THE DERBY EXPRESS – Positioning Move

Sunday 8th March 2026

Have you ever found yourself at a loose end on a Sunday, yearning for an afternoon’s entertainment  behind two Class 50 locomotives on the West Coast Main Line?  Or perhaps you simply need to travel to the Midlands in style….in either case, this is the train for you!

Featuring Eastern Rail Services Mk3 carriages, our train leaves Watford Junction at lunchtime and with only one additional pick up on the mainline (at Milton Keynes Central) we hope for an entertaining path via Weedon to Rugby.

We deviate at Rugby and head into the West Midlands, pausing at Coventry to set down (and possibly collect further customers looking for a shorter experience) before proceeding through Birmingham International and taking the diversionary line from Stechford to Aston. From here we take the rarely selected route (for charters at least) via Sutton Coldfield and Lichfield Trent Valley, affording an unusual opportunity to negotiate this line loco-hauled.

We rejoin the main line at Wichnor Junction from where it is a relatively short run to our first set down at Burton on Trent and then our final destination, Derby, where we expect to arrive late afternoon.

UK Railtours would like to thank Hanson & Hall for facilitating this positioning move and to the Class Fifty Alliance for provision of their Class 50 locomotive.

All timings are provisional and intended only as a guide.

There are no Junior Fares on this train. We do not expect a buffet service to be available on this train.

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