Saturday 01 July 2023

Of all the tours which UK Railtours are running this year, this one is the most important to us personally. We are extremely pleased to introduce you to The Chessy Ned, a tour in tribute to our friend and colleague Paul Taylor and the first in a pair of railtours aboard the 4TC 4-car unit. We are extremely grateful to our good friend Mark Herriott for designing this tour.

The London Transport red-liveried 4TC (Class 438) unit is an unpowered multiple unit formerly used on express trains between Waterloo & Weymouth. We expect the train to be hauled (subject to the usual caveats) by a Class 66 locomotive at one end and a pair of Class 73/1’s on the other – provided by GB Railfreight. Starting at London Waterloo, this tour first heads toward Kensington for a reversal. The train then heads to former ‘South Central’ territory and the branches of Tattenham Corner and Caterham. After short visits to both locations, it is a chase your tail special around south & west London as we head towards Windsor & Eton Riverside for a 90 minute break.

Images courtesy of Mark Herriott

We then visit Wokingham, Guildford, Chessington South, Mitcham Junction & Blackfriars – all locations that don’t normally see a loco hauled train and a favourite element of the tours Paul helped organise in the 1990’s. Who remembers The Festive Fiasco and The Tatty Cat?

Our full routing is expected to be: –

Waterloo – Sheepcote Lane Chord – Kensington Olympia (Rev) – Latchmere Junction – Clapham Junction – Selhurst – East Croydon – Purley – Tattenham Corner (Rev) – South Croydon (Rev) – Caterham (Rev) – South Croydon – Norwood Junction – Crystal Palace – Tulse Hill – Brixton – Factory Junction – Pouparts Junction – Balham – Streatham Reversible – Tooting – Wimbledon – Kingston – Twickenham (Rev) – Staines – Windsor & Eton Riverside. (90 minute break and reversal)

Windsor & Eton Riverside – Staines (Rev) – Ascot – Wokingham (Rev) – North Camp – Guildford (Rev) – Woking – Surbiton – London Waterloo (Rev) – Wimbledon – Motspur Park – Chessington South – Motspur Park – Wimbledon (Rev) – Morden – Sutton – Mitcham Junction – Streatham – Tulse Hill Herne Hill – Blackfriars (Rev) – Loughborough Junction – Brixton – Linford Street Curve – London Waterloo.

 

In honour of our friend Paul and on behalf of both ourselves and GB Railfreight, a proportion of the proceeds from The Chessy Ned will be donated to Prostate Cancer UK, along with the money generated from our onboard charity raffle. You can learn more about the charity and the work they do by clicking here. This tour has been a labour of love by people who were close to Paul and we are incredibly grateful to the teams at GB Railfreight and the London Transport Museum for making it a reality.

There is no First Class Dining on this tour. First Class seating is in compartments. Please note there is no buffet car onboard.

Class	Price	Availability
Standard Adult	£119	FULLY BOOKED
Standard Junior	£109	FULLY BOOKED
First Class Non Dining	£179	FULLY BOOKED

All timings are provisional and intended only as a guide.

Station	Depart	Arrive
London Waterloo	08.30	20.30

 

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