founding a TOC

[kittens]

hi lads thinking of founding a train operating company. anyone here ever done anything like this. honestly no idea where i would even start with this one.

ive been doing some research and i have found you don't need to buy any trains, you lease them from a train leasing company, and then you bid for a bit of track to drive your trains up and down. seems fairly simple. i guess i'd go for a bit of track around bristol because otherwise it'd be a nightmare trying to organise it from here. lease some very nice fast trains and away we go. how much is a franchise usually

o.k. done some more research and have found that the southeastern franchise and the 'new crosscountry' franchise are up for bidding THIS YEAR, in november and december respectively. no word on prices but cant be that much surely. if we do this right i could be running two rail franchises before christmas. so, please, if anyone here has any advice please let me know as i am dying to found a TOC

[Inspector Norse]

You could get in touch with these dudes for tips on transport start-ups.

[kittens]

friend thank you but that's boats.

[Inspector Norse]

that's boats.

You already know more than the Seaborne guys then. Nothing can stop you now.

[rasta-spouse]

Will you let old-time hobos ride for free after midnight on the empty freight carriages?

[honeychile]

Will your trains have those enclosed compartments and a narrow side corridor for being chased by police or criminal gangs like in the old films?

[Inspector Norse]

Will your trains have those enclosed compartments and a narrow side corridor for being chased by police or criminal gangs like in the old films?

I should certainly hope that every compartment will be occupied by an old gent who will, upon your desperately diving in through the door, lower his newspaper, raise his eyebrows conspiratorially and then aid you in your last-minute hide/escape.

[thenoise]

Try and be a bit less shit than Virgin Trains. Shouldn't be too challenging.

[shiftwork2]

I like the opening post by the poster there in his trousers but a TOC is no more ridiculous than an airline, which also leases its vehicles and seems to have no assets other than airport slots.

[gib]

I don't buy this, OP has made 5 posts, all about trains and probably wants stories about trains for nefarious purposes. Think long and hard before replying.

[kittens]

I like the opening post by the poster there in his trousers but a TOC is no more ridiculous than an airline, which also leases its vehicles and seems to have no assets other than airport slots.

happy to do an airline if there is more interest in that than the TOC. be nice to have a TOC but an airline would be fine too.  friends with this new airline business is really 'taking off'!

[popcorn]

Do NOT do this repeat do NOT do this, it is FAR more complicated than you think.

[chveik]

that's a wonderful new venture kittens, way better than wasting your time cycling in Greece.

[Bum Flaps]

You're going to need a front man, someone whose face the public will look on and immediately think ... Trains?!

[Ambient Sheep]

I'd like to see you post that OP on https://railforums.co.uk.  Not so sure I'd like to see the reaction though...

[bgmnts]

You're on the right track asking cab.

[kittens]

You're on the right track asking cab.

detecting sarcasm here. i'll have you know i asked my best friend and my father also which shows i am taking this venture very seriously.
and you never know, there may be some real TOC wonks posting on cab.

[bgmnts]

Just a pun mate no need to rail on me.

[Deyv]

Just a pun mate no need to rail on me.

Your train puns are first class.

[Captain Z]

Reckon with the way things are going you could get away with this. Seriously, just put a bid in; fill the document with a mix of aspirational futurespeak and mind-numbing business jargon: outsourcing x, y and z, offsetting maintenance against the introduction of platform fees...etc. Copy paste some Google images of a diesel on a rusty track and 1940s station advertisements. Adopt an impenetrable laid-back confidence and just pluck reasonable-sounding words out of the air when they ask questions.

Then when it eventually becomes apparent you don't have any trains running, just blame Corbyn, and people will believe you.

[Mister Six]

I don't buy this, OP has made 5 posts, all about trains and probably wants stories about trains for nefarious purposes. Think long and hard before replying.

Are you trainsphobic?

[Stoneage Dinosaurs]

This sounds like a good idea, in fact I might just start a rival company to Greater Anglia who do the trains round here. My company will be called 'Greater Wanglia'. Like the original company it will cover Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire and a bit of London, all the carriages will smell of severe body odour and be arbitrarily delayed - the only difference is that it will have a funny name that people will enjoy laughing at.

[zomgmouse]

TOC stands for Terms Or Conditions

[poo]

Can you bring back Craigslist train wanks

[jobotic]

You can't say "black train" anymore? I can't keep up.

[biggytitbo]

Could you found your own special train company and not tell anyone about it?

[seepage]

Start small: a single narrow-gauge track to the kebab shop & back.

[popcorn]

TOC stands for Terms Or Conditions

Wrong. It is actually Table of Contents.

[PlanktonSideburns]

i would say get northen rail.

i know you dont want to remotley work, but even if you totally neglected it, its unlikley that you could possibly fuck it up anymore that it currently is. you would be a hero

[zomgmouse]

Wrong. It is actually Table of Contents.

Wrong