Summer boom for RTC ticket sales

THE Railway Touring Company has reported a boom in demand for seats on the majority of its summer excursion trains.

The latest example is the ‘Royal Duchy’, booked to run from Bristol Temple Meads to Plymouth and Par via Yatton and Taunton on July 31, August 21 and September 11.

On all of these trains, only standard class seating remains available, reported operations manager Rachel Jackson. Such has been the interest in travelling south west that the

RTC has added an extra departure, the ‘Plymouth Flyer’, which runs on September 18 via Bath, Trowbridge and Westbury.

All of these trains are booked for haulage by LMS Princess Coronation Pacific No. 6233 Duchess of Sutherland.

The presence of No. 6233 over the South Devon banks will evoke memories of the 1948 Locomotive Exchanges.

RTC’s ‘West Somerset Express’ from Paddington to Minehead calls at Slough, Reading and Newbury, then heads down the West of England

Main Line to Taunton for the West Somerset Railway, where engines are changed at Bishops Lydeard.

The booked engine is LMS Jubilee No. 45596 Bahamas, and the ‘Express’ runs on July 23 and August 13.

The ‘Dorset Coast Express’ departs London Victoria, stopping at Staines, Woking and Basingstoke for Bournemouth and Weymouth on July 21, August 18 and September 1.

RTC’s trip to Swanage gets away from London Victoria on September 8. As a bonus, trains running to Weymouth are booked to return with Swanage-based U-Boat 2-6-0

No. 31806 working them back as far as the Southampton area.

From there, the train engine takes the Romsey, Laverstoke and Andover route to Basingstoke, Woking and Staines.

Up north, the Railway Touring Company has confirmed dates for ‘The Waverley’ over the Settle and Carlisle line run on Sunday, July 10, August 7, 14 and 21, and September 4 from York, Leeds, Shipley, Keighley and Skipton.

‘The Waverley’ will be diesel-hauled to Hellifield, where steam will come on for the Settle to Carlisle stretch.