9th September 2000

Vintage Trains
(Birmingham Snow Hill to Kingswear)

Loco Used steam : 35005 'Canadian Pacific'

Route :

Loco Route
35005 Birmingham Snow Hill – Jewellery Quarter – Smethwick Galton Bridge – Stourbridge junction – Kidderminster – Droitwich Spa – Worcester Shrub Hill – Abbotswood Jn – Cheltenham Spa – Standish Jn – Yate – Westerleigh Jn – Bristol Parkway - Filton Jn – Dr Days Jn – West Somerset Jn – Bath Spa - Westbury – Castle Cary – Cogload Jn – Taunton – Exeter St Davids – Newton Abbot – Paignton – Kingswear
35005 Kingswear – (reverse of outward route) – Cogload Jn – Bridgwater – Uphill Jn – Worle Jn – Bristol Temple Meads – Dr Days Jn – (reverse of outward route) – Birmingham Snow Hill

Notes :
(1) Gordon Jakes comments: The original concept for this train was that it should run direct from Bristol Temple Meads to Taunton in both directions. In the event due to “pathing difficulties” the outward train was diverted via Bath Spa, Westbury and the Berks and Hants. This not only resulted in more steam hauled miles but also an extremely early start from Birmingham! A special note was handed out to all passengers by Vintage Trains – “Please don’t vilify Railtrack for this; with the ever growing demand for train paths it is getting more difficult to fit in one off old steam trains and Railtrack GW Zone have worked very hard to fit us in at all … In order to fit into schedules we have had to reroute… and this has extended the mileage on the day to a total of 450½ miles which is believed to be the highest mileage totally steam hauled railtour to be offered in the last 30 years”. Furthermore, on this tour, 'Canadian Pacific' passed its 1 millionth mile in service since its introduction way back in 1941. Yet again 35005 put up a sterling performance and despite a number of signal checks was never more than a couple of minutes behind schedule. The section from Paignton to Kingswear was run on the infrastructure owned by the Paignton and Dartmouth Railway. A optional hours cruise on the River Dart at Dartmouth was available.

Source : Gordon Jakes (on the train throughout)

Photo Review
(all photos: Gordon Jakes)


35005 before departure at Kingswear.
(the one million mile achievement is recorded below the loco number)


35005 at Bristol Temple Meads on the return journey.
(the one million mile achievement is also recorded on the route disc)


Timings (Booked & Actual)
(from Gordon Jakes)

M.C Location Booked Actual   Booked Actual M.C
0.00 Birmingham Snow Hill 04.56d 04.56   22.47a 22.38 210.37
0.48 Jewellery Quarter 05/00 ?   22/43 22/33 ?
3.05 The Hawthorns 05/05 ?   22/38 22/30 ?
3.62 Smethwick Galton Bridge 05/09 05/06   22/34 22/28 ?
3.77 Smethwick West 05/11 ?   22/32 ? ?
6.54 Rowley Regis 05/16 ?   22/27 22/24 ?
12.01 Stourbridge Junction 05.24a ~ 05.26d 05.23 ~ 05.26   22.17a ~ 22.19d 22.11 ~ 22.13 ?
18.51 Kidderminster 05/38 ?   22/00 22/02 ?
22.29 Hartlebury 05/43 05/42   21/54 21/57 ?
28.07 Droitwich Spa 05.52a ~ 05.54d 05.52 ~ 05.54   21.47a ~ 21.49d 21.48 ~ 21.50 ?
33.25 Tunnel Jn 06/03 ?   21/28 21/40 ?
33.55 Worcester Shrub Hill 06.07a ~ 06.09d 06.07 ~ 06.11   21w00a ~ 21w32d 20.55 ~ 21.32 ?
36.71 Norton Jn 06/16 06/17   20/53 20/48 ?
37.53 Abbotswood Jn 06/18 06/19   20/51 20/46 ?
48.30 Ashchurch 06/29 ?   20/40 20/36 ?
55.51 Cheltenham Spa 06.38a ~ 06.41d 06.38 ~ 06.41   20.28a ~ 20.31d 20.24 ~ 20.28 ?
61.14 Barnwood Jn 06/49 ?   20/20 20/14 ?
62.01 Gloucester Yard Jn 06/50 ?   20/19 20/12 ?
68.17 Standish Jn 06/56 06/57   20/13 20/05 ?
81.36 Charfield 07/09 ?   20/03 ? ?
88.06 Yate 07/15 ?   19/54 ? ?
89.49 Westerleigh Jn 07/19 07/17   19/50 19/46 ?
94.19 Bristol Parkway 07w27 ~ 08w12 07.25 ~ 08.14 [DGL]   19/43 19/41½ 116.18
95.38 Filton Jn ? ?   19/40 19/39 114.79
98.38 Stapleton Road ? ?   19/34 ? 111.79
99.35 Dr Days Jn 08/24 ?   19/32 ? 110.02
99.60 North Somerset Jn 08/27 08/29  
110.35 Bath Spa 08.43a ~ 08.46d 08.46 ~ 08.48  
112.61 Bathampton Jn 08/52 08/53  
127.17 Westbury 09/15 09/11  
131.77 Clink Road Jn 09/23 09/19  
146.63 Castle Cary 09/37 09/35  
- Bristol Temple Meads   18w55a ~ 19w28d 18.55 ~ 19.28 110.36
- Parson Street   18/48 18/47 108.52
- Worle Jn   18/32 18/32 93.56
- Uphill Jn   18/29 18/29½ 90.63
- Highbridge & Burnham   18/23 18/23½ 83.42
- Bridgwater   18/17   77.20
169.66 Cogload Jn 09/52 09/55   18/12   70.44
174.28 Taunton 10/05 10.01 ~ 10.04   18/08   65.56
175.51 Silk Mill Crossing 10w13 ~ 11w05 10.09 ~ 11.05   - - -
188.44 Tiverton Parkway 11/24 11/22   17/54 ? 54.41
203.68 Cowley Bridge Jn 11/44 11/35   17/39 17/42 36.15
205.08 Exeter St Davids 11*46 ~ 12*05 11.38 ~ 12.04   17w13 ~ 17w35 17.13 ~ 17.38 34.75
215.50 Dawlish Warren 12/22 12/18   17/00 16/58 24.33
225.21 Newton Abbot 12/40 12/29   16/48 16/48 14.62
231.15 Torquay ? ?   13/38 ? 8.68
233.28 Paignton 12*55 ~ 13*04 12.50 ~ 13.01   16*30 ~ 16/33 ??.?? ~ 16.33 6.55
240.03 Kingswear 13.45a 13.44   15.45d 15.53 0.00


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