Great Western Coffee Shop

The newly refurbished 'Midland Pullman' HST starts its programme of luxury railtours shortly.

'The Cornish Coastal Pullman' from Eastleigh to Penzance on Saturday, 29th May 2021, is scheduled to call at Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham and Westbury (amongst other places) to pick up passengers.

Full details can be found here (https://midlandpullman.com/journey/cornish-coastal-pullman)

Quite fancy the look of that.  I wonder how the world will look in May next year!

The refurbished train (an HST restored / repainted into Midland Pullman colours) ran from Eastleigh to Crewe this afternoon / evening - posting to celebrate.

I am not a great fan of artificial / never-carried liveries on heritage stock, but I'm going to record an exception - from  he videos, I think she looks beautiful and I look forward to seeing her calling and picking up passengers in Melksham next year.

I concur.

I understand from a frustrated phone call just taken that demand for seats on the early runs of the new Midland Pullman far exceeds supply.  Not sure about this trip in May ... but winter / spring trains selling out within days of being announced. Probably zero surprise to most people who are interested. 

I can understand these trips selling quickly from the enthusiasts point of view. However, the main purpose of these trips is dining/sightseeing. From the punter's point of view inside the train, it wouldn't matter whether they were conveyed by a Black 5+8 Mark 1s, a refurbished HST or a heritage diesel pulling a rake of Mark IIs - the purpose of the trip would still be the same.

I had already booked a week in the West Highlands in October 2021, which [purely coincidentally] coincides with the visit of the Midland Pullman to Mallaig. Yes, I will make time to photograph it, but, from a sightseeing point of view [there is no time to dine on the train during the trip], I can get the same experience from a Scotrail 156 at a fraction of the price.