SOUTHEND TO OXFORD CHRISTMAS MARKET
Thursday 9th December 2021
SOUTHEND EAST - UPMINSTER - OXFORD
The City of Dreaming Spires is a must-see destination with its world-famous universities and museums. Add to this the beautiful River Thames winding through the city and lovely parks & gardens and the main problem will be deciding how to spend your time. Add to that a Steam hauled special service and what a lovely way to cross the South of England from Essex to Oxfordshire.
The trip is steam hauled by Black Five locomotive 44871 (pictured left) which should prove to be a rare sight on the opening leg of the journey from Southend and Upminster.
OXFORD CHRISTMAS MARKET
We will be travelling to Oxford on the first day of the Christmas Market. Held in the heart of the city on beautiful and historic Broad Street, the market will feature many local artists, designer-makers and selected guests. With the sound of choirs singing Christmas carols, market traders offering unusual and handmade gifts, colourful decorations brightening wooden stalls and the aroma of mulled wine and cinnamon drifting in the air - a visit to the Oxford Christmas Market is a truly magical Christmas experience.
CAROL SERVICE
We are pleased to say that we are also organising a Carol Service in one of the oldest churches in Oxford, located in the city centre, around the corner from the Christmas Market.
Black Fives were known as 'do-anything and go-anywhere' locomotives. The London Midland and Scottish Railway Stanier Class 5 4-6-0, commonly known as the Black Five, is a class of 4-6-0 steam locomotives. Several members of the class survived to the last day of steam on British Railways in 1968, and eighteen are preserved, with several examples still working on the mainline railway.
The first Class 5 locomotive was built for the London, Midland & Scottish Railway in 1934 to the design of Sir William Stanier. The new locomotives when built left the railway works in the standard mixed traffic black livery which soon earned them the nickname "Black Fives" for which they are still affectionately referred to today. The locomotives were capable of handling both express passenger and freight trains and were spread far and wide across the UK railway system. By the time the last Black Five was built in 1951, the class numbered 842 locomotives; one of the most numerous classes of British steam locomotives ever built.
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