The Midland Venturer

A railtour almost 30 years in the making!

125 Group are thrilled to announce the first main line rail tour using our very own HST!

Running on SATURDAY 28 OCTOBER 2023, the trip will start in the Midlands with calls at Ilkeston, Nottingham, Derby and Sheffield before running along its former route to London St Pancras.

After a break in the capital, we retrace our steps with set downs at Loughborough (connections available for Derby and Sheffield), Nottingham and Ilkeston.

Outbound: Ilkeston (PU 07.48) – Codnor Park Jn – Trowell Jn – Radford Jn – Nottingham P1 (PU 08.30 / RM) – Radford Jn – Trowell Jn – Alfreton – Chesterfield P3 (PU 09.04) – Beighton Jn – Woodburn Jn – Sheffield P8 (PU 09.35) – Chesterfield P2 – Derby P6 (PU 10.16) – Loughborough P2 – Leicester P3 (PU 10.56) – Kettering – Bedford – Luton – London St Pancras P3 (SD 12.06 / break)*

Return: London St Pancras P3 (PU 16.19) – Flitwick P4 – Bedford P2 – Wellingborough P3 – Kettering P2 – Leicester P2 (SD 17.54) – Loughborough P3 (SD 18.14) – Nottingham P3 (SD 18.40 / RM) – Radford Jn – Trowell Jn – Ilkeston (SD 19.16)*

The train will be formed of six trailer vehicles (4 standard, 1 caterer and 1 first class) with power cars MTU 43159 in its stunning Midland Mainline livery and VP185 43089 in EMT colours providing the power. The coaches will utilise our recently installed tanked toilet system to comply with Network Rail standards and our catering vehicle will supply hot and cold food and drinks throughout the trip. The menu for the railtour can be found here. A limited number of first class places are available and a selection of light refreshments will be included in the booking price for First Class (Update: FC is now full).

Bookings are being handled for us by our good friends at the Branch Line Society. 125 Group members are asked to add their membership number on the booking which can be made here.

*Please note the routing and timings are subject to change and are correct at time of posting.

Modern Railways Crosscountry HST Farewell railtour

Picture of Crosscountry HST at Water Orton in 2014

With CrossCountry’s HSTs set for withdrawal this year, 125 Group are pleased to form part of the operator’s farewell celebrations for this fleet after more than 40 years of operation on CrossCountry routes. Our sales stand will form part of the on board activities available during this special trip to Swanage on Tuesday 26th September.

This full day trip will comprise two ‘tours’ with tickets available for each tour separately. The day consists of the ‘Pines Express’ from Leeds to Swanage, and the ‘Bournemouth Belle’ from Swanage to Bournemouth. A range of activities including a charity raffle are planned on board. More information including timings can be found on the Modern Railways website here.

Tickets are available via our friends at the Branch Line Society for both tours. The Pines Express (Update: SOLD OUT) is £95 in Standard Class and can be purchased here & the Bournemouth Belle is £30 in Standard Class which you can purchase here.