Dawlish Parson's Tunnel geograph-2444582-by-Ben-Brooksbank

Southall Station geograph-2397416-by-Ben-Brooksbank

The ''Torbay Express'' is a named passenger train operating in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The Torbay Express departs from Bristol Temple Meads railway station on summer Sundays at approximately 09:15 with arrival back in Bristol at about 20:10 (depending on the route).

Great Western Railway

The ''Torbay Express'' was a named train run by the Great Western Railway between

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...

and

Kingswear Kingswear is a village and civil parish in the South Hams area of the English county of Devon. The village is located on the east bank of the tidal River Dart, close to the river's mouth and opposite the small town of Dartmouth. It lies within ...

, with a departure time from Paddington of 11:50. Originally the down train also included a slip portion for Ilfracombe, this being detached at

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

. The departure time from London was changed to 12 noon before the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and continued at the same time until after

World War 2 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

although the slip portion had ceased by 1918. From 1961 the train, now the 12:30 from Paddington, split at with the other portion continuing to , and in 1967 the name was dropped from the daily service and applied to a separate train running on Saturdays only and departing from Paddington at 10:50. In 1983 the name was again applied to a daily service when, in the summer timetable, the 9:20 Paddington to and 12:55 return had the name applied. Torbay Express at Kingswear 2

Torbay Pullman

In addition to the Torbay Express, in the summer of 1929 the GWR introduced an all- Pullman train leaving Paddington at 11:00 and arriving at Paignton at 12:25. The eight coach formation was then prepared for the return departure at 16:30. The service was not a commercial success and ceased in 1930.

Revival

Great Western Railway (TOC)

The ''Torbay Express'' name is also used by Great Western Railway (train operating company) for its 10:35 service from

London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great ...

Paignton Paignton ( ) is a seaside town on the coast of Tor Bay in Devon, England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the borough of Torbay which was created in 1998. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the English Riviera. Paignt ...

(via Castle Cary), and the 14:54 return (via Castle Cary and the Berks and Hants line).

Summer steam excursion

6024 King Edward 1 heads the Torbay Express - geograph

From 2003, Past-Time Rail revived the ''Torbay Express'' as a passenger charter steam locomotive service, to run on certain summer Sundays and some Saturdays, from:

Bristol Temple Meads Bristol Temple Meads is the oldest and largest railway station in Bristol, England. It is located away from London Paddington. It is an important transport hub for public transport in the city; there are bus services to many parts of the city ...

via stops at

Weston-Super-Mare Weston-super-Mare, also known simply as Weston, is a seaside town in North Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. It includes the suburbs of Mead Vale, Milton, Oldmix ...

and

; to

and onwards via the

Dartmouth Steam Railway The Dartmouth Steam Railway, formerly known as the Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway, is a heritage railway on the former Great Western Railway branch line between and in Devon, England. Much of the railway's business is from summer tou ...

. For the 2014 season, two of the booked railtours ran via Westbury instead of Weston, calling at Bath Spa,

Trowbridge Trowbridge ( ) is the county town of Wiltshire, England, on the River Biss in the west of the county. It is near the border with Somerset and lies southeast of Bath, 31 miles (49 km) southwest of Swindon and 20 miles (32 km) southeas ...

, Westbury and Taunton, then picking up the normal route. At first, this was done because of engineering works. However, thanks to its success, the same concept was repeated with two trains for the 2015 season. After Past-Time Rail went bankrupt in June 2009, the service obligation has been taken over by Torbay Express Ltd. This company was formed as a subsidiary of booking agent

Pathfinder Tours Pathfinder may refer to: Businesses * Pathfinder Energy Services, a division of Smith International * Pathfinder Press, a publisher of socialist literature Computing and information science * Path Finder, a Macintosh file browser * Pathfinder ( ...

, itself a subsidiary of

Riviera Trains Riviera Trains Limited is a railway spot-hire company based at Burton-on-Trent and Eastleigh in England. History Riviera Trains was founded in 1995, initially based at Cranmore on the East Somerset Railway. It later relocated to Crewe and ...

. As well as taking direct bookings, the company also takes bookings through Pathfinder Tours, who advertise the service as part of their tour programme, and also supply their own volunteers to steward the trains. Since being taken over by Pathfinder Tours/Riviera Trains, the British Railways Mark 1 coaching stock has been supplied in historic cream/brown by Riviera, and staffed by Pathfinder. The back-up diesel locomotive is supplied and operated by

DB Schenker Rail (UK) DB Cargo UK (formerly DB Schenker Rail UK and English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS)), is a British rail freight company headquartered in Doncaster, England. The company was established in early 1995 as ''North & South Railways'', successful ...

, sourced from a varying number of spot-hire companies, mainly

West Coast Railways West Coast Railways (WCR) is a railway spot-hire company and charter train operator based at Carnforth MPD in Lancashire. Using buildings and other facilities previously owned by the Steamtown Carnforth visitor attraction, in June 1998 the com ...

. During the operating season, the coaching stock is stabled in a spare covered road under the engine shed of Bristol Temple Meads, whilst the steam locomotive is stabled at a temporary operating base at Bristol Barton Hill MPD. Initial steam power was supplied by GWR 7800 Class 7802 ''Bradley Manor'' and GWR 4073 Class 5051 ''Earl Bathurst'', but has varied since by season, latterly supplied from the Jeremy Hosking-backed Locomotive Services Ltd. Motive power has included: GWR 6000 Class 6024 ''King Edward I''; LNER Class A4 60009 ''Union of South Africa''; LNER Class A1 60163 ''Tornado''; SR Battle of Britain Class 34067 ''Tangmere''; BR Class 8P 71000 ''Duke of Gloucester''; BR Britannia Class 7MT 70000 ''Britannia''; LNER Class A4 4464 ''Bittern''; SR West Country Class 34046 ''Braunton''; GWR 4073 Class 5029 ''Nunney Castle''; LMS Royal Scot Class 46100 ''Royal Scot''; SR Merchant Navy Class 35028 ''Clan Line''.

References

Citations

References

External links

{{Commons category
Company website

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