OVERSEAS TOURS

TOUR 01/12 Madagascar Sunday 22nd January – Sunday 5th February 2012

Tour in progress with 18 bookings.

TOUR 02/12 Brazil February 2012

This tour runs as advertised with 26 bookings. Click here for details (Ray Schofield)

TOUR 05/12 Genoa and Corsica Sunday 13th May - Monday 21st May 2012

This tour was postponed from 2011. The proposal is simply to cover all the items of railway interest in and around the Italian Port City of Genoa, and utilising daytime ferries between Genoa and Bastia in Northern Corsica, to travel on all sections of the metre gauge ‘Chemins de fer de la Corse’ between Bastia, Ajaccio and Calvi. This leisurely tour will afford plenty of time to have a good look around Ajaccio, Bastia and Calvi, and to explore the city of Genoa, which, in addition to the above attractions, has some wonderful buildings, not least of all Genova Piazza Principe FS Station. For an eight night package ex. London, sharing in twin rooms with breakfast throughout, and including the ferry crossings, I would estimate a price in the region of £500/£550 per person. Rail travel within Corsica can be sorted out on the day, so is not included. We will probably limit numbers to just 12 maximum Click Here for a full itinerary (Colin Miell)

Tour 03/12 – Russia Museum Tour Probably June/July 2012

Tour agreed but dates not yet firmed up. Fly to Moscow. Visit railway museums, plinths, depots etc in Moscow, Kolomna (works), Scherbinka (test plant), Pereslavl, Samara, Tolietti, Nihzny Novgorod, St. Petersburg, Shushary, and Lebyashe. Fly back from St. Petersburg. An option to have two spare days in Moscow before the main tour and two spare days in St. Petersburg at the end is on offer making a tour of two weeks (mid-week to mid-week. Two overnight journeys by train and possibly a journey on a Sapsan high speed train. Group limited to 25 – advance bookings welcome. (Brian Garvin)

Tour 04/12 – Austria 175 Years of Railways, 30 Years IGE Tours Friday 17th – Monday 27th August 2012

No further details from IGE but locomotive types involved are understood to be German 01 533, 01 1066; Austrian 919, 33, 50, 52, 77, 78, 93, 109 (MAV?), 310, 392, 638, 657 and some narrow gauge types. Other loco types likely to be involved are 1020, 1245, 1110, 2143. Hopefully more details will be available at the Overseas Reunion. (Brian Garvin)

Other proposals in planning for 2012

include Albania (October), plus Dordrecht (June 1/2/3), Genoa/Corsica (around late May/early June) and German Friesian Island Railways, dates to be advised.

Sri Lanka – With the end of the civil war our long standing contacts are looking to resurrect their steam tours. More news to follow in future update.

Fedecrail annual tour is Thursday 10th to Wednesday 18th May Sweden

White Pass + Yukon, Alaska Railroad and other attractions – USA / Canada June 2014 – A long way off but a preliminary notice of an extensive tour that we are planning. (Adrian Palmer)

Members are requested to ensure that all letters to club officials have been prepaid with the correct postage amount.
Royal Mail now charges according to weight and SIZE.
Any letter that exceeds Length: 240mm; Width:165mm; Thickness:5mm; Weight: 100g max; must have the higher rate of postage attached (LARGE LETTER). Failure to adhere to this results in a wasteful visit to the sorting office for the addressee, a financial penalty, and a delay in dealing with your request. Also please ensure your letter is not too THICK as this again should go as a LARGE LETTER.

Please check at any post office before sending any mail if there is any doubt that your mailing meets these requirements.
Royal Mail is not allowing any tolerance outside these limits.

If your envelope is bigger than a Bulletin envelope treat it as a LARGE LETTER and stamp it accordingly.

Financial Protection Reserve. The club has for many years organised occasional overseas study tours for its members. It now has substantial reserves and part of this is separately designated 'Financial Protection Reserve’. The club, in its continuing programme of occasional tours complies with practices adopted by travel agents and other large tour organisers (based on legal guideline documents for large organisations). This reserve is specifically to cover any direct commitments made by the club on behalf of Tour participants that through unforeseen and exceptional circumstances the tour price cannot meet. Club Members as tour participants are required to take out full travel insurance to cover the wide range of contingencies that might not be covered by the travel organisations and hotels (and/or their insurance arrangements)who are responsible for parts of our tours.

Bookings for tours must be on an overseas tours booking form and may be sent in at any time to the tour organiser whose name follows the tour details.
You can find an Overseas Tour Form here
Click here to see Tour Conditions