To York and the 1980's
In 1979, Macs moved from the bright lights of the British capital
to York, a quaint medieval city in Yorkshire, and home to the
National Railway Museum. By now a semi-professional side-project,
its operation based in Macbeth's spare bedroom, the fledgling tour
company rose to greater acclaim in 1980, with the joining of
another railway expert Howard Trinder. Trinder's northern network
connections and expertise helped Macs reach an even wider number of
clients, and that year they launched a new range of escorted tours
to Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Budapest - a far smoother
holiday than the original, independent capers of Macbeth and his
railway buddies - yet with all the romance of rail travel. Macs
Tours was now in full swing, and the first brochures were created
by Macbeth and Trinder's colleagues in the British Rail typing pool
in exchange for boxes of chocolates.
As the '80s drew to a close, big changes were afoot for British
Railways. Privatisation hung in the air, and soon Macbeth and
Trinder found themselves out of a day job. Ever entrepreneurial
though, the two men decided to turn their rail holiday hobby into a
full-time endeavour, eventually expanding their client base from
British Railway employees to the wider public. The concept gained
popularity, and the enterprising duo never looked back.
In 1991 they made the move to more permanent business premises
in the centre of historic York. The company grew, using more Tour
Managers to escort passengers from start to finish, and expanding
their programme into Australia and India.