The Weardale Explorer — Railway Touring Company

The Railway Touring Company, based in King's Lynn, Norfolk, sells The Weardale Explorer as a day of classic railway adventure from London King's Cross to County Durham. The operator says the train runs fast up the East Coast Main Line to York, picking up passengers at Stevenage and Peterborough, with an electric locomotive from London to York, and that its steam locomotive is attached at York for the onward trip.

The steam section runs north through Darlington, then branches onto the Bishop Auckland "Tees Valley" line and calls at Shildon, which the operator calls the world's first railway town and where passengers can visit the National Railway Museum's Locomotion museum, the Timothy Hackworth museum and the house of the Stockton and Darlington Railway's first locomotive superintendent. The train continues to Bishop Auckland, the present limit of the national network, and takes a special link line onto the 18-mile Weardale Railway for a run to Stanhope, where there is a short break to service the locomotive and visit the station.

The return along the Weardale line is diesel-hauled back to Bishop Auckland and Darlington. At Darlington the train reverses and runs steam-hauled again north through Durham to Newcastle, where it is turned, then south to York, where the steam locomotive leaves the train. Electric traction takes it back to London, setting down passengers at the earlier calling points.

The locomotive is announced, not promised. The operator does not name the steam engine, says the images on its site do not show the locomotive scheduled to haul the service, and its terms say the organisers reserve the right to substitute a different steam locomotive or, in exceptional circumstances, a diesel locomotive, with no refund for changes to the advertised locomotive.

A long day trip with an early-morning departure from King's Cross and a late-evening return (timings are approximate). Steam hauls the train only on the stretches the operator describes, from York onwards, with electric and diesel traction elsewhere. Each passenger has a reserved seat. Premier Dining includes a full English breakfast and a four-course dinner on the return journey; First Class includes tea or coffee with a bacon or breakfast roll and a later service of tea or coffee with a sweet treat.

Boards at London King's Cross station, Euston Road, London; the train also calls at Stevenage, Peterborough and York, with Shildon and Stanhope as the stops in County Durham. Tickets are booked online with the operator, by phone or by post form. Seats are reserved and a booking is taken as acceptance of the operator's conditions, which allow a change of locomotive without refund. Tables for two can be guaranteed in Premier Dining and First Class for a supplement. Vegetarian options are offered; other dietary requests cannot be met.