UPDATED: The Summer Riviera – Sat 8th Aug 2026

125 Group are pleased to announce that we will be taking our HST to Bristol, Exeter & Paignton on Saturday 8th August 2026.

Our day starts at Bury before heading via Reddish South to Crewe. From here we take the West Coast to the Birmingham area and the Cross Country route down the Lickey to our destinations of Bristol, Exeter or Paignton allowing you to choose between great cities or lovely seaside. As always, you can choose between First or Standard class accommodation and Buffet 125 will be open selling our usual array of hot and cold food along with a selection of drinks & snacks.

We will be offering a limited option for travel from Bristol to Paignton & return. Tickets are now on sale from our booking agent Retro Railtours including some amazing bargain fares for the kids:

*A £10 supplement for children aged between 5-15. One supplement per accompanying adult booking. This offer is only valid for Standard Class tickets. Children under 5 may travel free of charge. Please put a note on the booking if bringing under 5s.

UPDATE 11/07/2026: 125 Group is sorry to advise that the proposed start of our Paignton trip at Bury has been refused by Network Rail . Apparently, there is no ongoing approval to use the connection from the East Lancs. Railway in passenger service, despite having operated as recently as the end of May, and fresh approval will require 14 weeks to process. We are very disappointed with this situation, having previously been assured that the approval was in place.

We are reviewing our options to start as close as possible to the advertised departure point and it seems likely that Rochdale will become the start and finish point, with all other previous pick ups retained.

For those in the far south west, we are looking to see whether we can offer an Exeter to Paignton return – subject to availability of space.  We will add this to the booking site shortly, although may have to limit numbers sold until we are more certain of booking levels to Bristol and Exeter.

We will update this post as soon as we have confirmation on these changes and apologise again for any inconvenience caused.

The CITADEL Circle – 25-07-2026

125 Group are pleased to announce that we will be taking our HST to Carlisle on Saturday 25th July 2026.

Working with our good friends at Retro Railtours, who will manage all aspects of the bookings on our behalf, “The Citadel Circle” will operate as follows (ALL TIMINGS ARE APPROXIMATE UNTIL CONFIRMED BY NETWORK RAIL):

Outbound –

Departs Manchester Victoria – 0703

Crewe – 0752

Stoke-on-Trent – 0816

Derby – 0916

Chesterfield – 0938

Sheffield – 1000

York – 1051

Carlisle – 1330

Return –

Departs Carlisle – 1600

Crewe – 1740

Stoke-on-Trent – 1816

Derby – 1859

Chesterfield – 1921

Sheffield – 1948

Wakefield Kirkgate – 2023

Manchester Victoria – 2154

The train will then travel north on the East Coast Main Line and should demonstrate its full speed capability before taking the spur from Low Fell to Norwood Junction for a more leisurely run across the Tyne Valley via Haltwhistle to Carlisle for a break.

The return will be via the West Coast mainline direct to Crewe (with connections for Manchester available – these are NOT included in the fare), before completing the circle for everyone by retracing our steps to set down at Stoke, Derby Chesterfield and Sheffield. Our final set down will be at Manchester Victoria.

First Class and Standard class seating will be available on board and a counter service buffet serving hot and cold food and drinks will be available throughout.

The following fares are available:

We look forward to welcoming you aboard “The Citadel Circle” on the 25th July.