Great Western Railway Castle Class 4-6-0 No. 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe will soon be making its inaugural run since emerging from overhaul earlier this year.

Next Tuesday, 5 December, Earl of Mount Edgcumbe will appropriately return to the Great Western Main Line for a return charter trip from Solihull in the West Midlands to Bath and Bristol for sightseeing and Christmas markets.

The train will start and finish at Solihull, and pick up passengers at Widney Manor (where there is a free car park), Dorridge, Warwick Parkway and Banbury, with the same destinations on the return journey. Tickets for Tourist class are still available at a cost of £99 per seat.

As well as Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, Vintage Trains also operates No,. 7029 Clun Castle. Earl of Mount Edgcumbe was built in 1936 and originally named Barbury Castle, but renamed in 1937 after one of the Great Western Railway’s aristocratic directors. In 1958 it was fitted with a four-row superheater, double blast pipe, and double chimney, similar to Clun Castle, and was withdrawn from service in 1963 when it went to Woodham Brothers scrapyard at Barry in South Wales.

Earl of Mount Edgcumbe was bought by Vintage Trains in 1972 as a donor locomotive with spare part for Clun Castle, but with the development of Tyseley Locomotive Works, in 1996 it was decided to return Earl of Mount Edgcumbe to an operational condition .

Vintage Trains established its own train operating company in 2017 and is licensed to run express steam trains nationwide that include:

• The Shakespeare Express between Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon;
• The Polar Express Train Ride at Christmas from Birmingham;
• Diesel explorers to popular tourist and seaside destinations;
• Express steam trains running at up to 75 mph on the main line railway;
• Private special trains offering tailor-made tours.