Rare chance to join heritage leg of HST rail tour at the Severn Valley Railway

Tickets are now available to step aboard a special charity rail tour, joining it on the heritage rail leg of its journey.

The Severn Valley Railway (SVR) is hosting part of a one-off anniversary rail tour on Tuesday 27 September. The tour is being organised by Modern Railways magazine in partnership with CrossCountry trains, using one of the operator’s High Speed Trains. Overall, the full rail tour runs from Leeds to Bridgnorth.

A limited number of tickets are available to join the HST at the SVR’s Kidderminster Town station, just for the SVR leg of its journey. These are all situated in the first-class section of the train.

SVR director Jonathan Dunster, who’s also the chairman of the railway’s diesels committee said: “The HST was introduced by British Rail in 1976, and it’s now largely been replaced on the main line. It really was a ‘quantum leap’ from previous trains in terms of both comfort and speed. It revolutionised rail travel and made Inter City rail travel a serious competitor to the motorway network.

“The opportunity to join the railtour at Kidderminster really is a rarity. An InterCity 125 travelling along the 16 miles of our beautifully preserved line isn’t something you see every day. In fact, it’s probably 20 years or more since an HST has hauled a charter visit here, so we’re expecting a strong demand for tickets.”

The railtour will celebrate the 60th anniversary of Modern Railways and 40 years of HSTs on the north-east to south-west route. The trip will be a fundraiser, supporting the Railway Benefit Fund charity.

Modern Railways’ editor Philip Sherratt said: “We’re hugely grateful to the Severn Valley Railway for their fantastic support in making this trip possible, and we are looking forward to a great fundraising effort to support the valuable work of RBF.”

CrossCountry managing director Tom Joyner said: “We’re really excited about what promises to be a fantastic collaborative fundraising event and are grateful to our hosts at the Severn Valley Railway for supporting this initiative so enthusiastically. Heritage lines have struggled during the pandemic – they are working railways which are major tourist attractions and therefore provide valuable support for the local economies of the regions they serve. CrossCountry is keen to support our heritage rail partners where we can.”

Tickets for the SVR leg of the HST railtour are available at svr.co.uk and there’s more information about the full experience at www.modernrailways.com/railtour

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