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Photo Tours &
Railfan Tours

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Steam in Great Britain

7. - 14. march 2020 

After our successful "Steam in Great Britain" Tour 2019, many customers asked us not only to visit the "big" railways, but also to integrate the smaller preserved railways into a tour program. Said & done: on this trip we will travel on some of the most photogenic routes in the southwest of the UK: the English Riviera offers everything you could wish for - with mountains, hills and sea views!

We offer this trip as a "package" with hotels and transfers, and as a "steam only trip" with just the steam charter and no further arrangements.

Railfan Tours Icon
No. of participants Min. 15 - max. 30
Duration 8 days
Meals -
Price from 1.350 €
Open for bookings A few tickets left.
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Preface
We have planned our program with the greatest possible care. Unfortunately, the clocks in Great Britain run a little differently than in our country: while we can already confirm dates and programmes for German museum railways for 2021, many British museum railways are unable to confirm a period of more than 3 months in advance. In some railways, a timetable is not even considered until 7 days before the visit. In other words: changes are possible, even at very short notice. We will immediately arrange for a replacement and promise you plenty of steam in any case!

Saturday, March 7th 
Meeting of all participants at London Heathrow Airport (alternatively London-Paddington Station) around noon and travel by train to Paignton: first from Heathrow to Paddington, and from there by First Great Western to Paignton.
Our hotel is within walking distance of Paignton Station!
Overnight in a tourist class hotel in Paignton.
Meals: none

We would also be happy to arrange your flights to London, talk to us about the best options!

Sunday, 8 March and Monday, 9 March 2020
The standard gauge route of the "Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat Company" or P&DSR for short, leads from the small port town of Paignton through the hilly landscape of Devon to Kingswear at the mouth of the Dart River. The course runs at the beginning and end close to the water, in the northern part even directly on the beach! We will be on the track the whole day, and in several rides we will work off the photographic potential of the track!
Sunday evening we will shoot night shots in the train station of Kingswear.

Charter with the standard 4-6-0 locomotive 75014 of British Railways in black painted livery. The locomotive was built in 1951 and had a relatively short career on the main line, which ended up on the scrap yard in May 1967 after the BR main line was closed. It was put back into service in 1994 and worked on the main line in Scotland before being sold to the PDSR in 2002. It was recently completely overhauled and has been back on the rails since 2018. The standby locomotive on our two days on the P&DSR is 7827 Lydham Manor. 

Overnight stay in a tourist class hotel in Paignton (Saturday and Sunday).
Meals: none

On Monday evening we will set up our tents in Reading: this will require a bus ride of almost 3 hours in the late afternoon to our new hotel, which will, however, provide us with an ideal base for visits to the Watercress-Line for the next few days!
Overnight stay in a tourist class hotel in Reading.
Meals: none

Tuesday, 10 March and Wednesday 11 March 2020
The next 2 days we spend with more photo special trains on the Midhants Railway, a standard gauge museum railway from Hammersmith to Riddings. The Midhants Railway also markets itself under the name "Watercress Line" - a reference to the history of the railway: since its foundation in 1884, local farmers have used the trains to sell the watercress harvested in the surrounding rivers at the markets in London. In 1973, British Rail closed down the line after a significant drop in passenger numbers since the 1940s, and even early dieselisation did not bring about a turnaround. The Watercress-Line offers so many outstanding photo motives, and also owns an extensive locomotive and car pool, so that we will spend 2 days here with photo trains!
Although the railway is also known for its large collection of operational diesel locomotives, we will experience the first-class photo locations here with classic steam trains! Our train locomotive is the British Railways '2MT' 2-6-2T No. 41312, built in Crewe in 1952 from a 1946 LMS design. The locomotive spent its entire working life in the Southern Region before being switched off on 3 July 1967. The locomotive was restored from the scrap yard by its private owner at Mid-Hants Railway and has been operational again since New Year's Day 1999.  It is a typical branch line locomotive of the 1950s and 1960s.
We will be using it to haul a typical freight train on Tuesday and a passenger train made of green cars on Wednesday. The locomotive is authentic for both passenger and freight service on the line.
Overnight in a tourist class hotel in Reading.
Meals: none.

Thursday, 12 March and Friday 13 March 2020
After our renewed visit to the Great Central Railways in Janaur 2020 we decided to end this year's "Steam in Great Britain" tour with 2 relaxing days at the GCR in Loughborough. The photographic opportunities there are just too good, even though the charter prices there will put a considerable strain on our budget. This double-tracked museum railway, still equipped with telegraphs, has often been the starting point of our England tours and has never disappointed us so far.
On Thursday we will be using the BR 2MT 78018 in black first with a short passenger train and then with a mixed freight train. Night shots on Thursday evening at Loughborough station with reanactors complete the day. On Friday we offer the 5MT, a Class 4-6-0 No. 45305 with freight train. At noon we change the train and drive to the other photo points with the photogenic boxcars. We will take pictures on the section between Quorn and the Swithland, working off photo points like Beeches Street and Quorn. We will end the day with sunset pictures at Swithland. In the evening we will end the tour in a great restaurant in Loughborough.
Overnight stay in a tourist class hotel in Loughborough.
Meals: none

Saturday, 14 March 2020
In the morning we drive from our hotel to Birmingham to the airport, from where the participants can either fly directly home or take an express bus (ticket already included in the price of the trip) directly to London Heathrow Airport. Optionally, you can also take the train for a regular train connection to London Paddington / London Heathrow. The train ticket is not included in the price. 

Please note that you can book this charter train program as a complete package with all transfers and overnight stays, but that you can also only decide to take part in the charters and book the transfers/overnight stays yourself!

A participation for selected days is also possible on request.

Tour prices:
If booking the charter trains only (without transfers, accommodation, meals):

1.350 Euro per person 

If booking the complete program (with transfers, accommodation in a shared double room):
2.440 Euro per person 

Single room supplement: 480 Euro.

Our services (depending on the package booked):

  • Charter steam train(s) on the Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat Company line;
  • Charter steam train(s) on the South Devon Railway;
  • Charter steam train(s) on the Midhands Railway;
  • Charter steam train(s) on the Kent & East Sussex Railway;
  • Visit to the Didcot Railway Center;
  • All necessary transfers, accommodation in tourist class hotels (if booked);
  • Tour bus (if booked);
  • Meals as described (if booked);
  • All entrance fees;
  • Experienced Tanago tour guide (German + English speaking) plus local tour guide.

Tips, personal expenses, travel to and from the UK are not included in the tour price. 

Zur Einreise nach Großbritannien ist ein gültiges Ausweisdokument (Reisepaß oder Personalausweis) vorgeschrieben. Über die aktuellen Einreisebestimmungen nach einem möglichen Brexit informieren wir Sie rechtzeitig.

Gerne buchen wir für Sie passende Flüge zu unserem Programm, sprechen Sie mit uns über die besten Flugoptionen!