Freight and / or industrial railtours operators query

[Lost property]

As I have said before, I have no interest in any form of railtour that involves being fawned over / the type of locomotive / and seeing the UK countryside which can be viewed from mainline trains anyway.

I would, however, be interested in any operators who use freight lines and also pass through industrial, or any other areas, not generally available to the public.

This is because I enjoy seeing / visiting locations which are far from being tourist traps and are usually far more interesting when access is restricted anyway.

My query is, please, are there any such operators who offer such tours ?

 

[ainsworth74]

All the main operators tend to offer tours of that nature from time to time. Some are more ambitious than others!

Branchline Society tours, in my opinion, are usually the most ambitious and pull off some real coups. They've had a series of tours in the North East over the last four/five years that have managed all sorts of bits of freight only infrastructure. Including accessing industrial locations not just the branches that may serve them. I've been inside a building of Hartlepool pipe mill on a Mk2 with the BLS.

But it's just a case of having a look at the likes of UK Railtours, Pathfinder, etc and seeing what they've got on offer. Some are less inclined towards that type of activity though. I don't think Locomotive Services with their various brands have done any freight track tours for instance.

 

[JGurney]

As I have said before, I have no interest in any form of railtour that involves being fawned over / the type of locomotive / and seeing the UK countryside which can be viewed from mainline trains anyway.
I would, however, be interested in any operators who use freight lines and also pass through industrial, or any other areas, not generally available to the public.
This is because I enjoy seeing / visiting locations which are far from being tourist traps and are usually far more interesting when access is restricted anyway.

Exactly my taste in railtours as well! Just as Ainsworth wrote, the Branch Line Society are good for these, and UK Railtours sometimes run very interesting 'Forgotten Tracks' tours. However I'm afraid these sorts of tour seem to have become rarer and more expensive over the past 20 years.

 

[renegademaster]

UK Railtours do a lot of freight tours out of London. They are doing East Midlands in March

 

[Lost property]

Thank you for your replies. At least now I have a basis to work on and just need to monitor the sites for potential tours.

 

[alexl92]

Maybe a little more niche is the Appleby Frodingham steelworks tours, which run with either a steam or diesel shunter hauling brake vans around the steelworks. I believe it’s £50 for a veranda which can accomodate up to 6 people, and lasts 2-3 hours with a break partway.

 

[JKF]

They seem to be less common than they once were, I can’t think of the last time a tour came down to Portbury for example.