Main Line News
■ Steam Dreams prepares for Christmas with new Santa trains
■ Princess Elizabeth's boiler stripped for examination following failure
■ Railway Touring Company runs short of steam for Dorset tours
■ Swanage U class could be available for main line hire
■ Duke of Gloucester gets front-end modifications
■ Work starts to overhaul West Country Wadebridge for main line
SUNDAY, October 3 marks the end of a series of trips down south with Jubilee 4-6-0 No. 45596 Bahamas, which is booked to take a ‘Cathedrals Express' out of Ealing Broadway before joining the East Coast Main Line for a fast run up to York.
Calling at Finsbury Park, Potters Bar, Stevenage, St Neots and Peterborough, the train provides a one-way ticket for the 4-6-0 which heads onwards after York to the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, where it will spend the winter months in readiness for hopefully another visit to Southern metals.
While the Jubilee was booked by Steam Dreams, the 4-6-0 recently returned the ‘Welsh Dragon' in harness with Mayflower from Crewe following a visit to North Wales on September 4-8.
On September 28 to October 1, the Jubilee and B1 No. 61306 Mayflower were due to pair up in a unique double-header down the Berks & Hants Line to Penzance via Exeter, the South Devon banks and Plymouth for another of Steam Dreams' four-day holiday breaks.
Christmas markets
With darker evenings approaching, Steam Dreams'energies are now focusing on traditional Christmas market trips which this year commence on November 18 with an excursion from King's Cross to York for the St Nicholas Fair.
On November 30, starting from London Victoria, Bath is the destination. Then, on December
5, it's back to King's Cross for a trip to Lincoln.
Finally, on December 9, the starting point is Southend East, where the train will be diesel-hauled to West London, when steam takes over for a visit to Oxford.
All four of these trains are booked for haulage by A1 Pacific No. 60163 Tornado.
But that's not the end to preChristmas traffic. In a new innovation by Steam Dreams, the planned three ‘Santa Steam Express' trains are aimed at the younger generation with parents. Three departures are scheduled to leave Victoria – at 9.20am, 12.0pm and 2.15pm.
The Christmas specials have taken lots of planning and preparation, said Steam Dreams supremo David Buck, and are designed to give both children and parents a new experience, operating around London on a circular route.
On the same days, ‘Christmas Steam Express' departures will be offering an evening's dining. The diners are timed to leave Victoria at 6.45pm and, after following a ‘bridges' route around the capital, will return at approximately 9.40pm.
Motive power will be provided by Mayflower.
Future plans
Summing up the year to date, David said that the Windsor trains were well below last year's passenger figures simply because of a lack of tourists understandably avoiding the risk of being affected by the coronavirus, or because of the effect on the airline industry.
Nevertheless the evening dining trains over the Surrey Hills route proved to be very popular.
However, he remains optimistic about next year when life becomes closer to normality and to that extent has decided to extend the Windsor shuttle trains by running from May until early September.