ENGLISH RIVIERA EXPRESS STEAM RAIL TOUR - SUNDAY 26th JULY 2020

Recreate one of the great steam hauled holiday trains of the golden age of railway travel for a journey around the beautiful Devon coast with time available to discover the many charms of the pretty ‘English Riviera’ resorts of Paignton or Dartmouth. The train departs from Bristol Temple Meads station hauled by one of the countries famous steam locomotives Royal Scot for the journey across the lush Somerset levels, then through the remote Blackdown hills and down the Exe Valley to Exeter, before heading along the estuary with its pretty fishing boats and stunning views across to Exmouth and the Jurassic coast. Continuing past Powderham Castle and along the famous sea wall line we race through tunnels and cuttings of red rock and beside beaches and coves with the sea keeping company with the train.

At Paignton the train will join the steeply graded heritage line and travel through the woodland estate once owned by Agatha Christie, then alongside the beautiful River Dart with views of HMS Britannia – not a ship but the college that has trained generations of naval officers. We soon arrive into the riverside terminus at Kingswear, where it is a short crossing on the ferry (price included) to the historic and romantic port of Dartmouth. Here there are antique shops, galleries and cafes to explore which we hope will be open and very welcome for the custom then why not take a leisurely cruise on the River Dart or explore Dartmouth Castle before perhaps indulging in a delicious Devon cream tea. There should be around four hours at leisure before we return in the late afternoon.

Timings from Bristol

No 46100 'Royal Scot'
The train is steam hauled throughout by one of our immaculately restored locomotives; LMS Royal Scot Class, No.46100 ‘Royal Scot’ is booked for this tour. 


History / Preservation Notes
The original 6100 was the first of its class, built in 1927 by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow. It was named Royal Scot after the Royal Scots.  In 1933, 6152 The King's Dragoon Guardsman and 6100 swapped identities permanently. 6152 had been built at Derby Works in 1930. The new Royal Scot was sent to the Century of Progress Exposition of 1933 and toured Canada and the United States with a train of typical LMS carriages.  46100 was bought by Billy Butlin of Butlins holiday camps after withdrawal and after cosmetic restoration into LMS crimson lake at Crewe Works, although this was the original livery received, the locomotive did not carry it after being rebuilt (only one rebuilt Royal Scot ever carried LMS crimson lake livery and that was 6170 British Legion). It was then towed from Crewe Works to Nottingham by Black 5 No. 45038 and then from Nottingham to Boston by B1 No. 61177 on 12 June 1963.  Royal Scot arrived at Butlins on 18 July 1963 piped in by pipers from the 1st Battalion, The Royal Scots. This made 6100 one of two preserved rebuilt Royal Scots, the other being 6115 Scots Guardsman. It was set on a plinth at Skegness and was to remain there till the 1970s. On 16 March 1971 6100 departed from Skegness for the Bressingham Steam Museum and was returned to steam in 1972. It ran until 1978 when it once more became a static exhibit, it was eventually sold from Butlins to Bressingham in May 1989.

MODEL RAILWAY EXHIBITIONS / OPEN DAYS STILL CANCELLED TILL SEPTEMBER?

Have been keeping an eye on the listing of Model Railway Exhibitions and Open Days which can be found via this excellent resource and still disappointing to see they are all cancelled through July and to a large extent all of August too. While the latest Government statement is trying to get things open soon I think we'll be waiting for a little while longer till the bigger events can get themselves organised but there's some light shining at the end of this long tunnel. The Heritage railways are beginning to reopen albeit in a socially distanced way and we talked about some of those in the previous blog entry which included the 60th Anniversary for the Bluebell Railway.

Virtual Exhibitions
Saturday 12th September 2020
Virtual Exhibition, Cambridge Model Railway Club.

• It is with great regret that the CMRC have decided to cancel the actual 2020 exhibition. While we hoped that the situation will have improved for most of us by September, it seems increasingly likely that some social restrictions will remain in place for an extended period. However we are committed to bring Model Railways to our loyal visitors and will be releasing a VIRTUAL EXHIBITION on 12th September via YouTube of Club and our friends layouts, their channel can be found HERE and should be updated on the day. 

There's been a few virtual exhibitions posted on you tube, nice 10 part one found on the TGauge YouTube channel featuring some interesting layouts. 

• The Chichester Lions Club would have held their 25th Annual exhibition in October but had already cancelled that and will instead host it online via their Facebook Channel instead. 

The Museum of the Great Western Railway (STEAM) based at the old Swindon Works, have some dedicated pages for their Museum from Home and would have been celebrating their 20th Year, sadly their planned September festival has sadly been cancelled. You can still have an online experience of the Museum here. 

BLUEBELL RAILWAY TO REOPEN IN AUGUST - 60TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS

So with news that the Bluebell Railway plan to re-open on 7th August 2020 does this signal (pun intended) a return to public visits on Heritage Railways around the Uk. Now this is excellent news and very welcome for the Bluebell Railway in particular as it will allow them to have their celebrations for their 60th Anniversary on that date.

So, how has the Bluebell Railway been preparing to reopen? The generosity of our members, shareholders and others has meant our appeal target of £300,000 has been met and exceeded and now stands at more than £330,000. This is a fantastic achievement and thank you to all those who have contributed. This success, plus a review of other funding sources, has allowed the Board to produce a very detailed financial model for the remainder of 2020. This model includes all the reopening costs, predictions on revenue for the remainder of this year and a detailed review of all costs. Using this model alongside several other measures the Board have taken, I can now proudly announce a provisional reopening date of Friday 7 August 2020.

As you know this also happens to be our 60th anniversary and what better way to celebrate that milestone than to reopen for business. I’m also pleased to announce that the first train on 7 August will be for members only and pre-booked on a first-come, first-served basis.

This phased reopening will start on 7 August and for the foreseeable future trains will run at weekends only. This will allow the railway and volunteers to gauge the potential demand, take small steps and follow the Government guidance. Having carefully reviewed what we can offer and taking into account the layout of our station sites, our service trains will run from Sheffield Park to Kingscote only (NB they not be stopping at Horsted Keynes). East Grinstead Station will remain closed due to the restricted nature of the station site and to adhere to social distancing rules.

In addition to this we plan to run three or four dining trains per day, with our daytime services starting at Horsted Keynes and our evening services starting at Sheffield Park. This avoids any potential conflict between our public trains and our dining customers at Sheffield Park. As we take these small steps, all of the above will remain under constant review and should public demand be there, we will add further trains mid-week starting on a Friday and working backwards.

To provide the public with the very best offering while also complying with the latest Government guidance, our service trains will be formed of compartment stock. Compartments will be sold as a whole and all tickets will be pre-bookable – our intention is to have these available for purchase about two weeks before the reopening. There will be no ‘turn-up-on-the-day’ ticket sales available on any services for the rest of the year.  In line with other transport bodies and following best practice, face coverings will be required to travel on our services. This includes travelling on dining services although coverings can then be temporarily removed while eating. All our carriages and station environments will receive an enhanced cleaning regime including door handles. The Railway’s priority will be on providing everyone with a safe and enjoyable day out.

PRESERVED HERITAGE RAILWAYS REOPENING JULY-AUGUST

The UK coronavirus lock down has led to preserved railways in the unfortunate situation with no income from ticket sales, but still occurring costs for maintenance, insurance, improvement projects and overhauls. Most railways have been running appeals to have get them stay afloat through this situation, Bluebell Railways raising over £330k alone, but also been popular appeals and on line campaigns by the various Welsh narrow gauge railways (Talyllyn raised over £105k). Please, if you can, think about making a donation to your favourite preserved railway to help ensure that they can reopen and prosper in the future.

COVID-19 Reopening dates

Most railways are only operating pre-book services only.

Click on name of railway to visit their website.

​

Appleby Frodingham - from 27th July

​

Didcot Railway Centre - from 4th July

Ironbridge Gorge Museums - from 4th July

North Bay Railway - from 4th July

Perrygrove Railway - from 4th July

Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch - from 4th July

Seaton Tramway - from 4th July

​

Bala Lake Railway - from 6th July

​

Dartmouth Steam Railway - from 7th July

North Norfolk Railway - from 8th July

​

Snowdon Mountain - from 10th July

Bure Valley Railway - from 11th July

Swanage Railway - from 11th July

"The Wartercress Line" Mid Hants - from 11th July

Isle of Wight - from 12th July

​

Beamish - from 23rd July

Ecclesbourne Valley Railway - from 25th July

Embsay & Bolton Abbey - from 25th July

​

Dean Forest Railway - from 1st August

Epping Ongar Railway - from 1st August

North Yorkshire Moors - from 1st August

Northampton & Lamport - from 2nd August

​

Bluebell Railway - from 7th August

​

Gloucestershire Warwickshire - from 15th August

This good news also means that the Bluebell Railway can proceed with their 60th Anniversary as planned and will take place on their re-opening date 7th August, albeit with a limited service at first from Sheffield Park through to Kingscote only, it seems that East Grinstead will not be served yet and pre-booking is essential. We will have a separate post about this event soon.​