Vintage Trains 2016/17 Tours

The Cotswolds trip is tempting, my only issue is if I book it that means every weekend in October I will be doing something steam related. Great for me, but may not win me favours with other half...

Is there are potential for a Pannier outing later in the year? Appreciate you're happy to be back again and not doing anything over complicated, but them 2x are by far the most fun locomotives on the mainline circuit.

 

I was just browsing through some of my books at home the other day, and noticed that next March it will be 50 years since the last through service trains ran from Paddington to Birkenhead. The specials being "The Birkenhead Flyer" and "The Zulu" hauled by Pendennis Castle & Clun Castle respectively and only went as far as Chester when the trains then went to Birkenhead behind 2 Standard class 5's.

Was just wondering, are VT planning on doing a tour next year in commemoration of this? Probably not re-do the whole route and obviously can't go to Birkenhead.

 

Not sure Midland Metro would be too impressed at a Castle hammering down the light rail

 

A minor correction to the story of the memorable last day specials to ceremonialise the end of Paddington-Birkenhead workings in March 1967. Not sure about Pendennis and how far that locomotive worked, but there are a couple of images of Clun Castle at Birkenhead Woodside on the final day having arrived on 1Z65 from Birmingham Snow Hill (according to the caption) on the following site.

http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/b/birkenhead_woodside/index.shtml.

According to archive records, Clun ran the 15 miles from Chester to Birkenhead Woodside in about 25 minutes.

Incidentally, part of the itinerary for that day is picked up on VT's Chester Wrexham and Shropshire outing on 22nd October (out from Tyseley/ Wolverhampton via Crewe but return via Shrewsbury). I honestly don't think it would be possible to replicate the 5th March 1967 tour any more closely given today's operating circumstances north of Chester (and indeed, as noted, south of Wolverhampton)......other than by perhaps running the route between Wolverhampton and Chester in both directions rather than just southbound....and running with Clun Castle subject to its re-introduction by then. Which really would be a truly magnificent way to celebrate the 50th anniversary!!!!

 

I photographed 7029 leaving Woodside on that memorable but rather sad day.

 

Interesting that of the two Castles 4079 went no further than Chester. But the only Castle, other than 7029, I ever saw take the Birkenhead line was 4079. I travelled to school on that line from 1956 and our garden backed onto the line and one day around 1960 word got round our school that Pendennis Castle was on Mollington Street shed. Sure enough that evening on the only train regularly booked for a GWR loco the 7.45pm from Morpeth Dock (usually a Grange or Hall sometimes a 47xx) came through Bromborough station hauled by Pendennis Castle. I've never been aware of any other occasion that a Castle has reached Birkenhead.

 

I know that it is still 2016 but I really hope that Tyseley has a robust program planned November, December and 2017 after this past Saturday's success.


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I'll be surprised if it's anything other than their usual December Xmas trips to Lincoln & York. An outing with the Panniers in November would be great or maybe a trip to London and back.

 

There might be some variation in the VT programme in 2017 once two Castles are available. Still, this is only speculation on my part. No doubt Ben will keep us informed.

 

The "Lyndum Christmas Fayre" (corrected spelling) is now showing on the VT website for 3rd December (with 4965). Looks as if there may be some gremlins with this nearly-new website - since all travel classes are shown on the summary page as "Sold Out". Notwithstanding this anomaly, (and a couple of very minor inconsistencies here with the pick-up/ set down info and elsewhere in other tour descriptions) I must praise the whole look and clarity of the site, and its particularly helpful to have some indication, right up front, of what the provisional times for these tours may be - however much these may be vulnerable to subsequent change. IIRC, this is something that VT traditionally shied away from doing, but so long as the times are updated to "Confirmed Timings" status as and when, rather like, say, UKRT, it should work well and be to everyone's benefit

What we really need now (or a.s.a.p.) is some more detail of other planned future tours beyond October, but its great that VT are now back in the swing of things. And with potentially a core of six/ seven really good trips over largely ex-GW/ BR(W) metals that VT operate on a regular basis, I'm sure that we can look forward to a much stronger 2017 programme.

 

If you go to the booking page - select train and enter date range up to and including next April the following tours are listed : -

Pannier Chopper Tyseley Warwick Road to Worcester Shrub Hill12 November 2016
Christmas White Rose Tyseley Warwick Road to York 10 December 2016
Valentines Dinner Tyseley Warwick Road East Midlands Circular 18 February 2017
Red Dragon Tyseley Warwick Road to Cardiff Central 11 March 2017
Welsh Marches Tyseley Warwick Road to Hereford 25 March 2017
Moonraker Solihull to Salisbury 08 April 2017

 

Many thanks for this....a great piece of detective work that suggests that the relevant tour details won't be too far behind in making their appearance. Effectively, this reproduces a pattern of excursions very similar to that which was published for 2016 before WCRC-related issues took their toll on VT's programme for this year. So its good to see the Red Dragon and Moonraker tours re-appearing - the former a possible, the latter a definite for me. But I'm even more intrigued at what the Pannier Chopper to Worcester might be....a possible re-run of last November's aborted Lickey Rambler perhaps???? I wish. But I guess that this bit of speculation is probably more in hope than expectation.

 

Severe thread drift here...

 

A late correction to your correction.

@Jeff Albiston was quite right in stating that both Castles on the Paddington to Birkenhead specials worked only to Chester. These ran on Saturday 4th March and my pictures below show both locos servicing on Chester shed, where it was effectively "open house".





I think you are confusing these specials with the ones that ran the following day, Sunday 5th March. These marked more specifically the end of through services between Snow Hill and Birkenhead, and this is when 7029 worked through to Birkenhead (and when @7P6F's picture at Woodside was taken), not on the Ian Allan special the previous day.

The details of all four tours are given on the excellent Six Bells Junction website:
Ian Allan tours, 4th March: http://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/60s/670304ia.html
SLS tours, 5th March: http://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/60s/670305sl.html

 

Yes, you are quite right. I was indeed confusing the specials that ran separately on the two consecutive days that weekend. Happy to be corrected, and many thanks for the clarification and links to the SBJ site

 

Quite keen on the Pannier Chopper tour on 12 November.

This will be 50 years to the day that the LCGB "Shakespearian" tour which featured Clun Castle and Brit 70004 William Shakespeare from Stratford upon Avon. http://www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/60s/661112lc.html
The only thing we didn't have were two 57xx locos from Stourbridge Junction to Town. So hopefully 50 years on I'll get my ride behind the panniers around the West Midlands.

 

One of the best mainline tours I've been on was behind Panniers! Count me in

 

And me, just booked today. I've still to sample Panniers on the mainline, this has been enough to finally get my backside in gear and see what I've been missing out on!