North East Steam

DAY 1

Today we will travel by rail to Newcastle arriving at the Royal Station Hotel, ideally located by the railway station, where we will be staying for five nights.

DAY 2

Today we visit Beamish, the Living Museum of the North, an incredible experience through time. They have two steam railways, one recreating the very early days of railways, the second being a narrow-gauge colliery line. There is also a recreated town including an Edwardian bakery, a coal mine, a local pub, and a school amongst other things, all linked together by a historic tram system. On our return to Newcastle, we make a visit to The Angel of the North for a quick photo-stop.

DAY 3

After breakfast this morning, we take a fast train along the superbly scenic coastal route through Berwick to Edinburgh changing for the short ride onwards to Linlithgow. Here we have a private coach to take us to the Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway and they have announced a diesel gala for this weekend with at least three locomotives on an intensive service. We will also have entry to the Museum of Scottish Railways which is on the same site with its large collection of nearly 50 steam and diesel locomotives. We will return to the centre of Edinburgh by private coach where we will enjoy free time before taking the train back to Newcastle.

DAY 4

We will take a private coach to Tanfield for a 6-mile round trip behind steam over a former colliery line, the world's oldest existing railway, and grab the opportunity to view some of the locos in their huge industrial heritage collection. Afterwards, we will continue by road to the Stephenson Steam Railway in South Shields for a ride over their 2-mile line and a look at their other locos which include the third oldest surviving locomotive in the world.

DAY 5

We will travel by road to the Aln Valley Railway at Alnmouth for a ride over their short line between Lionheart and Greenrigg, part of the former branch to Almouth. This afternoon we travel to Alston to discover the 2ft gauge steam railway built over the trackbed of the branch from Haltwhistle which currently operate over 5 miles to Slaggyford.

DAY 6

We depart after breakfast for trains to your home station.

B=Breakfast, D=Dinner