Keevil Railway Heritage Group

CANCELLED Severn Valley Railway Trip – August 2025

The proposed trip to the Severn Valley Railway has been cancelled – now that the full timetable has been published, it’s not practicable to have a return steam train ride on a day’s excursion.

Contact Tony or Rachel Howe if you have any questions: 07434 758992 or racheltony19@gmail.com

West Somerset Railway Trip – 21 August 2024

The last heritage railway trip in August 2024 was on the West Somerset Railway between Bishops Lydeard and Minehead, reliving the past with a fish & chip lunch served on board outward bound, and then a cream tea on the return journey – with time to explore Minhead in between.

The West Somerset Railway is England’s longest heritage line. It runs for a total of 20 miles travelling through the gently rolling Quantock Hills with distant views of Exmoor and the Bristol Channel, taking in the first sight of the sea at either Watchet or Blue Anchor Stations.

AUGUST 2023 trip to the Heritage Railways of East Somerset…

A fabulous day out thoroughly enjoyed by everyone! The 2023 trip took us to three local heritage railways:

the East Somerset Railway Cranmore,
S & D Heritage Railway at Midsomer Norton (home of the Wickham trolley) and
the Avon Valley Railway Bitton.

Thanks Ali for the pic of a real life Casey Jones (a long way from Mississippi, admittedly) on the East Somerset Railway 🙂

East Somerset Railway Cranmore

S&D Hertiage Railway Midsomer Norton

September 2022 was the Mid Hants Railway (Watercress Line)

Postponed since 2020 due to covid-19, the 2022 trip was to the Mid Hants Railway (Watercress Line) and a visit to the Milestone Museum at Basingstoke. Thank you to everyone who supported this event, photos thanks to Rachel Howe 🙂

September 2019 was the Swanage Railway

September 2018 was a trip on the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Steam Railway.

Our party of 42 left the village by coach and travelled to Cheltenham Racecourse Station to join the steam train, and from there we travelled to Broadway in the Cotswolds. On arrival we travelled from Broadway station to the village by a vintage London red double decker Routemaster bus.

Our group had a 2½ hour stay which allowed time for lunch and a jolly good look around the village. We returned to the station via the vintage bus and having left Broadway station we enjoyed cream teas on board the steam train back to Cheltenham, before boarding the coach home.

See below a gallery of images from the day by Sarah Dow: click on one to see it full size/in a slide show

How we started…

The Keevil Railway Heritage Group was established in 2017 following a spur of the moment idea when it became known (prior to any press release ) that the iconic Flying Scotsman was to visit the West Somerset Railway and give trips along the line for rail enthusiasts.

With tickets likely to be at a premium, time was of the essence, and it was felt that there was a better chance to secure tickets if they were requested by a railway group. Having to act quickly a few people who we thought would like to be part of this event were contacted. We obtained several names and lodged our interest in the name of the Keevil Railway Heritage Group with the West Somerset Railway in January.

It was not for another two months that ticket allocations were made to interested groups. We were able to purchase 22 tickets which was fortunate as that was the number on our list at the time! Hence the Keevil Railway Heritage Group was born.

Day Out on the Flying Scotsman 2017

Our September day trip was a great success. Leaving by coach at 6.30 am we travelled to Bishops Lydeard for the 10.00 am non-stop journey to Minehead on the Flying Scotsman, rekindling the days of its service from London to Edinburgh. The return trip was pulled by a steam engine from the West Somerset fleet. A very memorable day.

Due to the limitation of tickets we were unable to give more people the chance to join our group on that occasion.

So that we did not to lose the momentum it was subsequently decided to continue with the group and extend a warm welcome to more people if they would like to join us. The sole purpose of the group is to hold an annual outing in September to other railway heritage sites and have a trip on their railways.

If you are interested in joining the Keevil Railway Heritage Group please contact Tony and Rachel Howe (01380 870661)