Ride the ‘Shakespeare Express’ with us!
SUNDAY, April 5, marks the start of a new chapter in Vintage Trains’‘shakespeare Express’trips from Birmingham to Stratford-upon-avon.
The day will see the first ‘Shakespeare Express’ trips that Vintage Trains has run since Network Rail transferred the relevant paths back to the Tyseley-based Train Operating Company.
Network Rail’s decision means that Vintage Trains is able to run trains in these paths any Sunday of the year. Two round trips are scheduled to run twice on Sundays from July 19 until September 6.
2020 season launch
The‘shakespeare Express’starts from Birmingham Snow Hill and picks up at Birmingham Moor Street, Tyseley main line station (free parking on requestattyseleylocomotiveworks) and runs via the North Warwickshire Line passing through Henley-inArden to Stratford-upon-avon. The northbound journey is made via the Bearley Junction to Hatton branch, taking the
GWR main line from
Leamington back to Birmingham, often achieving speeds of up to 75mph.
To mark the beginning of the new Vintage Trains season under new management, following the personnel changes as reported last month, two round trips in advance of the summer ‘Shakespeare Express’ trips are to run on April 5 behind Tyseley’s flagship WR 4-6-0 No. 7029
Clun Castle.
Passengers are invited either for breakfast/high tea from Birmingham, Sunday lunch from Stratford or simply a ride in either direction.
In an exclusive offer through
Heritage Railway, readers are being offered £5 off the cost of a return journey from Stratford-upon-avon to Birmingham Snow Hill and back.
The special offer covers the ‘return’ journey of the first train of the day (which leaves Snow Hill at 9.55am), and the ‘outward’ journey of the second (which returns from Stratford at 4.13pm).
The complete timings for the special offer trip are as follows: Depart Stratford-upon-avon 12.36pm; arrive Birmingham Snow Hill 1.41pm; depart Birmingham Snow Hill 1.56pm; arrive Stratford-upon-avon 3.04pm.
The normal fare is £35 – but for Heritage Railway readers, £30 will cover the return trip.
For accompanied children aged 12 or under, there is no charge. Only one child per adult can go free, and the child seat must be booked. Children under five travel free and should not occupy a seat.
It is 35 years since Tyseley ran its first ‘Shakespeare Express’. However, as outlined in issue 256, the profile of the trips is being stepped up following a major initiative by local authorities through the West Midlands to market the North Warwickshire Line as the Shakespeare Line.
Marketing focus
Under the new partnership deal between the West Midlands Rail Executive (WMRE) and Vintage Trains announced at Moor Street on June 12 last year, greater emphasis will be placed on marketing the double-track route as a ‘heritage main line.’
Vintage Trains will also be looking a running midweek steam services on the route if the opportunity arises with the 2021 timetable changes and the business case stacks up.
WMRE is the partnership of 16 West Midlands Local Authorities comanaging the West Midlands Railway franchise with the Department for Transport, and planning the strategic future of the region’s network in conjunction with rail industry and local authority partners.
The partnership with Vintage Trains will see steam play a bigger part in promoting local tourism, with services across the region’s network provided for Coventry’s City of Culture year in 2021 and in 2022 the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Moves are to be made to encourage local ‘friends’ groups to adopt and care for their local stations. Vintage Trains has already led the way in adopting Tyseley.
➜ To take advantage of the special ‘Shakespeare Express’readers’offer, when booking for the April 5 trip, either online www.vintagetrainsonline. com/onlinebooking or by telephone on 0121 708 4960, use the code HRSE2020.