RTC to start the year with ‘Cumbrian Mountain Express’

THE Railway Touring Company's 2022 season will open with a ‘Cumbrian Mountain Express', departing Manchester Victoria on January 22 and calling at Bolton and Preston on its way to Carlisle, worked by a locomotive drawn from the Carnforth pool.

On January 29, a second ‘CME' starts out from Euston with the customary Class 86 electric on the front end. Picking up at Milton Keynes, Rugby, Nuneaton and Crewe, the ‘Express' exchanges the 86 for steam at Carnforth to tackle the 1-in-75 climb over Shap to Carlisle.

Passengers from Watford Junction and Northampton can join the train by public rail services to the nearest appropriate station.

In a change of direction, the ‘Valentine White Rose' leaves King's Cross behind LMS 4-6-2 No. 6233 Duchess of Sutherland for a trip to

York on February 12. The ‘White Rose' stops at Stevenage, Huntingdon and Peterborough before heading north.

Cotswold Line

The ‘Cotswold Venturer' leaves Paddington on February 19 behind A3 Pacific No. 60103 Flying Scotsman for Worcester via calls at Slough, Reading and Didcot, before heading on through Oxford and the Cotswold Line and Evesham.

Another ‘Cumbrian Mountain Express' will run on February 26 with the usual sequence of the Class 86 taking the train to Carnforth, where steam traction backs on for the Carlisle leg.

Covid-19 permitting, the muchdelayed nine-day tour of Great Britain might take place in April, but any details of the tour have not yet been posted.