The Atlantic Coast Express is the third of five tours operated by Clan Line for the Railway Touring Company, after the End of Southern Steam tour in July and The Cotswold Venturer in August. The tour should have taken place on 28th September but it was postponed to 12th October due a landslip in the Honiton area.
Just after sunrise, Clan Line leads through Surbiton on the way out of London and into Surrey. The large cloud of steam above was helped by the cool morning air at 07:38.
After passing Surbiton and picking up passengers at Woking, 35028 continued on to Winchfield where the first water stop took place. After departing Winchfield, the final group of passengers were picked up at Basingstoke before the tour continued to Salisbury.
After a 35 minute stop in Salisbury, the tour departed for Exeter taking the unusual direction at Wilton Junction to head towards Tisbury rather than the normal direction towards Warminster. On the way down to Exeter the tour was looped for regular South Western Railway services overtaking and for London bound services to leave the single line sections.
At Feniton, most of the town were at the station for the most people I've seen for a long time at a non-stop pass of a tour. The single platform and both sides of the level crossing were lined with people as well as crowd where I was looking down the former London bound platform.
After dropping off its passengers at Exeter St Davids, the train continued on to Exeter Riverside North Yard as 5Z28 for servicing.
After servicing, the train returned into Exeter St Davids to collect the passengers for the return journey. The platform was very busy with people photographing 35028.
After a short stop in the platform at Exeter St Davids, the tour departed for its return route via Bristol Temple Meads.
This indirect route back to Salisbury allowed the direct route to London Paddington via Taunton, Westbury and Reading to be used to get ahead of the tour for a photo at Westbury.
At Westbury, 35028 made a short stop while for a path down to Salisbury after being delayed in the Bristol and Bathampton Junction areas.
After arriving at Salisbury, the tour returned to London following the outbound route via Basingstoke, Woking and Surbiton. The delays from Bristol and Bathampton Junction resulted in a few more minutes of delay on arrival into London through Surbiton, and finally arriving at London Waterloo 54 minutes late.
This tour from Hull to Windsor and Eton Riverside was the final Statesman branded tour from Locomotive Services until late 2025 at the earliest. The Statesman Mark 2 coaches are going to be refurbished during 2025 so there is likely not going to be enough to form a complete train.
The tour followed a simple route down the ECML from Hull, branching off to the North London Line after Finsbury Park and then using the connection between Acton and Kew to access the South Western Windsor lines.
After joining the North London Line at Camden, the tour made a short stop at Camden Road for staffing purposes.
After a few minutes, the tour departed for the Primrose Hill line. This allowed the tour to access Willesden SWS, via the Watford DC, where the tour would wait for its path to Windsor.
The coaches used in the formation of the final Statesman tour was:
After arriving at Windsor and Eton Riverside, the tour sat in platform 2 awaiting its departure time back to Hull with the return train.
I had planned to see the tour pass through Hounslow on its return to Hull but the train was a few minutes late and minor delays on the Hounslow loop meant that a South Western Railway service arrived just as the tour passed. 47805 lead the tour on the return with 47810 on the rear.
