Bicester Cut-off Centenary steam special

[whole diary]

[willc]

Chiltern Railways is organising a steam special from Banbury to Bicester North, Princes Risborough and on to the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway on Saturday July 3 (actual anniversary is July 1) to mark the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Bicester cut-off - Ashendon Junction to Aynho Junction - which allowed GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trains between London and Birmingham to avoid the long haul round via Oxford.

Details are a little sketchy at present, with a kind of watch this space web posting, featuring a picture of the first GWR train leaving Banbury for Bicester in 1910, is here http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/news/latest-news/save-the-date-for-the-centenary-steam-express/

I'm not entirely sure but think this may be the first train to run through from the main line to the C&PR^▸ (Public Relations) line since BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) days, as the connection at Thame Junction has been severed for some time.

[Electric train]

Lets hope this will lead to the C&PR^▸ (Public Relations) getting their much needed agreement with NR^» (Network Rail - home page) to permanently run trains between Chinnor and Princes Risborough. the track is complete, just a rail been removed to prevent trains running over the section between Tame Jcn and PR lets hope its in good enough condition. 

[eightf48544]

The Princes Risborough and Chinor railway have announced they will be receiving a through steam train from Bicester to Chinor on 3/7/10.

Hauled by a pannier, it is being run in conjunction with Chiltern Trains details on their web site http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/news/latest-news/save-the-date-for-the-centenary-steam-express/. and Networkrail who have to put in the missing piece of track to link the two lines.

Hopefully the link may stay but?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks for posting that, eightf48544: I've also added it to our calendar. 

[Electric train]

From The C&PR^▸ (Public Relations) website http://www.chinnorrailway.co.uk/steam-special-from-princes-risborough

Steam Special from Princes Risborough
We are delighted to announce that following discussions with Chiltern Railways we will be receiving a through train from Bicester to Chinnor on Saturday 3rd July to celebrate 100 years of the link to Bicester North and GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) 175. The train will be operated on behalf of Chiltern Railways by Vintage Trains and is operated with the full co-operation of Network Rail and with the knowledge of ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) (Office of Rail Regulation).
The train will run ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) (Empty Coaching Stock) from Tyseley to Bicester where passengers will board. The train will call additionally at Princes Risborough and will be formed of 6 coaches hauled by the Tyseley Pannier. At Princes Risborough the locomotive will run around the train before the haul to Chinnor.
At Chinnor we will service the locomotive and shunt release the stock . The train will then return to Bicester.
Our head shunt at Thame Junction will be slewed by contractors working on behalf of Chiltern Railway to form a connection with the current stub of the Thame branch.
Preliminary details have been published on the Chiltern Railways website, click for the link.
Train times, seat availabilty and booking on Chiltern railways site soon, use above link.

I doubt the link will remain as a perminant feature, shame.  I do hope that NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and CPR can get an agreement sorted for running into PR on the remains of the old Chinnor line as a result of this

[willc]

If anyone is interested in travelling on this train, bookings are now open, by phoning Chiltern's business travel service on 01494 420117 between 9.30am and 4.30pm on weekdays.

There is a pdf of a leaflet here http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/news/latest-news/centenary-steam-express/ giving fares and timings.

The train will be hauled by Vintage Trains' GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Pannier Tank No 9600, so something a bit different from you average main line steam tour.

[inspector_blakey]

Sounds like a nice trip - 9600 is a good engine (even if it is a GW^▸ (Great Western) loco). I remember working the first revenue-earning trains it hauled in preservation as a ticket examiner at the tender age of 15, and being absolutely rushed off my feet.