67024 and 67021 returning to London Victoria after visiting Oxford and Belmond's Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons hotel.
The Belmond British Pullman is a frequent tour round the south east of England out of London Victoria, so I don't normally go out to photograph it. As the line through Wokingham recently reopened and I went to go to see what changes had been made and I haven't seen the Pullman through, so I combined a trip there with it passing by.
The Footex services for the EFL/Carabao Cup final at Wembley Stadium provided what is likely to to be the highlight of rail tour and charter services for the year. All three of the preserved Class 86 locomotives from West Coast Railways and Locomotive Services Limited were providing the motive power from Liverpool to London.
The first arrival from Liverpool for the Footex specials into London was Locomotive Services Limited 86101 "Sir William A Stanier FRS" and 47712 "Lady Diana Spencer".
This special left Liverpool Lime Street after the overhead line issues between Runcorn and Crewe were know about, so it was able to be diverted via Earlestown. This resulted in only 10 minutes delay by Weaver Junction, where it rejoined the original route. It made the delay up by Nuneaton and arrived 11 minutes early into Wembley Central.
The second arrival into London was West Coast Railway's pairing of 86259 "Les Ross"/"Peter Pan" and 86401 "Mons Meg".
86259 and 86401's journey from Liverpool was far less smooth, having already set off from Liverpool South Parkway to Runcorn before the overhead line issues were reported. This resulted in the service needing to reverse back to Edge Hill before taking the alternative route via Earlestown. When the service rejoined the original route at Weaver Junction, it was 88 minutes behind schedule and this delay was maintained to Rugby. At Rugby, the service was held, delaying to 100 minutes behind the schedule. To make up some time, it was rerouted down the WCML rather than taking the route through Northampton, where a 25 minute stop was planned. The delay from Hanslope Junction was approximately an hour and this was maintained to Wembley Central arriving 62 minutes behind schedule.
67024 returning to London Victoria after visiting Bath for the day.
