The Britannia Express - 30/3/19 and return 31/03/19

With Brexit going so well, it seems Hosking is organising his celebrations...

Charles Moore has revealed an invitation to travel on 'The Britannia Express', marking what (almost certainly won't) be our first day since leaving the EU by traversing England & Wales by Steam from Swansea to Sunderland... avoiding London, obviously.

https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2019/03/why-ill-be-avoiding-london-on-the-day-after-brexit/

 

Spotted this from a columnist in the current Spectator magazine:


A kind billionaire called Jeremy Hosking, whom I do not know personally, has invited us to join the Britannia Express, a steam train, on 30 March, the day after Brexit. The train will traverse Wales and England, starting at Swansea and ending in Sunderland. In an unspoken rebuke to the metropolis, it will not travel via London. The train will, says the invitation, commemorate ‘the UK’s exit (or non-exit) from the European Union’.


and indeed there is this in RTT:

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U10689/2019/03/30/advanced

from that schedule, it looks like only the Crewe/York section might be steam-hauled?

 

His last Brexit Express didn’t have a lot of success and had to be cancelled through lack of bookings

 

If only this could be symbolism for the real thing!!

 

But isn't he paying for the train and only inviting passengers to travel without expectation of payment ?

 

Perhaps Mrs May could involve Northern Rail in making the arrangements; it would almost certainly be delayed and in all probability be cancelled.

 

11 hours for the good people of Swansea to see the delights of Sunderland! That must be a record for a single journey???!!!

Edit: on to York - http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U10693/2019/03/30/advanced

Will

 

It will be quicker - and maybe more appealing - for them to go to Europe instead!

Peter

 

Just musing about this; the schedule presents a very distant echo but an interesting comparison with the pre-war Ports-to Ports Express that plied between Newcastle and Swansea with a Sunderland connection - 397 miles via the very different route it took , in an almost identical 11 hours 15 minutes. Operated jointly by the LNER and GWR, it traversed long-lost lines in the course of its itinerary, over the Great Central section from Sheffield to Banbury and also over that most threadbare of rural lines across the Cotswolds from Banbury/ Kings Sutton to Cheltenham via Chipping Norton.

Its itinerary justified (and was probably the sole justification for) the classification of "main line" status for the Cotswolds section on the mid-1930's GWR network map. It also justified the allocation of (I think) three of the newly introduced Manor Class 4-6-0's to Banbury shed from the pre-war build of 20 examples, in replacement for the Moguls which had previously operated the GWR leg if this service.

So the route and the motive power may have changed massively, but at least there's a precedent for spending over 11 hours on just such a journey - and I can think of far worse ways of spending this length of time than being on a train heading for the North-East!!

But as I said, just musing. Sorry about the thread drift!

 

Next day it goes to Bristol. : http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U10719/2019/03/31/advanced

Dave B

 

Mind you looking at the arrival times of both trips. Neither give you any reasonable visitor time at their respective destinations, as at Sunderland at least must visitor attractions or shops will be closing or closed. Leaving the various pubs/clubs as the main attractions..... They also beg the question "How do any passengers get home,as there doesn't appear to be a return leg?

 

Schedule shows just 2 minutes at Sunderland, arrive 1715 depart 1717. Not much chance of a pint in a pub there!

Dave B

 

Ah! I see, though the main point as you agree still stands......

 

I'd be surprised if this didn't go the same way.

To be seen travelling (for free?) on a millionaire hedge fund owners luxurious personal steam train, and through some of the poorer areas of the country, would be an interesting way to celebrate what most Brexiteers insist is anti-elite and forward-looking...

 

Indeed he is. As he did on 14th June 2016, the day after the cancelled 'Referendum Express', but it was in the same cause: http://www.uksteam.info/tours/t16/t0614b.htm. Coincidentally (or not) the steam section for the 30th March train is the same as in 2016, if @alastair 's assumption is correct, but the route is different; how long is it since steam last went over Standedge?

 

Only about three months - 60103 went that way en route from York to Castleton on 20/12/18.

Peter

 

And Tornado's epic on the Border Raider was on 16/9/17.

I wonder if pay on the day from Crewe to York is in order.

 

I’d travel on it for free

 

You've obviously never met Mrs V ??

 

No, I haven't met your domestic facilities management.

Dave B