VINTAGE TRAINS PLANS SAPPERTON BANK RETURN FOR CLUN CASTLE
Sapperton Bank is in Vintage Trains’ sights as it plans for the return of Clun Castle to the main line for the first time in the 21st century. The 1950-built 4-6-0 - to be relaunched to the public at an open day at Tyseley in October - is to return to former Cotswold haunts on April 21 next year. Before that comes a train to Chester on March 31. Announcement of the trips comes as Tyseley prepares to launch No. 7029, after what it describes as the Swindon engine’s most thorough overhaul since 1962. A formal open day to welcome back the Collett machine is to take place at Tyseley on October 29, when fellow doublechimney ‘Castle’ No. 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe will also be in steam. A private dedication for invited guests is to take place the day before. Main line trials for ‘Clun’ are expected to take place in the New Year - and VT has said it hopes to announce “a series of passenger proving trains in early 2018”. Both March 31’s ‘Shropshire Express’ and April 21 ‘Cotswold Explorer’ are to start from Tyseley’s own Warwick Road station; Standard Class tickets on either train are £99. Adult entry to the October 29 open day costs £20 - but VT says that people who book on either the March 31 or April 21 train by no later than October 26 will receive a complimentary invitation. VT chairman Michael Whitehouse said: “I am thrilled that Clun Castle will be back in steam in October. We know a lot of people are looking forward to see her hauling our express steam trains, and all of us at Tyseley are absolutely delighted that the locomotive which founded our charity will soon be back on the main line where she belongs. We are taking bookings now for her first trains, too!”