125 Group

HIGH SPEED TRAIN (INTER-CITY 125) 50TH ANNIVERSARY PUBLIC RAILTOUR

The Journey Shrinker

It seems incredible that rail operation at 125 mph has been happening on the railways of Great Britain for fifty years.  It was on the 4th October 1976 that the first public trains operated at this speed, opening a complete new chapter in the operations of our railways.  It was a massive step change over what had gone before and it was all thanks to the iconic High Speed Train.

To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary, 125 Group – as custodian of one of the few remaining operational HSTs in England – is planning to operate a celebratory tour on Saturday the 3rd October 2026, retracing the routes of the initial day of operation.  Using our beautifully restored coaches and power cars, we will travel from London Paddington via Box Tunnel to Bristol Temple Meads.  After a short break, we will venture through the Severn Tunnel into Wales to reach Swansea where we will take a longer break, before returning  to Paddington via the Chipping Sodbury route – all lines that saw HST operation on that first week in October fifty years ago.

We will be offering travel in either First or Standard accommodation and our 125 Group buffet will be available for hot and cold drinks and snacks.  Every participant will receive a Commemorative Brochure celebrating the initial day and the events over the fifty years since.  You can join us for the whole day, or for various individual single legs which will all be available to book shortly through our new on-line booking site.

It will be a day to remember – and a great opportunity for another trip over the famous GWR High Speed routes in a beautifully presented InterCity 125.

Not satisfied with this exciting event, we will need to get our set back to Bury on Sunday 4th October – so what better way to do it than by recreating an operation from twenty-three years ago with “The Rio Revival”.  Hoping to start from St Pancras at a friendly time, we will run up the Midland Mainline, calling at Leicester, Chesterfield, Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly.  Single fares only, as there is no return offering but what better way to travel north after the previous day’s tour?  Might even be a discount for booking both tours!!

Full details of both trips, together with fares and booking options will be going live very soon.

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.

Pick up/set down points are Reddish South, Stockport, Crewe, Stafford, Birmingham New Street, Bristol Temple Meads and Exeter St. Davids.

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.