Class 37 No. 37418 An Comunn Gaidhealach has been secured by Vintage Trains to haul its Blackpool Illuminations Explorer rail tour on Saturday, 11 November.

An Comunn Gaidhealach, which carries the classic British Railways blue livery with large logo, is owned by Loram and based at Derby.

The train will start at Birmingham New Street and then call at Wolverhampton, Stafford, and Crewe.

This will be the first time that 37418 has hauled a Vintage Trains rail tour. It starts from Birmingham New Street at 11.04 and picks up at Wolverhampton, Stafford and Crewe before arriving at Blackpool at 13.46.

The rail tour doesn’t depart from Blackpool until 20.15, so there will be time to take an optional tour of Blackpool’s world-famous illuminations after sunset on a specially chartered heritage double-decker tram.

The upper deck of the double-decker tram will provide an excellent all-round view of the illuminated display on the promenade as the tram heads past the world-famous Blackpool Tower and Blackpool’s three piers.

Vintage Trains has secured the exclusive use of the heritage tram for the tour, but because of the limited number of seats on the tram places on the tour will also be limited.

After departing from Blackpool at 20.15, the train arrives back at Crewe at 21.52, Stafford at 22.27, Wolverhampton at 23.00, and Birmingham New Street at 23.23.

Full tracking timings have been released and are available by clicking here.

Further Information about the as well as other Vintage Trains rail tours can be found on its website at Blackpool Illuminations Explorer | Vintage Trains.