HDL Bath & Cranmore DEMU railtour
Saturday 11 April 2026

Saturday 11 April 2026: HDL Bath & Cranmore DEMU railtour

Our second railtour of 2026 is to the city of Bath, and to the preserved East Somerset Railway in the Mendip Hills.

This 452-mile railtour will pick up passengers at our usual stops from Hastings to Tonbridge, then Redhill, Guildford, and Reading (reduced fares apply). Passengers alighting at Bath Spa should have almost 5 hours there; those remaining on board should have over 2 hours at Cranmore on the East Somerset Railway.

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. This is another first for Hastings Diesels.

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)	£88	£78 from Reading
	bay of 4 seats in trailer coach (Buffet / C / D / X / Y)	£330	£290 from Reading
	seat in motor coach (E / W / Z)	£95	£85 from Reading
First Class fares	seat in trailer coach (B)	£115	£105 from Reading
	seat in motor coach (A)	£122	£112 from Reading

Part-fares

We are aware that some of you may wish to make a booking just between Bath Spa and Cranmore (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 Bath Spa or Cranmore (East Somerset Railway) as your boarding point; please then mention on the form if you want single tickets rather than return.

Standard Class one-way part-fares	Bath Spa to Cranmore in either direction	£20
Standard Class return part-fares	Bath Spa to Cranmore return	£25

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 where we join the Great Western Main Line. After passing through Didcot and Swindon, we turn right at Wootton Bassett to follow the Badminton line to Bristol Parkway, after which we turn left to descend the recently re-quadrupled section from Filton Abbey Wood and Stapleton Road to Dr. Day’s Junction, turning left again to skirt the centre of Bristol.

We then head south-east through Keynsham to reach our intermediate destination of Bath Spa. From there we turn right at Bathampton Junction, following the line through Bradford-on-Avon and Trowbridge to Westbury where we head south-west. After passing Frome on its avoiding line, we reach the site of Witham station and East Somerset Junction, where we swing to the right and join the route of the original East Somerset Railway — which opened between Witham and Shepton Mallet in 1858 and ultimately ran to Wells, with the GWR later joining it to the Bristol & Exeter line at Yatton.

Closed to passengers in 1963, the first 5 miles of the East Somerset branch remain in use for stone-wagon trains serving the nearby Merehead Quarry, and include uphill gradients as steep as 1 in 47. Half a mile later, beyond the Network Rail boundary, we join the preserved East Somerset Railway, re-opened in stages from 1973, which runs for 1¾ miles through to Mendip Vale; we intend that our train will traverse the whole line prior to our passengers alighting at Cranmore.

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 4 April 2026).

Timings

Finalised timings have been published. Compared to our original estimates, all times are very similar.

This page and the leaflet have both been updated to show the finalised timings. To avoid any confusion, please ensure that you check these finalised timings as part of arranging your itinerary.

Station	Outward journey (read down)		Return journey (read up)
Hastings	depart	07 02	return	22 18
St. Leonards Warrior Square	depart	07 07	return	22 15
West St. Leonards	depart	07 12	return	22 10
Crowhurst	depart	07 19	return	22 03
Battle	depart	07 25	return	21 56
Etchingham	depart	07 38	return	21 41
Tunbridge Wells	depart	08 00	return	21 13
Tonbridge	depart	08 24	return	20 58
Redhill (reverse)	depart	08 59	return	20 23
Guildford	depart	09 37	return	19 51
Reading	depart	10 28	return	19 06
Bath Spa	arrive	12 04	depart	17 18
East Somerset Railway	arrive	13 31	depart	16 02

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.