HDL English Riviera Express railtour
Saturday 20 June 2026

Saturday 20 June 2026: HDL English Riviera Express railtour

Our third railtour of 2026 is to the Devon seaside resort of Paignton, via the cathedral city of Exeter.

This 529-mile railtour will pick up passengers at our usual stops from Hastings to Tonbridge, then Redhill, Guildford, and Reading. Passengers alighting at Exeter St. Davids should have well over 4 hours there; those remaining on board should have almost 3 hours in Paignton.

Facilities and refreshments

This outing will be formed of both our DEMUs (1013 the 6-coach DEMU, and 1001 the 4-coach DEMU), making a 10-coach train.

Our Buffet car, accessible to passengers in DEMU 1013 (i.e., coaches A, B, C, D and E), will be open all day for the sale of hot & cold food and drink at reason­able prices. A trolley service of hot & cold drinks and refreshments will operate in Standard Class areas of both DEMUs; in addition, a mini-counter service will operate from one of the inoperative guard’s-vans in DEMU 1001 (for coaches W, X, Y and Z)..

In First Class (coaches A and B) an inclusive at-table service of drinks and light refreshments is offered through the day, with tea/coffee and toast after boarding, sandwiches prior to arrival, and savoury biscuits with cheese & wine on the return leg of the trip.

Fares

Standard Class fares	seat in trailer coach (Buffet / C / D / X / Y)	£99
	bay of 4 seats in trailer coach (Buffet / C / D / X / Y)	£380
	seat in motor coach (E / W / Z)	£106
First Class fares	seat in trailer coach (B)	£126
	seat in motor coach (A)	£133

Part-fares

We are aware that some of you may wish to make a booking just between Exeter St. Davids and Paignton (either single or return).

We have now opened bookings for a limited number of unallocated seats in Standard Class only, on a “first come, first serve” basis.

The booking form has been updated to allow you to choose Exeter St. Davids or Paignton as your boarding point; please then mention on the form if you want single tickets rather than return.

Standard Class one-way part-fares	Exeter to Paignton in either direction	£20
Standard Class return part-fares	Exeter to Paignton return	£40

Route and Timings

Route

From the Hastings Line up to Tonbridge, we proceed west via Godstone to Redhill where we reverse, then continuing west via Dorking Deepdene to Guildford, and north-west via Wokingham and on to our final pickup at Reading. From there we run via the Berks & Hants line, through the Westbury area, and ultimately passing through Cogload Junction to join the Bristol to Exeter Line. After Exeter we join the South Devon Main Line, passing the famous seaside section along the sea wall at Dawlish and the tunnels beyond, to reach Newton Abbott. Avoiding the stiff climb up to Dainton tunnel, we turn left onto the 7½-mile Riviera Line / Torquay Branch down to Paignton.

The return leg of this railtour is similar to the outward.

A sketch-map of the route has been prepared by Alan Pink. To illustrate the detail of our scheduled route, annotated extracts from Network Rail’s Sectional Appendix have been produced for the outward and return portions of this railtour (updated 11 June 2026).

Timings

Finalised timings have been published. They remain identical to the estimated timings we originally published.

Station	Outward journey (read down)		Return journey (read up)
Hastings	depart	06 08	return	23 13
St. Leonards Warrior Square	depart	06 12	return	23 09
West St. Leonards	depart	06 16	return	23 04
Crowhurst	depart	06 23	return	22 54
Battle	depart	06 30	return	22 49
Etchingham	depart	06 42	return	22 34
Tunbridge Wells	depart	07 03	return	22 11
Tonbridge	depart	07 14	return	21 54
Redhill (reverse)	depart	07 55	return	21 19
Guildford	depart	08 28	return	20 37
Reading	depart	09 20	return	19 52
Exeter St. Davids	arrive	11 53	depart	16 40
Paignton	arrive	12 38	depart	15 30

Although we have regarded these timings as being finalised, nevertheless we hope it might still be possible to return to Hastings a little earlier, without altering our departure time from Paignton. We will keep our passengers updated with any alterations if and when we receive them.

Booking

Booking is now a simple 3-step process:

1. Please check our Seat Availability Guide.

2. Fill in our online booking form right here in your web browser.

3. Make payment — either via Faster Payments in your online banking, or by cheque; directions for both are given in the booking form

The previous methods of booking which rely on the PDF leaflet are still available, should you wish.