The Branch Line Society has announced that it is to run a day out with the DCRail fleet on Saturday 12 July.

Last year, the Society held a successful visit to Chessington South Coal Depot and Hove, and this year, the trip will include a visit to a rare freight branch in Gloucestershire, together with some unusual track.

DCRail is a national freight operator, which is well-known for its fleet of Class 56 and Class 60 locos.

The Branch Line Society’s day out will be operated by GB Railfreight, and a Class 57 will also be available to support the train during the day.

The journey will begin with the Class 57 hauling the train out of Derby. It will then travel down the Midland Mainline to East Midlands Parkway, where it will pick up passengers, and will then proceed through Corby and Kettering before reaching its next pick-up at Bedford.

The day will then continue with the train heading south to a track that is rarely used by passenger trains – the Hendon Chord – through which it will access the Up Hendon Line before travelling to Acton Yard for the day’s first change of locomotive.

The train will depart from Acton Yard double-headed behind two Class 60s. It will run around the edge of West London, picking up passengers at Clapham Junction and Wimbledon.

It will then run fast before to Basingstoke, Salisbury and Westbury, where passengers will have the opportunity to leave the train to stretch their legs.

The train will then continue to Bath Spa, where passengers may leave the train for almost four hours to look around Bath and its attractions. Passengers have the option of staying on the train, which will travel on the Bristol Loop towards Yate, from where the train will branch off onto what the Society calls “the highlight of the day”, a visit to Tytherington Quarry.

Tytherington limestone Quarry is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest covering an area of 0.9 hectares near the village of Tytherington in South Gloucestershire. The limestone is used in ready-mixed and precast concrete products, and in asphalt that is used in road construction and maintenance. Tytherington also supplies aggregates for HS2.

It is an active working quarry, operated by Hanson Aggregates. It extracts around 1.8 million tonnes of aggregate, which are transported by regular freight train services onto the mainline.

Both Class 60s will run round at Tytherington, and the train will then head towards Bristol, again using the Bristol Loop to visit our next unusual location, Bristol East Depot. At the depot, the Class 60s will be replaced by two Class 56s.

The train will then travel to Bristol Temple Meads via Kingsland Road, and passengers will have another opportunity to stretch their legs. The 56s will run round, and the return journey will begin.

The Class 56s will haul the train all the way back to Derby, beginning with running to Bath Spa to collect passengers who have been visiting the city.

It will then head to Swindon, then have a leg-stretch break at Reading. The train will then take the Reading spur to divert towards Wokingham, Staines and Richmond, and will drop passengers off at Clapham Junction.

It will then skirt round London towards Gospel Oak, then join the East Coast Main Line and run fast to Potters Bar and Peterborough, where passengers may disembark. The train will then branch off towards Melton Mowbray, then rejoin the Midland Mainline and arrive back in Derby.

Profits from this train trip will be given to Martin House Hospice, which previous rail tours have also raised money for. There will also be a charity raffle on board the train, which will also have a hand-pulled real ale bar and a buffet car.