A pint on the train

comradestalin

I was coming home on the Enterprise yesterday after a long week in Dublin and it occurred to me (not for the first time) - why on earth don't they sell draught beer, especially Guinness, in the bar ?

I was on an RPSI Portrush Flyer a good few years ago and they did draught Guinness then, so that shows it can be done.

It's another example, sadly, of how they don't really pursue real commercial opportunities on the railways. The food service in First Plus leaves a lot to be desired in general.

Louche Lad

I know nothing about catering on trains, so I'll dive in with my opinion:D ...

Wouldn't drinks slop onto the floor and other passengers while transporting them back to your seat?

Or if you mean to drink within the bar area, it would make it difficult for other passengers to get things (difficult to squeeze through, and off-putting to many).

comradestalin

The RPSI manage it, somehow.

EclipsiumRasa

I suppose you could write a letter and find out, but who you'd have to write is a mystery in itself...

Tamper

U must be joking?? Corporate catering on the Enterprise use microwaved food, charge the earth for it, tins of beer, in a warm fridge...They're not much a catering firm at all really...They're just there to take money from people for the easy products...They dont care about what the customer thinks or wants!

Losty Dublin

The RPSI don't have staff costs to consider (We run 3-4 bar staff at any one time, all voluntary) plus our trains are well staffed with stewards to keep tables clean and empties collected. Don't forget the nature of both services are very different. RPSI trains are leisurely days outs so it's part of the day's crack. Service trains would see it (As with food) as a small extra of income whereas RPSI see it as a large revenue stream for it. It's worth a thought, though.

comradestalin

I had thought the Enterprise food in first class was supposed to be cooked to order but, indeed, it isn't great. The coffee's not that good either. And the menu doesn't change that often.

Losty, indeed on the RPSI part, at least there are volunteers around to help clean up any spillage etc. But I recall my Portrush Flyer pint of Guinness as being damn fine.

cbl593h

Beware of the trolls.
Feckers.
Another multiple personality.
Thats me axed viced bollocked.

afatbollix

The mk3s had bars and the smoking carriages were mighty craic on a Friday and Sunday night.

Not much room on a trolly for a keg

gobnaitolunacy

A couple of reasons I can think of:

Cost of installing taps and equipment in catering coaches. Maintenance thereafter. Most (not special) trains I have been on, alcohol was served in cans or bottles (bottles mostly in Asia)

We have a minority of idiots who don't stop at 1 pint and make life insufferable for fellow passengers. Plus I would imagine H&S would have something to say about staggering goons trying to get on or off trains. Having said that the RPSI patrons seem to be well behaved, maybe a bit of self-regulation going on there.

Iolaire

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

Plus I would imagine H&S would have something to say about staggering goons trying to get on or off trains.

You mean like London Underground every Friday and Saturday night? I wouldn't fancy working that shift.

Losty Dublin

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

A couple of reasons I can think of:

Cost of installing taps and equipment in catering coaches. Maintenance thereafter. Most (not special) trains I have been on, alcohol was served in cans or bottles (bottles mostly in Asia)

Diageo install and maintain the beer lines and taps for their own products so that wouldn't be an issue. Space and the ability of beer to pay it's upkeep would be more of an issue.

comradestalin

gobnaitolunacy,

The stuff about insufferable idiots already applies, as you can get alcohol right now, just not on draught. But yes we could do with the conductors being a bit more strict. Once, years ago, I saw a guy smoking a cigarette, making no attempt to hide it, the staff walked past several times and said nothing.

You're right though, as Losty also said, there's the overhead of keeping the kegs handy (though there's always plenty of room in the bicycle/large item stowage at the Dublin end of the train!) and cleaning the place up, although given that you have a captive audience it may well be feasable to charge >£5 for a pint to recover this.

corktina

its because anti-terrorist legislation doesn't allow you to have Noxious Substances on public transport.

gobnaitolunacy

corktina wrote: »

its because anti-terrorist legislation doesn't allow you to have Noxious Substances on public transport.

That covers Real Ale I guess.

Judgement Day

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

That covers Real Ale I guess.

Muck - I never drink anything that needs a fork.

The Idyll Race

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

That covers Real Ale I guess.

Did either you or JD ever drink Real Ale, or did you form your judgement sight unseen like any good Irishman does?

Judgement Day

The Idyll Race wrote: »

Did either you or JD ever drink Real Ale, or did you form your judgement sight unseen like any good Irishman does?

The only reason Real Ale is so popular across is the lack of decent mainstream beers - we have lashings to choose from, Guinness, Beamish, and Murphy's whereas the poor old Brits have Bass and bleedin Watney's Red Barrel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz2LaJOVAiA

corktina

whereas I know and love the clip, Bass is almost unknown in the UK and bleedin Watneys Red Barrel is longlong gone thankfully. Meanwhile Real Ale is NECTAR and it's about time the Irish woke up to the con job foisted on them by the breweries (aka Guinness mostly) in this country. It didn't quite work in the Uk and proper beer is on the up and up.

Judgement Day

corktina wrote: »

whereas I know and love the clip, Bass is almost unknown in the UK and bleedin Watneys Red Barrel is longlong gone thankfully. Meanwhile Real Ale is NECTAR and it's about time the Irish woke up to the con job foisted on them by the breweries (aka Guinness mostly) in this country. It didn't quite work in the Uk and proper beer is on the up and up.

Sure you're only a 'comeover' what would you know.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manx_English

Losty Dublin

Judgement Day wrote: »

Muck - I never drink anything that needs a fork.

Real Ale's a better seller on RPSI trains these days than Guinness.

hawkwind23

ive very find memories of the enterprise selling pints.
always strolled down about 10 mins after leaving station and half the train had same idea , some mighty craic and deep discussion was to be had crammed into that little carriage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TwSdVx2nOI

great video , get to about 1 minute in and they are in the bar , 2 taps on the go

The Idyll Race

Not sure I'd include Murphy's in the fine beers list JD! *ducks* Think Red Barrel was dead and gone when I first was a drinking age lad travelling to Britain on the St. David in 1982 - happy days!

hawkwind23

another point.
the enterprise does not want anyone drinking or socialising in the bar area as anyone who has tried to sit on those horrible metal slides will attest.
waste of a carriage in my opinion.
id like to see a bar in it with a pump and a couple of decent tables.
i just buy the tins and drink at the table these days but would pay and have a few pints if it was made sociable in the bar area.

Judgement Day

Ah but the Mk III's weren't a patch on the original Radio Train carriages. I was on the original 1960's incarnation but was a bit too young to be knocking back pints. The 'high' tea sticks in my memory!

It hurts me to admit it but when it comes to pints on Irish trains the RPSI was always the best. One year I traveled on the two-day tour empty stock movement from Whitehead to Pearse - in the newly refurbished GNR Directors' Saloon #50 - with a full bar service despite there not being half a dozen passenger aboard. Arriving into Connolly in the early rush hour in such splendour and swilling pints of draught - memorable.

Judgement Day

Now here is a triumph of railway design, why can't we still have carriages like this?


Copyright: Train Chartering & Private Rail Cars - Simon Pielow

The Idyll Race

Judgement Day wrote: »

Now here is a triumph of railway design, why can't we still have carriages like this?


Copyright: Train Chartering & Private Rail Cars - Simon Pielow

Because a bus with a jax appears to be the "way forward" :rolleyes:

end of the road

The Idyll Race wrote: »

Because a bus with a jax appears to be the "way forward"

meh, not for me, railway, or no way

gobnaitolunacy

The Idyll Race wrote: »

Did either you or JD ever drink Real Ale, or did you form your judgement sight unseen like any good Irishman does?

Yes, and I had to open the windows to air the place the following morning.

I'd give anything a fair go, but the RPSI ale, yuck.

corktina

it's just the same as the Wine situation...you can have fine French wines that you savour or a Lidl 3 litre wine box. As with beer, the Irish go for quantity over quality.

gobnaitolunacy

Judgement Day wrote: »

Now here is a triumph of railway design, why can't we still have carriages like this?


Copyright: Train Chartering & Private Rail Cars - Simon Pielow

Elfen Safety.People might fall off the stool or get a splinter from the timberwork.

gobnaitolunacy

corktina wrote: »

it's just the same as the Wine situation...you can have fine French wines that you savour or a Lidl 3 litre wine box. As with beer, the Irish go for quantity over quality.

Aint necessarily so.
Tar + Brush much?

CaptainFreedom

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

I'd give anything a fair go, but the RPSI ale, yuck.

Still sells well, although Im told it only really makes an appearance when there are plenty of Brits onboard

The Stroller

I remember Network Catering sold Murphy's on draught for a short time during the mid 90's.

The MK 2 buffet cars on the Sligo and Rosslare had taps fitted in the bar area in place of some shelves. The kegs were also smaller than the standard pub keg.

From what I recall it wasn't very popular and only lasted about six months.

flyingsnail

CaptainFreedom wrote: »

Still sells well, although Im told it only really makes an appearance when there are plenty of Brits onboard

Indeed it is usually available on the 3 day tour, they go through about 4 or 5 kegs of the stuff over the weekend.

gobnaitolunacy

flyingsnail wrote: »

Indeed it is usually available on the 3 day tour, they go through about 4 or 5 kegs of the stuff over the weekend.

vs how many kegs of Guinness/Heineken?

The Idyll Race

The Stroller wrote: »

I remember Network Catering sold Murphy's on draught for a short time during the mid 90's.

The MK 2 buffet cars on the Sligo and Rosslare had taps fitted in the bar area in place of some shelves. The kegs were also smaller than the standard pub keg.

From what I recall it wasn't very popular and only lasted about six months.

Think I can trace the source of the problem there..

Murphy's

The Idyll Race

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

vs how many kegs of Guinness/Heineken?

Jesus, not the feckin' Heino.. :rolleyes:

gobnaitolunacy

The Idyll Race wrote: »

Jesus, not the feckin' Heino.. :rolleyes:

I'd rather drink toilet water, but would be interested in the ratio.

flyingsnail

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

vs how many kegs of Guinness/Heineken?

Maybe 3 or 4 but the real ale kegs are much smaller than the Guinness kegs.

The Idyll Race

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

I'd rather drink toilet water, but would be interested in the ratio.

Never trust a beer that is the same colour going out as going in!

corktina

The Idyll Race wrote: »

Never trust a beer that is the same colour going out as going in!

that would be Guinness then or did you never have the black "solid waste matter" from that stuff?

gobnaitolunacy

Too much detail.

corktina

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

Too much detail.

Not as much as I could have given! You want a Video maybe?:D

gobnaitolunacy

No, you're alright.

end of the road

The Stroller wrote: »

The MK 2 buffet cars on the Sligo and Rosslare

ah yes, the good old days of a dining car and a bar, we've taken a huge step backwards with the new trains. no wonder people are happy with (a bus with a jacks) they have no standards at all.

Losty Dublin

CaptainFreedom wrote: »

Still sells well, although Im told it only really makes an appearance when there are plenty of Brits onboard

All Dublin trains serve bottled ales from Fullers, Shepherd's Neame and Harviston's to name a few. The beer range expands for the tours and on a few occasions both Porterhouse and Maguire's have supplied cask beers as well.

corktina

Losty Dublin wrote: »

All Dublin trains serve bottled ales from Fullers, Shepherd's Neame and Harviston's to name a few. The beer range expands for the tours and on a few occasions both Porterhouse and Maguire's have supplied cask beers as well.

Really, then I'm now staunchly anti Coach and Pro-rail.... see you on board (tell me it's London Pride...please....)


damn you mean RPSI traions don't you.....damn damn damn

Losty Dublin

corktina wrote: »

Really, then I'm now staunchly anti Coach and Pro-rail.... see you on board (tell me it's London Pride...please....)

Yep, in big shiny brown bottles with noble red labling

corktina wrote: »

damn you mean RPSI traions don't you.....damn damn damn

Sligo Quay

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

We have a minority of idiots who don't stop at 1 pint and make life insufferable for fellow passengers..

I used to be 1 of them suffering passengers when I used to travel on the Waterford train with drunken idiots boarding at Kilkenny, never mind the stags with too many pints, the women where the worse, screaming women with too much vodka.

CaptainSkidmark

i have no problem with the service irish rail provide except the catering, and its always been the same, over priced and borderline extortion