Keevil Railway Heritage Group

This year, we are proposing a single trip to three local heritage railways: the East Somerset Railway, Cranmore, S & D Heritage Railway at Midsomer Norton and the Avon Valley Railway, Bitton.

This would involve leaving Keevil by coach at 9.30 a.m.- a more civilised time than in previous years! We would travel to the East Somerset railway for a morning steam train ride allowing time to explore the station site and surrounding buildings after which we would continue by coach to Midsomer Norton and the Somerset & Dorset railway heritage station. Here we can enjoy the nostalgia of this iconic railway with its restored 1950’s station, signal box and museum.

There will also be an opportunity to book a ride on the Wickham trolley at a reasonable additional charge. This unfortunately cannot be offered as a group package because of the time constraints. The Wickham trolley can only carry a maximum of six people for a 20-minute 2-3 mile trip along the S & D line.

Our trip will conclude with a visit to the Avon Valley Railway where we can enjoy an hour-long steam train ride after which we should be home by approximately 6.00 p.m.

The proposed date is Wednesday 23rd August. The cost per person will be between £36-39 depending on the numbers travelling. This figure will include coach and rail travel. There will be souvenir shops open at all three sites and food and drink will be available at the East Somerset and Avon Valley railways.

In order to make this year’s trip possible, please let Rachel and Tony (01380 870661) know as soon as you can if you would be interested in joining. The trip can only proceed if there are sufficient numbers of people wishing to travel.

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.

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)