John Farrow, UK Railtours. RIP

[whole diary]

[grahame]

I'm sad to report the passing of John Farrow of UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Railtours - "Mr U.K. Railtours" indeed.  His daughter writes:

Good evening,

As word is quickly spreading I wanted to let you all know, before the jungle drums of social media and rail forums do the deed for me, that in the early hours of this morning we received the devastating news that my dad, John Farrow, passed away at the Royal Free Hospital in London.

About two weeks ago we received the news that dad had contracted Covid-19 while in hospital. The virus gradually took hold and in his weakened state he was unable to fight it off. Heartbreakingly, due to regulations in place to stop the spread of the virus, we were not able to be with him in his final hours. We are told he passed away peacefully with a nurse by his side, holding his hand, in the early hours of this morning. He was not in pain and did not suffer.

He leaves behind his two children, Simon and I, and his wife Clare. He also has three grand children whom he adored. We are coming to terms with our loss and what the future holds in these desperate times.

UK Railtours is facing hard times too, more so now than ever. We thank you all for your ongoing support and loyalty. From a purely practical point of view, to offer reassurance to those who still have fares held in credit with us, I can assure you that we will continue to operate and you need not worry. We will be back on the rails as soon as we can. We owe that to Dad. He was undoubtedly, in our opinion at least, the very best in the business and his legacy should not be allowed to fade away.

Please stay safe and look out for each other.

Yours sincerely,

Liz Morris
UK Railtours

(via MailChimp)

From Facebook (Alan Spencer writes)

Very Sad to report that John Farrow of UK Charters, past away yesterday. The Big man in The Charter Scene for 40+ years.

From way back in 2009 ... on the reopening of the Swanage Railway to Wareham.

An excellent day all round.  Much public and media interest
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7975915.stm
Thanks must go to the Swanage Railway, Network Rail and John Farrow of UK Railtours for making it happen
Will post some pictures later

Rest in Peace, John.

 

[eightf48544]

A sad loss. I've been on many of his tours, many I confess first class dining and done some interesting lines particularly in the Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire coalfields. The very first tour I did was to High Marnham and Bevercotes on the LDEC, Plus the other colleries off the line incluidng Bilsthorpe via all three sides of the triangle at Clipstone. To cap it all we did the Cresswell to Seymour JN. Even then the line was technically closed. You used to be able to see it from the M1 winding up the hill.

Mid eighties. 

[rogerw]

I knew John very well from his associations with Seaton tramway as well as participating in up to 6 of his railtours each year (first class dining of course). I have sent a personal email to Liz, his daughter, passing on my sympathies.  John was a well known and well loved person and he will leave a large gap in many lives.

[ellendune]

A sad loss. I've been on many of his tours, many I confess first class dining and done some interesting lines particularly in the Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire coalfields. The very first tour I did was to High Marnham and Bevercotes on the LDEC, Plus the other colleries off the line incluidng Bilsthorpe via all three sides of the triangle at Clipstone. To cap it all we did the Cresswell to Seymour JN. Even then the line was technically closed. You used to be able to see it from the M1 winding up the hill.

Mid eighties. 

Bevercotes now there's a familiar name from the past. Never ridden along the branch but I once spent a couple of weeks working on it with the mark 2 (development version) stoneblower and a tamper plus other sundry methods then under development.  That was back in 1977.   

[rogerw]

Resurrecting an old thread.

UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Railtours are running a memorial train from Victoria to Sherborne on 18th August, hauled by "Clan Line". As a part of this a memorial service will be held in Sherborne Abbey for John.

Full details on the web site.