The final Northern Belle tour to the Hounslow area was for the Hampton Court Garden Festival from Cardiff.
The route from Cardiff was very interesting as the train was diverted via Gloucester due to the Severn Tunnel track replacement works. Then from Reading, the train used the South Western Railway line to Hounslow where passengers alighted before using the Kew Junctions and Acton Canal Wharf to access the West London Line to Clapham Junction. From Clapham Junction, the tour used the direct route via Richmond to Windsor and Eton Riverside.
The train is seen here at Staines passing for the second time on the final stretch to Windsor and Eton Riverside.
After dropping off the final passengers at Windsor and Eton Riverside, the train headed to Southall WCR to be prepared for the return. The route used was via Hounslow and Acton Wells Junction to access the Great Western Mainline to Southall.
After the train was prepared, it returned to Windsor and Eton Riverside via Willesden S.W.S and Hounslow.
The return routing was just as interesting as the outbound. The train left Windsor and was routed via Hounslow, Acton Canal Wharf and Clapham Junction. From Clapham Junction the train used the Hounslow Loop, passing through Hounslow for a second time and then followed the reverse of the outbound route.
The train is seen here passing Egham on the way to Reading after departing Hounslow for the second time.
D1015 made another visit to the Western Region with a visit to the East Somerset Railway from East Midlands Parkway.
D1015 makes its final pickup of the tour before heading to Westbury via Newbury before continuing on to Cranmore and the East Somerset Railway.
While based in Cardiff for a few days, the Northern Belle operated an afternoon tea train to Crewe and back.
57315 leads the train into Cardiff Central to drop off passengers before it runs empty to London Euston for Sunday 7th's Silverstone dining train.
One of Saphos Trains "English Riviera Express" services which is diesel operated between its origin and Taunton where steam takes over for the remainder of the journey to Kingswear.
D1924 (47810) leads the Saphos coaches into Reading with 47593 on the rear. LNER 60007 "Sir Nigel Gresley" provided the steam portion of the service to from Taunton to Kingswear and back to Taunton.
The highlight tour of July was the End of Southern Steam tour that operates on the 9th July each year. This year was slightly different as the coaches were Mark 2s rather than the Mark 1s that have been used previously due to West Coast Railways central door locking issues.
While Clan Line was waiting to depart with 47812, 444010 arrived to be ready to operate 1S77 London Waterloo to Woking via Hounslow.
47812 then lead the coaches and Clan Line to Willesden S.W.S, where Clan Line and its support coach Mercator returned to Stewarts Lane depot and 47812 returned to Southall WCR with the coaches.
The second Sunset Steam Express of the year was operated by 70000 rather than 46100 as it was last month.
70000 leads the tour past Egham on the way to Chertsey where the water stop is before returning to London Victoria via the Surrey Hills route.
