Railtours

  • ‘Royal Scotsman’ on Grand Tour

    ‘Royal Scotsman’ on Grand Tour

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    Belmond’s ‘Royal Scotsman’ luxury landcruise train – more usually confined to itineraries within Scotland – embarks on an annual  seven-night grand tour of Britain, visiting popular tourist spots in England and Wales. On the third leg from Edinburgh to Chester on July 7, No. 66746 leads the train through Carnforth. No. 66743 was on the…

  • Staff charter takes GBRf ‘50s’ back to Scotland

    Staff charter takes GBRf ‘50s’ back to Scotland

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    July 6 saw Class 50s Nos. 50007 Hercules and 50049 Defiance work a GB Railfreight staff charter from Motherwell to Scarborough via the East Coast Main Line.  The train worked the empty stock north from Burton to Motherwell via Lancaster and Carlisle on July 5, and then ran via Edinburgh and York to the North…

  • ‘Royal Windsor Steam Express’ to return in 2020

    ‘Royal Windsor Steam Express’ to return in 2020

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    Regular steam operation will return to London Waterloo in 2020 after Steam Dreams confirmed its ‘Royal Windsor Steam Express’ will run again next summer.  Operating every Tuesday until September 3, the trains consist of three one-way, steam-hauled trips from Waterloo to Windsor & Eton Riverside and an evening dining circuit known as the ‘Sunset Steam…

  • ‘Shakespeare Express’ 2019 season underway

    ‘Shakespeare Express’ 2019 season underway

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    Vintage Trains reintroduced its popular ‘Shakespeare Express’ between Birmingham Snow Hill and Stratford-upon-Avon on July 21.  Two return trips per day will operate on August 4, August 18, September 1 and September 15, with BR ‘Castle’ No. 7029 Clun Castle taking charge, except on August 4 when ex-LMS ‘Jubilee’ No. 45596 Bahamas is booked to…

  • GWR InterCity 125s bow out in style

    GWR InterCity 125s bow out in style

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    GREAT Western Railway said farewell to long-distance InterCity 125 operation on June 1 with an epic railtour visiting many parts of the GWR network. The first and last production HST power cars – Nos. 43002 Sir Kenneth Grange and 43198 – powered standard eight-car set LA72 on an itinerary embracing Bristol, Paddington, Oxford, Hereford, Carmarthen and…

  • BLS tour brings Class 31 back to the main line

    BLS tour brings Class 31 back to the main line

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    JUNE 9 saw a Class 31 return to main line action after a gap of several months.  Nemesis Rail’s No. 31128 Charybdis, currently the only Brush Type 2 authorised for use on Network Rail metals, powered the Branch Line Society’s ‘Sunday Yicker’ tour in top-and-tail formation with West Coast Railways’ No. 37668 and just four WCRC Mk1…

  • ‘Trackbashing’ special to run over Dartmouth line for charity

    ‘Trackbashing’ special to run over Dartmouth line for charity

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    47 years after the Paignton to Kingswear branch was sold to Dart Valley Railway plc, the ‘big railway’ will be running a train over it again.

  • Coming up at Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway

    Coming up at Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway

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    Since 1927 the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway (RH&DR) has been an integral part of the landscape of the Romney Marsh, and this month the railway is throwing a number of must-see events!

  • Blue Class 20s bring back ‘Skeggy’ holiday memories

    Blue Class 20s bring back ‘Skeggy’ holiday memories

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    Happy memories of Class 20s on summer-dated holiday trains to Skegness were rekindled on May 27 when Pathfinder Tours took a pair of blue EE Type 1s back to the Lincolnshire coast.  Harry Needle Railroad Co Nos. 20096 and 20107, usually hired to GB Railfreight for London Underground ‘S’ stock movements, took charge of the…

  • Isle of Man Railways: Manx on the Up!

    Isle of Man Railways: Manx on the Up!

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    The Isle of Man is a piece of forgotten Britain. Those were the words of an elderly female coach tour passenger I talked to while travelling on the Manx Electric Railway in early April. She’s not wrong either.

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