Mistery Railtours

Use this forum to talk about the railways in and around Bristol, or for any off-topic stuff you want to share. Also request photos and information that you are missing.

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graham p
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Mistery Railtours

Post by graham p »

Back in the seventies when i was a lad my dad used to take me on mistery railtours where you knew the train departure time from the station was but not the destination !. can any of you remember these things, which went on for several years
I can remember ending up in York.Truro and Chester at least, and it was on this Chester one i would like to know which Loco was it that hauled the special,I know it was a Western and I think it was Western Lady but i might be wrong.
can any one tell me if it was western lady as the driver let me ride in the cab operating the horns from Chester to Shrewsbury on the way back
A fantastic experiance for a young lad and the row when he opened the doors to show the engines at full belt sure was a big noise,
so what do you know chaps and who orgnised these things
jules
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Mystery Tours

Post by jules »

I can remember in 1973 going on a whole week of them. By the Friday night, we all knew each other and it was a huge party on the way home.

They stopped at all the local stations and I can remember joining each morning at Parson Street. Destinations I remember from that week were Bognor Regis, Great Yarmouth, Aberystwyth ... but the other two are missing.

We're actually toying with the idea of re-running a "mystery tour" :D
Punker
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Post by Punker »

I went on these trips back in the late sixties and early seventies.
The first 4 days you had fixed destinations so that you had to know where you were going to,but on the Friday it was always a mystery tour.
I remember ending up at Newquay in Cornwall and somewhere in north Wales on a few Fridays.
If I remember rightly,they were called "The Holiday Express" and one of the guys who was always on it was a guy called Brian,a disabled man who used to sell programes for bristol Rovers at Eastville.
It's like Jules said,you got to know the people in your carriage for that week and they were always a really friendly bunch.
carpetcone
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Post by carpetcone »

BR used to run day trips and I went on a few from Yatton back in the 70s and 80s. All these prices are child fares.
Yatton to Cambridge, Ely or Norwich on 14th April 1979 ú2.45
Yatton to York & Scarborough on 28th April 1979 ú2.45
Yatton to any station in Devon or Cornwall 16 April 1981 ú3.50
Yatton to Edinburgh 22nd March 1980 ú 6.00

Prices have certainly gone up but does anyone know how they compare with the current cost of living etc etc?

Steve
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madhattie
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Post by madhattie »

carpetcone wrote: Yatton to York & Scarborough on 28th April 1979 ú2.45
I reckon that may be the one I went one!

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James
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Post by James »

Oh lordy... :lol:
AndyK
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Post by AndyK »

Another series of good value tours was run in, I think, 1972 and 1973.

They were circular tours run on Sunday afternoons with a nine-car DMU.

The ones I went on were:

Bristol-Yeovil Pen Mill-Yeovil Jn-Exeter-Bristol (just too late to see Warships on the Waterloo-Exeter line :cry: )
Bristol-Severn Tunnel - Maindee- Hereford (break to visit King George V at Bulmer's) - Worcester-Bristol.
Bristol - Didcot west curve - Oxford (break for sightseeing) - Worcester - Bristol
Bristol - Stratford-on-Avon and back: not circular but ran over the Cheltenham-Straford line then closed to passengers :D .

If I remember correctly, the fare for all of these was 60p.
Andy Kirkham
Mitch
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Post by Mitch »

I did one in, I think, 1978. For ú6 I had a great day out from Bath. The (largely empty) train went from Bristol to Matlock Bath via Oxford and Tyseley. At Matlock Bath buses were provided for a run around the Peak District, ending in a visit to the tram museum at Crich.
Excellent value and a great day out!
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