UK Railtours Weardale Railway & Shildon Railtour 2025

Описание: 31/5/25

On the 31st May 2025, UK Railtours and the 125 Group collaborated on a day out to the Weardale Railway and Locomotion Shildon. This would mark our first tour with the 125 Group and their mainline certified HST set consisting of 43 089 & 43 159.

We did this tour to visit the Weardale Railway as I had never done it, meanwhile my dad had done it before it became the preserved line it is now. 31 465 & 285 was our motive power on the Weardale Line itself, was certainly different seeing bright yellow 31s, one still with the test equipment making for a quirky sight! So passengers on the tour had the options of either visiting Locomotion Shildon or continuing onwards and doing the Weardale Railway.

Personally, I'd say I'm glad to have done the line, but despite being 22 miles long, it is one of those lines that so inactive, that there would be no reason for me to revisit the line aside from maybe seeing their sole steam loco back in service. The line is nice scenery wise, with forests and rivers, basically almost identical to the Wensleydale except longer.

It was nice to be back on a HST set on the mainline again, especially at 125mph, which we hit several times, as said by someone, we were the fastest train on the ECML that day, which is certainly something to think about. I definitely recommend a 125 Group trip.