Last Saturday (18 July), the West Somerset Railway (WSR) hosted three excursion trains which were making their way to and from the mainline railway network.

This is the first time that this has happened since the heritage railway began its reopening fifty years ago in 1976.

The first of the three trains was the Belmond luxury train. This train makes regular Friday evening journeys over the WSR as it travels from London Victoria on a weekend round trip to Cornwall. On each excursion, the train stables for the night while its passengers rest, and then resumes its journey to Cornwall on Saturday morning.

Later on Saturday, the 07:01 excursion train from London Paddington left its mainline route at Norton Fitzwarren Junction just over a mile west of Taunton, while travelling to Minehead. Two West Coast Railways Class 33 diesels – 33025 and 33207 (Jim Martin) – headed the train, while WCR Class 47 47848 tailed it.

The next visitor was more vintage diesel traction. ‘Hastings Line’ Diesel Unit 1013 formed the 06:10 from Hastings in East Sussex. This excursion was organised by the Branch Line Society and followed a circuitous route that included some sections of line that are not normally crossed by passenger trains.

On the same day, the West Somerset Railway also ran its own steam and vintage diesel trains.

The WSR will be running train services five days a week during August. It will not run on Mondays or Fridays.

On some Fridays, the Railway will instead be running a new initiative called ‘The Ticket to Nowhere’, which is a detective-themed game. Teams of between two and eight people will arrive at Bishops Lydeard station and find a railway carriage from which all of the passengers have mysteriously gone missing.

Teams will face the challenge of figuring out what has happened. Have the passengers been abducted or did something scare them so much that they fled in terror? The amateur Marples, Moneypennys, Palmers and Poirots will have just one hour in which to find the clues that will explain what has occurred in the Escape Room Carriage.

As these events take place on Fridays, when the WSR will not be running any train services, the train which includes the Escape Carriage will not leave the station, unlike the Railway’s Murder Mystery Trains.

The ‘Ticket to Nowhere’ events will take place on some Fridays from the end of July and then on some Saturdays in November.

The Railway suggests ‘Ticket to Nowhere’ as a possible morning or afternoon attraction for lovers of Murder Mystery events. It could be a treat for a special occasion or even a team-building exercise for local employers.

More information about the ‘Ticket To Nowhere’ and booking details are available on the West Somerset Railway website.

Having held a Summer diesel gala in June, the West Somerset Railway is now preparing for its Autumn steam gala at the end of September.