotives used is available on the sulzerpower website.
Social Responsibility & Charity Operations
Compass Tours support AYME - Association of Young people with ME through an organised charity raffle and a collection box on-board most of its commercially operated charter services. Occasionally the raffle is instead used for raise funds for the owning/operating group of the locomotive on the tour (such as Class 40 Preservation Society when tours are hauled by 40145 "East Lancashire Railway").
References
- ↑ "Day trip starts new service". Liverpool Daily Post. 2006-08-01. p. 7.
- ↑ Anderson, Vicky (2007-04-10). "Diesel tours take to the tracks: Railway brothers turn dreams into reality". Liverpool Daily Post. p. 3. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
External links
- Compass Tours by Rail official website
- Compass Tours fan site at SulzerPower, operated by Shaun Courtnage
| |||||