On Saturday, 19th July, there will be the chance to travel in a Hastings six-coach Diesel Electric Multiple Units (DEMU) on the Branch Line Society’s “The Salt and Pepper Shaker” rail tour from Hastings to Goole.

Departing from Hastings at 06.10, the tour will pick up at Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge, Bromley South, Willesden Junction High Level and Peterborough on its way to Goole in East Yorkshire, where it will go on to explore the rare track of Goole Guardian Glass, Selby Potter Group, and Brayton Sidings.

Other unusual track will also be covered to and from Goole, such as Goole Up and Down Goods Loops. There will also be a photo stop at Rawcliffe, four miles west of Goole. Scheduled return time at Hastings is 22.02.

Hastings Diesel Electric Multiple Units (DEMUs) incorporated diesel generators at each end, and were specially designed with narrow bodies for the challenges of operating between London and Hastings via Tunbridge Wells because of the unusually narrow tunnels on the Hastings line.

The train will have a buffet service provided by Hastings Diesels Limited, and there will be a sales stand and raffle, with proceeds going to Martin House Children’s Hospice.

Tickets for the tour cost £199 for First Class, Non-Dining, £134 for Standard Class, with a £67 reduction for accompanied under 18s. More information about the tour and to book tickets is online at https://www.branchline.uk. 

The Branch Line Society regularly donates profits from its rail tours to Martin House Children’s Hospice. Last year, they included a rail tour from Derby to Wembley with DCRail locomotives, and two Star Wars-themed tours in May, appropriately titled the Shedi tour and May the Fourth be With You.

Martin House is a Children’s Hospice at Boston Spa near Leeds in West Yorkshire. As well as volunteers from the Branch Line Society, it has a fundraising team made up of colleagues from DB Cargo and Network Rail, who each year give up many hours of their own time working tirelessly to raise much-needed funds for the hospice.