FromtheFrontCoach

Fivedecadesoftours

AreturntoPwllheliforPathfinder

BELOW:TheClass 40Preservation Society’sD345works 1Z40,the07.02 BurtonuponTrentto NewcastlePathfinder Tours‘TheWhistling Geordie’ ,with thetrainpassing Newton-le-Willows onNovember12, 2022.Pathfinders iscelebratingthe 50thanniversary ofthefirstcharter traintobeorganised byfounderPeter WattsinJune2023. TomMcAtee PipDunn

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June10willmarkthe50thanniversary since Peter Watts ran his first charter train under the F&W – Fielding and Watts – banner. And to celebrate this milestone, his company ’ s current incarnation, Pathfinder Tours (its name for the last 35 years!),ishopingtorunasnearaspossiblea repeatofthatfirstGloucestertoPwllhelitrip.

ThepioneeringtrainranwithD1644–later 47060 (and then a donor to become 57008) – from Gloucester Eastgate to Birmingham New Street, where Class 24s 5079 and 5087 took over. Much has changed in those 50 years–GloucesterEastgateclosedinDecember1975,theClass24swereallwithdrawnby 1980,andtheCambrianlineisnowunderthe control of ERTMS, so an exact repeat of the tourisimpossible!

But most of the route that the original ‘Snowdonian ’ covered is still open for business, and Richard Szwejkowski, who is now running Pathfinder after Peter stood back to a one-day-a-week role, says the plan is to commemorate this milestone with a trip to theCambrianterminus.Itwillmostlikelybe aDBCargooperation,withClass97/3swest ofShrewsburyandtractiontotheMidlands as yet unspecified, but it will presumably be aClass66or67.

Due to pathing, the train cannot run on June10,whichisaSaturday,andsoitisbeing planned for the day before. It is also hoped that another trip to Pwllheli – three such trains ran in 2022 and were a success – will berunearlieronMay5andpossiblyanother trainlaterintheyearaswell.

Ignoring societies, Pathfinder is now the longest established private charter train promoter, has run over 1000 trains, and coveredprettymucheverymileoftrackofthe nationalnetwork.Fiftyyearsforonepromoter isnosmallfeat,forsure!

Richardisalsonailingdowntherestforthe promoter ’ s programme for 2023. With two trips along the Heart of Wales line planned, asisareturntoWeymouthwithClass33salso inthepipeline,itisalsohopedaClass31tour maybepossible;Penzancehasbeenmooted, providing a second Brush Type 2 to partner 31128becomesavailableashoped.

TalkingofPenzance,Pathfinderisplanning to go there on April 29 for Trevithick Day, plustheusualMazeyDay,whichthisyearis June24.ThepossibilityofatriptotheSouth DevonRailwayasatributetovolunteerNick Perring, who passed away in September, is alsobeinginvestigated.

There will also be regular use of heritage traction.TheClass40PreservationSociety ’ s D345isplannedtobeoutonMarch18ona triptoEastAnglia,andRichardhopestouse the popular Class 40 possibly three or four timesintheyear.Pathfinderisalsoindiscussion with the Class 50 Alliance over using 50007Herculesand50049Defianceonsome trips, and an enthusiast tour to Aberdeen

andKyleofLochalshisinthemeltingpotfor laterintheyear.

Track tours are not forgotten about, either. March 4 is a provisional date for a trip to the North West with DB Cargo as operator and traction provider, while another trip to coverraretrackintheMidlandsisalsobeing investigatedbutnodatehasbeenconfirmed forthat,noraTOCortraction.

The company has announced its Easter Landcruise to Scotland, and this year DB Cargo will be operating the four-day trip, using its Class 67s throughout. It starts at CheltenhamonApril14andrunstoDumbarton. The Saturday is a trip to Dundee and back,whiletheSundayfeaturesaruntoFort William before the train returns home on the 17th. It certainty appears to be another busy year for Pathfinder as it celebrates its monumentalanniversary.

NewHSTprogramme islaunchedbyLSG

The 2023 programme of trains has been announced by Locomotive Services Group foritsMidlandPullmanHST,Saphossteamhauledcharters,andStatesmanRailbrands.

AsRailwaysIllustratedclosedforpress,the trainsexpectedtoberunbyLSG’ sInterCity operation–usingitsMk.3coaches,whichare probablyofthemostinteresttothemajority ofreaders–wasstillbeingfinalised.

TheMidlandPullman,whichreliesonalot ofrepeatitinerariesregardingitsdestinations, is a mixture of day trips and three-day landcruises.

The ‘Settle & Carlisle Pullman ’ will run on Saturday, February 4 from Cardiff; on Wednesday, February 22 from Potters Bar; Saturday, June 10 from Gerrards Cross; Wednesday, July 5 from Southampton AirportParkway;Saturday,October14from Eastleigh; and, finally, from Paignton on Saturday, October 28. As the name implies, the train ’ s highlight is a trip over the Settle andCarlisleline.

There are four trains to Whitby, starting onMarch4fromAviemore,March25from Dundee, November 4 from Ayr, and on November11fromPottersBar.The ‘English Riviera Pullman ’ heads to Paignton on Wednesday,April12fromHull,fromChester on Wednesday, June 21 and from Ulverston onSaturday,July15.

The ‘Llandudno Victorian Pullman ’ is on Monday,May1toservetheannualVictorian andtransportfairintheWelshtown,andthis trainstartsfromBournemouth.Thetownis alsothedestinationforthefiveoccasionsthat the

‘NorthWalesCoastalPullman ’ runs.On Saturday,May13,thetrainstartsatStAlbans, then it runs again on Thursday, June 1 from Berwick-upon-Tweed. The final three days areallSaturdays,withthetrainonJuly1from Basingstoke,July22fromDundeeandAugust 26fromPlymouth.

There are two trips to Scarborough for the Wednesday, May 3 from Maidenhead and again on Saturday, August 12 from Cardiff. The

‘BathChristmasPullman ’ runstwice,on Thursday,November30fromUlverstonand againafewdayslateronMonday,December 4fromNewcastle.

There are plenty of trains running to Scotland, including six outings for the HST running as the ‘Edinburgh Christmas Pullman ’ to take passengers to the Scottish capitalfortheChristmasmarkets.Theystarton Saturday,November18fromSwindon;then three days later on Tuesday, November 21 from Potters Bar; Thursday, November 23 from Watford Junction; Saturday, December 9 from Oxford; Thursday, December 14 fromCardiffCentral;andfinallyonTuesday, December19fromHolyhead.

TheyareprecededbytwotripstoAviemore asthe ‘HighlandClansmanPullman ’ ,running fromThirskonWednesday,April26andfrom Chester on Wednesday, July 19. The ‘Ben Nevis & Lochaber Pullman ’ has two dates –running to Fort William from Morpeth on Wednesday, May 24 and from Lancaster on Wednesday, June 14. Other West Highland daytripsarethetwotripstoObanwhichrun as the ‘West Highland Pullman ’ on Wednesday, July 26 from Darlington and again on Wednesday,August16fromPreston.

Finally,therearefourSaturday-to-Monday weekend trips to the Highlands – three to Mallaig, one to Kyle of Lochalsh. The

ABOVE:Working inplaceofthe unavailable 45118TheRoyal Artilleryman,37688 GreatRocksand D6817(37521) haul‘TheTorbay Delight’charter forLocomotive ServicesGroup’s InterCitydivision onOctober19,2022. Thetrainheads overthesummitat Whiteball,running as1Z45,the06.00 YorktoPaignton InterCitycharter, with47828onthe rear.StephenGinn

from Finsbury Park with two nights in Fort WilliamandaSundaytriptoMallaigandback. ThesametrainrunsagainonSeptember9-11 fromPaigntonandthenonOctober7-9from Slough.The ‘LordOfTheIslesPullman ’isset forApril1-3andwillrunfromPaigntonfor two nights in Inverness, with a Sunday day triptoKyleOfLochalsh.

The train will be LSG’ s Nanking blue Midland Pullman HST set, typically with power cars 43046/047/055/059 used as they sport the same livery, but 43049 will stand inifrequired.

Class47sfor2023Statesman Railprogramme

Statesman Rail has announced its 2023 programme, which uses LSG as Train Operator and traction and rolling stock provider. Class 47s – from the pool of 47593, 47712, 47805/810/828/853–shouldbethetraction foralltrains.

The ‘Settle & Carlisle Circular ’ will run on Saturday,January28fromUttoxeter;Saturday, February18fromChester-Le-Street;Wednesday, April 5 from Hereford; Saturday, April 22 from Worcester Shrub Hill; Wednesday, September 27 from Hull; and on Saturday, October 7 from Loughborough. Also visiting the ‘S&C’ are the ‘Settle to Carlisle & Coastal Statesman ’ , which will run on two dates–Saturday,May6fromCardiffandon Saturday,September16fromMiltonKeynes.

The

‘DorsetCoastStatesman ’hasfourdates for its visits to Weymouth. Apart from the first,whichrunsonaWednesday,theothers are all on Saturdays. On April 19, the train runs from Crewe, while on May 20 it starts atWhitchurch.OnJune3itisfromPeterboroughandfinallyonJuly29fromShrewsbury.

Several trips to North Wales are planned, withthe ‘LlandudnoVictorianStatesman ’ set for Saturday, April 29 from Didcot Parkway toLlandudno.TherearealsofiveWednesday tripstoBlaenauFfestiniogasthe ‘Snowdonia Statesman ’ .TheystartatChesterfieldonMay 10,fromHullonJune7,KilmarnockonJuly 12, High Wycombe on September 13, and finallyfromStevenageonOctober11.

The ‘Yorkshire Coast Statesman ’ runs on Saturday, May 27 from Ayr to Scarborough andthatisthedestinationforthreeWednesdays – May 31 from Newport, June 28 from Gloucester,andAugust9fromReading.The ‘Beamish & Durham Statesman ’ has just one date, on Saturday, June 17 from Ely to Durham.

There are three trips to Penzance. The ‘Cornish Mazey Day Statesman ’ is set for Saturday, June 24 from Solihull, while the ‘Cornish Riviera Statesman ’ runs twice, on August 5 from Derby and September 23 from Whitchurch – both Saturdays. The single ‘SussexCoastStatesman ’isscheduled forSaturday,August19fromShrewsburyto Eastbourne.

The pre-Christmas programme sees Bath Spa as the destination for the three ‘Bath Christmas Statesman ’ trains – on Saturday, November25fromChesterfield,onWednesday, November 29 from Hull and finally on December 6 from Norwich. There is also the

‘Edinburgh Christmas Statesman ’ from LeicestersetforThursday,December21.

Therearethree ‘LordOfTheIslesStatesman ’ three-day trips in the calendar. The first is on March 11-13, running from Rugby to InvernessontheSaturday,toKyleOfLochalsh

ABOVE:VintageTrains47773worksa privatecharteralongsideGWR4-6-0steam locomotive7029 Clun Castle,withtheClass 47working5Z70,the08.18TyseleySteam TrusttoPeterboroughtrain,passingMustonin LeicestershireonNovember8,2022.PaulClark

andbackonSunday,andreturninghomeon Monday. The same train will run on August 26-28 from Rugby, and for a final time on September2-4fromStevenage.

Datesforthediary

A number of provisional dates for the diary have been notified and as I often say, if any of these rumoured trains appeal, block the dates and avoid agreeing to see the in-laws justincase!

UK Railtours has two provisional dates. March25isplannedforatriptofreighttrack intheBristolandAvonarea,withatripalong theTytheringtonbranchbeingthehighlight. Thisisverymuch‘tobeconfirmed’ ascurrently thereisa5mphspeedrestrictiononthebranch whichwouldmadetheitineraryunworkable.

April8iswhenUKRislookingatrunninga trip to Milford Haven with 50007/049 while [a] Class 50(s) – possibly including 50008 Thunderer – could be involved in a Branch Line Society main line tour on February 11. March 11 is mooted for a Class 37-hauled chartertoCwmbargoed,top-and-tailingwith aClass47nandMarch18isalsoindicatedfor whatcouldbeanotherClass50tour.

Some or all of these tours may not see the light of day; in fact, it’ s inevitable that one or two will fall but the wayside, but at least you havesomeadvancewarning!

Delticdropsout

The planned use of 55009 Alycidon on the PathfindertriptoNewcastleonDecember3 has been shelved as the Deltic Preservation Society feels the loco has too many issues to allow it to work on the main line without unnecessaryrisk.Thetrainwillnowrunwith Class 40 D345 from Burton to Newcastle and back, with a West Coast Railways loco workingfromthetrainoriginatingstationof Swindon.Assuming55009Alycidonreturns to full main line fitness, Pathfinder hopes to use the Deltic when possible in 2023 and, althoughlongaftertheanniversary,itwould still like to run a King ’ s Cross-Edinburgh return trip to replicate the final BR train on January2,1982.

Moderntractiontourdiary

Date Route

1 Leeds-Bath MP LSG HST

3 Peterborough-Edinburgh MP LSG HST 3 Swindon-Newcastle PF DBC 47/57,40

7 Carnforth-Bristol SR LSG 47x2

7 Lancaster-Edinburgh WCR WCR 47x2 8 WatfordJunction-Edinburgh MP LSG HST 10 Holyhead-Bath MP LSG HST 13 StAlbans-Edinburgh MP LSG HST 14 Hull-Edinburgh SR LSG 47x2

16 Cardiff-Edinburgh MP LSG HST

17 Burton-Paddington BLS SLC 31,50 17 Lancaster-Hellifield WCR WCR 47x2

22 King’sCross-Beverley UKR DBC 50x2,90

January2023 7 FinsburyPark-BarrowHill UKR GBRf 56x2,66 28 Uttoxeter-Carlisle SR LSG 47x2

Promoter Operator Traction

February 4 Cardiff-Carlisle MP LSG HST

18 Chester-le-Street-Carlisle SR LSG 47x2

22 PottersBar-Carlisle MP LSG HST

Promoters

BLS BranchLineSociety 07785 112044

MP MidlandPullman

PF PathfinderTours 0800038 5360

01453 835414

SR StatesmanRail 0845310 2458

UKR UKRailtours 01438 715050 https://branchline.uk

https:// midlandpullman.com www.pathfindertours. co.uk

www.statesmanrail.com

www.ukrailtours.com

WCR WestCoastRailways 0844850 4685 www.westcoastrailways. co.uk

Operators/stockproviders

DBC

GBRf

LSG DBCargo GBRailfreight

LocomotiveServicesGroup