VICTORIA TO WINDSOR BY VINTAGE STEAM TRAIN
A new vintage train service running every Tuesday until 14th September offers steam-powered journeys in period carriages from London’s Victoria Station to Windsor.
The Royal Windsor Steam Express will leave at 11.20 and 14.20, usually powered by Mayflower, a British Rail locomotive built in 1948.
Tickets from £89pp for Pullman Style Dining include a glass of Champagne and Eggs Royale on the morning service or a Champagne afternoon tea on the 14.00 departure. First Class is £59pp including a complimentary tea or coffee table service. Standard seating is available at £39pp with snacks and drinks available to purchase.
Tickets online or at the station on the day, subject to availability.
Timetable : Tuesdays until 14th September 2021 (no service 7th September)
11:20 – London Victoria arrives Windsor 12:30
14:20 – London Victoria arrives Windsor 15:30
www.royalwindsorsteamexpress.co.uk
About 61306 Mayflower
Built for the London & North Eastern Railway in 1948, 61306 Mayflower is one of two surviving B1 Class locomotives. Designed as mixed traffic locomotives capable of hauling express passenger trains as well as freight traffic, the B1s are powerful, go anywhere engines and worked across most of the UK rail network from East Anglia to Scotland.
Mayflower was built by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow but was delivered post-nationalisation and acquired the number 61306 by British Railways. She was first allocated to Hull Botanic Gardens Depot followed by a spell at Hull Dairycotes Depot before being finally transferred to Low Moor Depot, Bradford. She was the last B1 in service; her final trip was hauling the ‘Yorkshire Pullman’ from Leeds in September 1967.
Mayflower was immediately purchased for preservation and was initially based at Steamtown in Carnforth. She was fully restored for mainline operation and worked a number of rail tours in the 1970’s. Acquired by Steam Dreams owner David Buck in 2014, she returned to the mainline in 2015 before being withdrawn for an extensive overhaul. Resplendent in the early British Railways apple green livery as she was originally given when delivered in 1948 she returned to full mainline operation in early 2019.
Mayflower has two cylinders, 6 driving wheels, a firebox grate area of 30 square feet and can operate at 75mph.