The Master Cutler Mini Tour

As part of celebrating the 125th anniversary of London Marylebone station, 125 Group, Retro Railtours, and Rail Adventure, with some support from Chiltern Railways, organised The Master Cutler Tour from Sheffield to London Marylebone and back. Sadly, I completely forgot about it. However, when I went to the website, I noticed they offer The Master Cutler Mini Tour between London Marylebone and Banbury. I decided to do it.

The itinerary was quite simple. After the train arrives in London, Marylebone from Sheffield takes part in some events, and after that, there will be a mini tour. It left London Marylebone at 11:13 and arrived at Banbury at 13:02. It stayed there for a 15-minute break so people could take some pictures. It depredated at 13:17 and back to London Marylebone at 14:51. 

Key takeaways

• It was a great little trip that was reasonably priced.
• The carriages were plain ex-EMR HST, which was OK, but old seats are more comfortable than modern plastic church pews but as good as Intercity’s.
• Buffer offers excellent craft ale, decent sandwiches and pastries.

As it was a working day, I needed an extended break (6 hours lunch :D) to do it. 

As I work from home, so I used the opportunity to visit a local shop to buy a sausage sandwich.

My trip to London Marylebone was uneventful.

Sadly, I had only a few minutes to catch the train, so I didn’t have much time to attend some events at London Marylebone. The platform was flooded with train spotters, railway enthusiasts and others.

The train was a combination of locos operated by RailAdventure and ex-EMR HST carriages in original EMR livery, with a buffet carriage (provided by 125 Group and/or Retro Railtours?). At the moment, the Intercity HST carriages remain my favourite. 

When I went to the carriage, you could already tell there was a party atmosphere on the train, as you could see beers and other rubbish after people who had travelled from Sheffield. The people on the train were a combination of railway staff, trainspotters, and lots of elderly people. It was very lively, chatty, and so on. 

Soon after I sat on the train, we departed. It was a very smooth and relaxing trip with some fun stops for a few minutes, which usually feels like “Whoops! We’re catching delays,” but it was just the way the path was available, and I guess trains should be given enough extra time to be sure they’re on time.

I discovered a buffet carriage on the trip, so I went there expecting the usual boring stuff. Instead, they had a decent sandwich (and later pastries) and an excellent Craft Ale that was reasonably priced. 

It would be awesome if they had barista-style coffee, too, but I guess that is too much to ask.

We arrived in Banbury, where people went out to take a few thousand pictures, but I decided to stay on the train.

After about 15 minutes, we were on our way back to London Marylebone, where I enjoyed beer and a meat pastry.

It was a smooth and relaxing journey. I managed to see my favourite British Train, Class 220 Voyager (operated by XC). The views of Chiltern are always great, but sadly, I was sitting on the wrong side.

When I was about to arrive in London Marylebone, I checked the notice board to see when and where my train would depart for home. It was supposed to be Platform 4, so I strolled to the platform. When I arrived, I noticed that the trains were just taking naps and were not going anywhere, so I checked the board again. My train was departing from Platform 1 in 3 minutes, so I needed to run. After a few pints, I managed to catch it.

It should be the end of the story, but then an old gentleman entered the train and sat next to me, and we started talking about the history of trains, then I noticed he had a JavaOne bag from an event that was organised by Sun before Oracle acquired them. As I am a Java Developer, I asked him about it, but he received it as a gift from someone, and the only programming language he was using was a Fortran programming language.

Overall. It was a great little trip. Seat was a standard EMR seat, but that’s a decent seat for British standards. The train itself was in excellent condition. The staff was great. The buffet has great beer and decent food (even if options were limited). The people were mixed, but they created a joyful atmosphere. I enjoyed that trip.

I like that some many groups has ability to take care of heritage of british trains and do some events. 

Recommendations

If you have the chance, try Retro Railtours and The 125 Group trips. They are worth trying, given their affordable prices.

Abbreviations, Definitions and Resources

• The 125 Group – a railway heritage group “dedicated to the preservation of the InterCity 125s.” 
• Retro Railtours – is a charter train that offers “day trips to a wide variety of Great British destinations since 2008.”
• JavaOne is an annual conference organised by Sun Microsystems since 1996