Summer excursion trains

[Peter Lanky]

I am fortunate to be close to the West Cost line in Wigan, and not too far from Bolton and frequently see excursion trains pulled by steam locos. However I find it difficult to find out when these trains are actually running.

Previously I have only looked at the excursion's website timetable and then turned up with the station at the time it is due. Sometimes however, there is no train and clearly everyone else knows this due to a lack of recognisable fiftysomething men at the end of the platform. Clearly they knew there was no train, but how? Is there a website showing excursions and other one-off trains, where I can find out when they are running close to where I live, or even their progress, seeing as one day the train had passed through 45 minutes earlier than scheduled?

 

[dave_wm]

UK Steam (http://www.uksteam.info/tours/trs13.htm) is very good for listing details of all the tours booked - it also has a separate page for loco movements without trains.

Once you know when something is booked, you can check Realtime Trains for its passing times, although they'll often be shown as Freights unless they're operated by West Coast Rail. For example here's a steam special running from London Victoria today (http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P90096/2013/03/21/advanced).

 

[Peter Lanky]

Thanks, very useful.