BLS 2025 tours

[RealTrains07]

Bit disappointing for those who missed out though (like me) who used to live locally near SWR and was a class 455 regular for most of my life so would have been nice to see the 455s go.

Is it possible for tour operators to consider in future releasing tickets for a farewell type tour like this in different waves maybe? or maybe have a limit of 1 ticket per person? Don’t know if this is already what happens? but it is just suggestions.

Just unfortunate the tour is limited to just the 1, 8 car 455.

Are there any other options for those who missed out on tickets to be a part of the farewell?

 

[The_Train]

15 minute sell-out. That's excellent news, well done.

A bit of a lesson here, to some other tour operators, in regard to: "provide the right product and at the right price".

With the greatest of respect, this sort of charter sells to an entirely different market to the usual charters. It caters to people who thrive on "being there" when it comes to occasions like final workings of certain classes along with the youtubers and tok tikers - these are not people who would book onto a regular railtour, irrelevant of the offering.

I've not done a "farewell" type tour since the first Merseyrail PEP tour because it was a fairly abysmal experience, primarily due to it being like a school trip! I'd rather pay £149 for a proper tour, knowing I will enjoy it, rather than £49 and have a truly horrid experience!

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Bit disappointing for those who missed out though (like me) who used to live locally near SWR and was a class 455 regular for most of my life so would have been nice to see the 455s go.

Is it possible for tour operators to consider in future releasing tickets for a farewell type tour like this in different waves maybe? or maybe have a limit of 1 ticket per person? Dunno if this is already what happens but it is just suggestions end of day.

Just unfortunate the tour is limited to just the 1, 8 car 455.

Are there any other options for those who missed out on tickets to be a part of the farewell?

I purposely did not purchase a ticket so you could have had mine if you were quick enough

You could still do your own farewell and just travel on them to the end, or follow the tour around on the day

 

[markle]

Just unfortunate the tour is limited to just the 1, 8 car 455.

Are there any other options for those who missed out on tickets to be a part of the farewell?

As a parent of a young boy who really likes "the red trains" and is a bit sad that he doesn't see as many now, it would have been nice to take him to some kind of farewell trip / event. But a 9 hour railtour with one toilet stop would have been stretching what's reasonable for him.

I realise it's a difficult situation where it's impossible to please everyone but it is a shame that the event wasn't broken up into 2-3 separately ticketed parts.

 

[Sun Chariot]

this sort of charter ... caters to people who thrive on "being there" when it comes to occasions like final workings of certain classes... these are not people who would book onto a regular railtour, irrelevant of the offering.

Absolutely - and I guess it shows how far the rail excursion / railtour market has moved, since my heady tour-bash days. The BLS offering here, plus April 2023's class 313 farewell, I liken to tours of 1980s-'90s, such as Buffer Puffer, Spin and Win, December 1991's brilliant mini tour The Emerald Water Witch with 4EPB 5001. Tours that were doable on tight(ish) budgets, yet provided us with traction, trackage and fun in bucketloads.

 

[The_Train]

Absolutely - and I guess it shows how far the rail excursion / railtour market has moved, since my heady tour-bash days. The BLS offering here, plus April 2023's class 313 farewell, I liken to tours of 1980s-'90s, such as Buffer Puffer, Spin and Win, December 1991's brilliant mini tour The Emerald Water Witch with 4EPB 5001. Tours that were doable on tight(ish) budgets, yet provided us with traction, trackage and fun in bucketloads.

In the 80s and 90s you didn't have quite the saturated railway timetable meaning it was easier to squeeze extra services in. Plus there was more track coverage available especially on industrial sites to keep things interesting, Mk1 carriages readily available, H&S that hadn't quite gone mad plus an absolute swathe of locos on every TMD that could be called upon to rescue a tour that had got into difficulties.

The railways have changed and therefore railtours have changed but don't believe for a second that lower prices would automatically mean every tour selling out in 5 mins like this one. There's always a new excuse in someone's locker

 

[MrJeeves]

I've not done a "farewell" type tour since the first Merseyrail PEP tour because it was a fairly abysmal experience, primarily due to it being like a school trip!

I will admit that one was definitely the poorest BLS farewell tour experience I've had.

The 313 and 323 ones, on the other hand, were much more sensible and tame. Hopefully this will be too.

 

[The_Train]

I will admit that one was definitely the poorest BLS farewell tour experience I've had.

The 313 and 323 ones, on the other hand, were much more sensible and tame. Hopefully this will be too.

The Merseyrail one being so poor was down to the 507 Preservation Society more than anything. I think they let the occasion go to their heads a little bit and it all just got out of hand in the end. I believe the 2nd Merseyrail farewell was much better, presumably after some discussions with the preservation society were had.

Both the 313 and 323 farewells were great days (thinking about it the 323 may have been after the first PEP so I may have lied that I haven't done one since )

 

[sad1e]

Quite annoyed I wasn't able to get tickets, I've rode on these units a majority of my life and when I try and book the tour it sells out within 5 minutes. I was on the website at 11:03 and it wouldn't let me book stating it was sold out even then.

If it's this bad for the 455 farewell tour I can't imagine what It will be like in the future for the 91 farewell tour.

If anyone has a ticket that won't be able to be used on the date or if anyone cannot make it , please feel free to message me as I will happily purchase a ticket off you.

 

[31160]

Quite annoyed I wasn't able to get tickets, I've rode on these units a majority of my life and when I try and book the tour it sells out within 5 minutes. I was on the website at 11:03 and it wouldn't let me book stating it was sold out even then.

If it's this bad for the 455 farewell tour I can't imagine what It will be like in the future for the 91 farewell tour.

If anyone has a ticket that won't be able to be used on the date or if anyone cannot make it , please feel free to message me as I will happily purchase a ticket off you.

Well at least the 91 farewell should have more available seats, but where would you go?

 

[Sun Chariot]

Well at least the 91 farewell should have more available seats, but where would you go?

When the 91s were first being rolled out, I photo'd 91004 at - of all places - Nuneaton.
So, for a farewell tour, any OHLE's a go-er.

 

[RealTrains07]

I am also looking for a spare ticket if anyone is unable to attend the class 455 farewell. Would happily purchase the ticket too.

 

[sad1e]

Any ideas how quickly similar EMU farewells have sold out in the past, I don't remember the 315 , 317 or 321 farewells selling out anywhere as quickly as this , this tour seems to have sold out unusually quickly.

 

[Iskra]

Any ideas how quickly similar EMU farewells have sold out in the past, I don't remember the 315 , 317 or 321 farewells selling out anywhere as quickly as this , this tour seems to have sold out unusually quickly.

Possibly pent-up demand for a reasonably priced railtour, they are like hens teeth these days!

 

[RealTrains07]

Any ideas how quickly similar EMU farewells have sold out in the past, I don't remember the 315 , 317 or 321 farewells selling out anywhere as quickly as this , this tour seems to have sold out unusually quickly.

Neither do I, it does seem very surprisingly fast compared to other recent tours that sold out yet if you ask anyone on twitter, its considered “normal”

 

[MrJeeves]

I recall the Merseyrail tour selling out quickly too, but I don't think the 323 or 313 tours did.

That might well be because those tours were more expensive, being £64.60 and £62.60 respectively (32.3*2, 31.3*2).

Maybe if this was £91 it would have lasted a bit longer.

 

[RedControlled]

Gutted. Had a university lecture so only visited the website around 1PM, was very surprised to see it sold out in 5 minutes! I think I'll visit it at Haslemere as I've never seen one go there.

 

[D365]

Possibly pent-up demand for a reasonably priced railtour, they are like hens teeth these days!

Maybe if this was £91 it would have lasted a bit longer.

I concur. Personally I don’t have any connection with the 455s, but it (plus the super off-peak fares to get me there) will make for a very reasonable price for a day out.

 

[Thebaz]

I see the 455 farewell tour sold out very quickly. Disappointed to miss out as I quite fancied it, seeing as I spent most of my boyhood riding them. I don't suppose with the considerable number of people in a similar position that we might get a second farewell tour?

 

[stadler]

I see the 455 farewell tour sold out very quickly. Disappointed to miss out as I quite fancied it, seeing as I spent most of my boyhood riding them. I don't suppose with the considerable number of people in a similar position that we might get a second farewell tour?

I highly doubt that a second tour will happen. Most of these sell out quickly and i can not think of any previous cases of a second tour when the first sold out.

I do wonder why they did not think to run the tour as a 12 coach 455+455+455 to provide extra capacity. They have no SDO but it would be very easy to only call at 12 coach platforms as most of the larger stations can accomodate that.

There is still plenty of time to ride them in normal passenger service for those who missed out on tour tickets. It is a lot cheaper than the special tour too.

 

[shakermaker_86]

Excuse my lack of knowledge on farewell tours, but if a 455 is running a regular scheduled service on that day e.g. Bookham to Waterloo, can I board it as normal as long as I'm in possession of a valid SWR ticket, or are only the branchline society farewell tour tickets applicable?

 

[Watershed]

Yes, it is just the BLS tour that will require a railtour ticket (now sold out). All other 455 services will run under the usual ticketing arrangements.

 

[thedbdiboy]

'very quickly' was in fact around 10 minutes. Gone in a flash!

 

[shakermaker_86]

Yes, it is just the BLS tour that will require a railtour ticket (now sold out). All other 455 services will run under the usual ticketing arrangements.

Great, thank you for confirming. Would have of course been great to join in on the BLS tour though!

 

[DaventryRabbit]

I highly doubt that a second tour will happen. Most of these sell out quickly and i can not think of any previous cases of a second tour when the first sold out.

I do wonder why they did not think to run the tour as a 12 coach 455+455+455 to provide extra capacity. They have no SDO but it would be very easy to only call at 12 coach platforms as most of the larger stations can accomodate that.

There is still plenty of time to ride them in normal passenger service for those who missed out on tour tickets. It is a lot cheaper than the special tour too.

Highly unlikely to be uprated to a 12 car, as the Bay Platform at Kingston can't take 12, and nor could some of the sidings and headshunts that it's down to visit. These are considered essential parts of the itinaery and, with it being the BLS, a large percentage of the people on it would be there BECAUSE it's doing these rare moves. They are maybe not fans of 455's themselves in any real way, they are there for the 'red pen' Quail Atlas element....

 

[sad1e]

I highly doubt that a second tour will happen. Most of these sell out quickly and i can not think of any previous cases of a second tour when the first sold out.

If you wanna real farewell you should go on the the last 455 booked service, they still have a few months more left after the BLS tour

 

[stadler]

If you wanna real farewell you should go on the the last 455 booked service, they still have a few months more left after the BLS tourm

Is that actually confirmed. I have heard a lot of conflicting information but some people i know who work at SWR have said that the 455s will go off lease and get withdrawn by the 31st of December this year. If that is true then that is only a week after the farewell tour.

 

[sad1e]

Is that actually confirmed. I have heard a lot of conflicting information but some people i know who work at SWR have said that the 455s will go off lease and get withdrawn by the 31st of December this year. If that is true then that is only a week after the farewell tour.

I've seen this from their Twitter recently.

 

[Branch Line S]

The Christmas Train - Friday 19th December - Update​

As we start the run in to the Christmas period, we are delighted to confirm that much sought after 69012 has been requested for this charter.

All being well, 69012 will join us at Doncaster Decoy yard and work us South in the evening. A few seats remain available, so if you wish to join us, please book soon.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Nov 2025 ==

We are pleased to advise that our request for the Class 66 for The Christmas Train has been made to our operator. We have requested the much sought-after Class 66 66316, the last of the Akiem conversions. 66316 was converted at EMD Longport, which included an engine overhaul, a new turbo / alternator / compressor, TPWS4, GSM-R and cab air conditioning. The former number was 29003. We understand the loco has not yet worked a passenger train in the UK!

 

[Goldfish62]

If you wanna real farewell you should go on the the last 455 booked service, they still have a few months more left after the BLS tour

I'd expect weeks rather than months. As of this week there's only five pairs plus one single unit diagrammed. I'd expect none diagrammed by January, with the only appearances filling in for other stock until a handful more 701s come into service.