The East Lancashire Railway is holding a Western Region Weekend in April when heritage steam and diesel locomotives associated with the Western Region will be seen in Greater Manchester and Lancashire.
Among the types that will be operating over the weekend of Saturday, 13 and Sunday, 14 April will be ‘Teddy Bears', ‘Warships', ‘Hymeks', ‘Peaks', and ‘Hoovers', the nicknames popularly associated with these types of locomotives.
In the days of steam, the Great Western Railway (GWR) was affectionately known as ‘God's Wonderful Railway' when business travellers and commuters would use the line from London Paddington to Cardiff and Bristol, and on summer Saturdays tourists and holidaymakers would throng the trains the coastal resorts of Wales and the West Country.
This will be a great opportunity to ride behind heritage locomotives not normally seen on the East Lancashire Railway and at the normal fare.
Many of the diesels are synonymous with express passenger trains that used to be frequent sights across the West of England, and a bonus will be a diesel multiple unit coupled to the rear of a service train, which will recreate the former days of the Western Region of British Rail.
The weekend's trains will operate to a themed timetable with the following locomotives:
- GWR Castle Class steam locomotive No. 4079 Pendennis Castle;
- ‘Teddy Bear' Class 14 No. D9531 Ernest;
- ‘Hymek' Class 35 No. D7076;
- Warship' Class No. 832 Onslaught;
- “Peak' Class 45 No. 45108;
- ‘Hoover' Class 50 No. 50015 Valiant;
- ‘Bubblecar' No. W55001, which has recently received an overhaul and a repaint.
Throughout the weekend there will be an intensive timetable, with evening trains running on Saturday
On Saturday Pendennis Castle & Warship No. 832 Onslaught will run double-headed.
Saturday evening Diesel Hydraulic Classes 14, 35 and 42 will run triple-headed.
On Sunday Pendennis Castle and Hymek' Class 35 No. D7076 will run double-headed.
‘Bubblecar' No. W55001 will run on rare track around Bury Station that includes Platform 1, Baron Street Gates, and Castlecroft.
Standard Ticket prices apply for the weekend, and for anyone booking a family ticket, the appropriate discount will be applied at the checkout.
