Published on 6th May 1978
Saturday 6th May 1978 provided the interesting sight of two visiting railtours to the Taunton area using rare traction and rare stock.
First to appear was The Severn Valley Limited, the charter used a grubby Class 47/0 No.47086 to haul heritage stock (Consist: 6515 9615 9627 1086 1087 1116 1146 2119 9631 5883 7284) from Bewdley to Kingswear and back. The charter also had a rather fetching rear coach door cover which was captured as the train passed 40 Steps.
The second tour to pass through was The Cathedrals Express hauled by Class 40 No.40118 which operated a circular tour from Cardiff Central to Cardiff Central via Taunton, Exeter, Yeovil Junction, Basingstoke, and Reading. This charter was captured at Whiteball as it entered Devon.
