Welcome to Railtrail Tours
A family firm with an ethos of honesty and integrity. Our passion for delivering quality escorted holidays by rail at great value fares along with consistently excellent customer service has stood us in good stead for over 40 years.
Big on Quality, Small Enough to Care
01538 382323
Monday - Friday, 9am to 5pm
We thought we would celebrate the steam and rail heritage of the north country with our own ‘battle of the roses’ tour, including Yorkshire and Lancashire steam and heritage railways every day from our base at an iconic railway hotel. With Railtrail escorting this great railway holiday you are sure to come up smelling of roses!
View Dates & Book8 days from £975
DEPARTS
Monday 10 May 2021
Monday 21 June 2021
Monday 13 September 2021
TOUR HIGHLIGHTS
Many of Yorkshire & Lancashires steam trains on one great railway holiday!
Stay at Bradfords iconic Midland Hotel with dinner every evening
Keighley & Worth Valley Steam Railway
Skirt the Dales by Steam on the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway
Tour & Tasting at the Black Sheep Brewery
Steam through the South Pennines on the Kirklees Light Railway
Go underground at Yorkshires National Coal Mining Museum
Middleton Railway, the worlds oldest continuously working railway
Steam across the moors on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway
Visit the fascinating Bury Transport Museum
Steam from Bury to Rawtenstall on the East Lancashire Railway
Experience Englands greatest rail journey the Settle & Carlisle line
Also included in your Tour Fare:
Dinner every evening
Rail travel & seat reservations from your Home Station to Tour Base (Standard or First Class)
Services of experienced Railtrail Tour Manager
DAY 1
Arrive in Bradford and make your way to the Midland Hotel, our historic railway hotel situated next to the city's Forster Square station.
DDAY 2
A fabulous trip to the Dales awaits today, as we transfer first to Bolton Abbey for a ride on the Embsay & Bolton Abbey Railway along the former SkiptonIlkley Line, which was built in 1888. We spend some time at Bolton Abbey before making our way to Masham with a tour and tasting at the excellent Black Sheep Brewery.
B, DDAY 3
From Bradford we take the scenic journey across the Pennines to Bury to visit the Bury Transport Museum before we steam through the Irwell Valley from Bury to Rawtenstall on the East Lancashire Railway. We have time to visit the famous Bury Market before making our way to the foothills of the South Pennines to ride the Kirklees Light Railway, a 15 inch gauge light railway on old colliery tracks between the villages of Clayton West and Shelley.
B, DDAY 4
We transfer to Pickering to board the North Yorkshire Moors Railway for a stunningly diverse rail journey in heritage carriages to the coast. Steaming across heather moorland landscapes, we pass by Goathland, familiar to many as 'Aidensfield' in 'Heartbeat', before descending to Whitby, a picturesque fishing port framed by its famous abbey. Climb the steps to the abbey or simply enjoy some of the finest fish and chips in Yorkshire before we make the return journey.
B, DDAY 5
We experience the Settle & Carlisle Line. This great journey climbs up through the Yorkshire Dales from Settle, gateway to the 'Three Peaks', crossing Ribblehead Viaduct, the engineering marvel spanning Batty Moss, and passing Dent, the highest mainline railway station in England at 1150 ft then after the summit at Ais Gill we speed along the Eden Valley to the border city of Carlisle where there is time to enjoy a sightseeing break before the return journey.
DAY 6
Today we head south to the National Coal Mining Museum where we descend 140m underground to discover the history of coal mining through the centuries. Our day then ends at the Middleton Railway, a former colliery line near Leeds and the world's oldest continuously working railway that became the pioneer standard-gauge preserved line in the world operated purely by volunteers.
B, DDAY 7
Today we travel by train to visit the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway where you can ride to your heart's content with your day rover ticket through countryside made familiar through film, the Railway Children. Perhaps, take a break to alight at the Brontë heritage town of Haworth with its cobbled main street and curio shops.
B, DDAY 8
We bid farewell to Bradford and make our way home.
BB=Breakfast, D=Dinner
HOTEL
Midland Hotel, Bradford
Built between 1885 and 1890 by the Midland Railway Company, the Midland Hotel was a showpiece for the railway companys northern operations, and is of particular architectural interest, with some of the finest Victorian interiors in the city. Today sees a hotel that has undergone a transformation, with investment to all areas of the building, restoring it to its original greatness.
FARES
Fare Region | First | Standard |
London: Kings Cross | £1155 | £1085 |
Greater London | £1195 | £1105 |
South of England | £1205 | £1110 |
East Anglia | £1215 | £1120 |
South West | £1260 | £1135 |
Heart of England | £1205 | £1110 |
Midlands | £1140 | £1065 |
Yorkshire | N/A | £1050 |
North East | £1160 | £1085 |
North West | N/A | £1050 |
South Wales | £1220 | £1100 |
North Wales | £1180 | £1095 |
Scotland | £1160 | £1090 |
Join & Leave at Hotel £995
£20 discount on tour fares for holders of National Rail cards
Single Room Supplement £150
7 nights bed, breakfast & Table dHôte evening meal
Rail travel & seat reservations from your Home Station to Tour Base (Standard or First Class)
Rail & coach travel, with transfers as described
All excursions and admissions as detailed
Services of experienced Railtrail Tour Manager
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