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BOOK NOW : 01543 411971
The Torbay Express
Sundays: 6th, 13th, 20th & 27th July, 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th & 31st August, 7th, 14th,
21st & 28th September 2008 & Bank Holiday Monday 25th August 2008
This is one of the most Extraordinary and Scenic Railway Journeys in Europe
BBC Television hired helicopters to home-in on ‘The Torbay Express’ for its award-winning programme ‘Coast’ last year, showing some wonderful aerial sequences of GWR ‘King’ No.6024 King Edward I ducking and diving around the red-sandstone inlets and coves, and bobbing between the tunnels along the sea wall near Teignmouth.
That really wasn’t a surprise, for the steam-hauled ‘Torbay Express’ and the old GWR ‘West of England Main Line’ together make one of the most enchanting railway journeys anywhere in the world, and after seven consecutive summers of operation, the train now enjoys full ‘celebrity’ status.
Reviving the name and the spirit of a famous holiday express that last ran in 1961, ‘The Torbay Express’ unleashes a nostalgia of the old days of steam, exemplified perfectly in the Robert Louis Stevenson poem ‘From a Railway Carriage’:
Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
and charging along like troops in a battle
all through the meadows, the horses and cattle
extract
It is the classic ‘holiday line’ where rock pools, fishing boats and promenade strollers are constantly in view, reminding us of happy seaside holidays of days long ago.
Starting at Bristol (Temple Meads) just after breakfast time and stopping to pick up passengers at Weston-super-Mare, Taunton and Exeter, ‘The Torbay Express’ takes the spectacular coastal route to Torquay, and then via the metals of the Paignton & Dartmouth Steam Railway, stops at Paignton and Kingswear (for Dartmouth) to set down passengers for an afternoon on the South Devon Riviera.
It’s the dream travelogue, whisking across the flat Somerset levels to Taunton, charging through the Blackdown Hills and the Exe Valley to Exeter, the Exe and Teign estuaries, then alongside the sea-wall from Dawlish Warren to Teignmouth, and on the final lap, through the delightful wooded estate once owned by Agatha Christie, and down into the old riverside terminus station at Kingswear.
Some 5,000 people – many of them families with children experiencing a steam-hauled express for the first time in their lives and as much local people as tourists – will take the day trip on the ‘Torbay Express’.
Included in the train fare is the cost of the foot-ferry across the River Dart to Dartmouth. Most passengers take the short trip across the water – there’s four hours before the ‘Torbay Express’ starts the 128-mile journey back to Bristol – so from here, you take your choice of what to do next.
,A leisurely trawl amongst Dartmouth’s delightful antique shops, art galleries, boutiques and bistros, a boat trip up the River Dart to or out to sea, or perhaps the simple pleasure of fishing for crabs from the harbour wall, or enjoying an afternoon clotted cream tea. There is much to see and do.
You simply haven’t ‘done’ Devon until you’ve ridden ‘The Torbay Express’!.
| Actual Timings | ||
| Bristol Temple Meads | d. 09.18 | a. 21.39 |
| Weston super Mare | d. 09.42 | a. 21.08 |
| Taunton | d. 10.42 | a. 20.15 |
| Exeter St.David's | d. 11.18 | a. 18.44 |
| Paignton | a. 12.06 | d. 17.57 |
| Kingswear | a. 12.55 | d. 17.20 |
| Standard Class Fares: | Adults | Juniors |
| Bristol Temple Meads | £55.00 | £50.00 |
| Weston super Mare | £55.00 | £50.00 |
| Taunton | £54.00 | £49.00 |
| Exeter St.David's | £50.00 | £45.00 |
| Limited First Class: | £85.00 per person | |