Railtrail Tours

The History of Railtrail Tours

 When Dave Felstead started his first job as a shy young lad at Stoke railway station in the 1960s, he couldn’t have imagined what lay in store. Those were the final days of steam travel, an outmoded fashion that was never supposed to return. Dave and colleagues used their British Rail ‘priv’ passes to travel the UK rail network and as far back as 1966 Dave set out on a European rail adventure with a few pals, travelling across Europe to Austria and over the Brenner into northern Italy.

Steam did never quite die out and in the age of railway preservation Dave volunteered for the cause of successfully bringing back steam to his beloved Staffordshire Moorlands. Then in 1980 the BBC transmitted THAT programme! ‘Confessions of a Trainspotter’ was Michael Palin’s first ever travelogue as part of the ‘Great Railway Journeys of the World’ series. Dave was transfixed by Palin’s journey from London to Inverness, then coast to coast across the majestic Highlands to Kyle of Lochalsh, facing out towards the Isle of Skye. That same year Dave was inspired to ride the line himself, then advertising a tour in the local press. Before long he was escorting a group through Scotland to the Palace Hotel in Inverness and, incredibly, all these years later this very same tour to the very same hotel remains one of Railtrail’s most popular holidays.

For years Dave juggled a day job in the computer labs at Manchester University with his hobby and passion of organising holidays by rail. Railtrail was for many years Dave and sidekick Barbara, operating out of a static caravan in Cheddleton in the Moorlands. Since then Railtrail has grown into a small team, moving to our office in St Edward Street in central Leek, with Dave still at the helm and retaining Railtrail’s original ethos. Put simply, we want to share our passion for rail holidays with you.

During the 1980s and 90s Railtrail operated successfully a small number of group escorted tours each year to favourite UK destinations, promoting the nostalgia of a golden age when travelling by train on holiday was the norm. Brochures were hand-made by Dave, but even in those days the holidays uniquely offered the possibility of joining at your local station. To this day our offer of around 2,500 departure stations for our UK tours, with a choice of First or Standard Class, remains one of our unique selling points. The holidays were escorted by a small band of expert Tour Managers and occasionally Dave himself popped in, as illustrated in the below image outside the Palace Hotel in Inverness (Dave is second left).The Railtrail brand has been operating quality escorted rail holidays for 39 years

• Our Railtrail Founder & Managing Director, Dave Felstead, is still at the helm
• Tour itineraries are full of vibrancy and imagination reflecting our unrivalled knowledge
• Tours to destinations and events that only occur occasionally each year and are of no interest to larger companies due to there being no opportunity for multiple departure dates
• Our clients consistently say that Railtrail Tours always include that unexpected something extra
• The services of a Railtrail Tour Manager with a good knowledge of the tour destination
• A family sized company where you are classed as an individual person not just a number to reach a sales target
• The online FeeFo (customer feedback) organisation gives Railtrail Tours a high star rating and an incredible Customer satisfaction rating
• Over 95% of our clients say they would recommend Railtrail Tours to their friends
• Over 94% say they will Definitely/Probably travel with Railtrail Tours again
• Please view on our website ‘On Tour With Railtrail’ for unique short films of our clients on our tours