The Paxman Quarrier

Name: The Paxman Quarrier
Start: 2026-04-26T07:45:00+01:00
End: 2026-04-26T22:45:00+01:00
Location: 6th Floor, Derwent House, 150 Arundel Gate, S1 2FN Sheffield, United Kingdom

Schedule

Sun Apr 26 2026 at 07:45 am to 10:45 pm

UTC+01:00

Location

6th Floor, Derwent House, 150 Arundel Gate, S1 2FN Sheffield, United Kingdom | Sheffield, EN

DCRail is a national freight operator and part of the Wimbledon based Cappagh Group of Companies, which specialises in providing civil engineering, material supply and transport solutions for infrastructure, construction and utility projects. With a customer base of some of the UKs biggest users of rail, DCRail focuses on bulk freight markets such as aggregates, industrial minerals and construction soils.
For those of you who joined us on that hot summers day in July 2025, when our Tytherington Quarrier almost made it to Tytherington, but not quite, as promised, we go again and are very hopeful of reaching the much sought after end of line at Tytherington!
2026 sees the Golden Anniversary of the first Class 56 arriving in the UK and to celebrate this appropriately we will have the opportunity to experience a high mileage, fast running day starting out of Paddington, climbing the Lickey incline and finishing under the overall roof at King's Cross. This is expected to be the only use of a DCRail Class 56 on a mainine railtour in 2026 so it will be an appropriate celebration taking the locomotive to areas where they were once common on construction traffic.
Not only will we be visiting the rare freight branch in Gloucestershire, but will also cover unusual track as you would expect from a BLS day out. In addition to the single Class 56 main tour locomotive, DCRail will, subject to operational requirements, endeavour to provide a second locomotive to assist in the Bristol area. Our train will be operated by our friends at GB Railfreight, who are also supplying a Class 57 to support the train throughout the day.
We start out from Ealing Broadway just before 08.00 allowing easy Underground connections, with our Class 57 taking us the short distance into London Paddington. Here the fun begins at 08.20 with our Class 56, heading along the GWML before picking up at Reading and Bristol Parkway and finally Bristol Temple Meads. Here we are able to have a short leg-stretch before heading towards Yate where we branch off onto the highlight of the day, a visit to Tytherington Quarry.
Tytherington limestone quarry in South Gloucestershire is considered to be a nationally significant resource with the aggregate being used in construction, ready-mixed and precast concrete products and asphalt. Tytherington has also been a major supplier of aggregates for HS2. The quarry operated by Heidelberg Building Materials, extracting around 1.8 million tonnes of aggregate, much of which leaves via regular freight trains that use the remaining section of the Midland Railway branch to Thornbury.
After reversal, we leave Tytherington and head towards Bristol, but this time, we use the Rhubarb Curve to visit our next unusual location... Bristol East Depot. After a further reversal, we head into Bristol Kingsland Road (another rare track highlight) and onwards to Bristol Temple Meads for another short break.
Our return to London can be considered as the long way round, giving our Class 56 the chance to show what it is made for!
We first head out to Bristol West Junction behind our Class 57 for a quick reversal, then allowing our Class 56 to head back North via St Philips Marsh depot, another very rare and much sought after bit of track. Onwards to the Midlands via Bristol Parkway, Cheltenham Spa and Bromsgrove, before we avoid Birmingham and join the mainline again just before Water Orton. Our journey now heads East towards Nuneaton, Leicester and Peterborough before running into London Kings Cross with an additional set-down at Stevenage.
All profits from this train will be donated to Martin House Hospice. There will be a charity raffle raising funds for The Class 56 Group and our famous hand-pulled real ale bar. Our buffet car will serve a wide range of freshly prepared hot food, drinks, snacks and light refreshments.
In addition, we are delighted to host The Class 56 Group sales stand which will have an amazing range of merchandise available to purchase.
We are indebted to the amazing support from DCRail and Cappagh Group for all their help with this charity fund-raising charter.
All times and routing are indicative until confirmed by Network Rail. Final routing and timings are usually confirmed by Network Rail five days before travel and will be enclosed with your e-ticket. The outline planned spec is as follows:
Ealing Broadway (PU 07.50) - London Paddington (PU 08.20 / RM) - Reading (PU 09.01) - Swindon - Bristol Parkway (PU 10.17) - Bristol Temple Meads (PU / Break 10.32-11.13 / RM) - Bristol Parkway - Yate - Tytherington (RM) - Yate - Bristol Parkway - Bristol East Depot (RM) - Bristol Kingsland Road - Bristol Temple Meads (SD / Break 14.41-15.04) - Bristol West Jct (RM) - St Philips Marsh HST Depot - Bristol Parkway (SD 15.59) - Cheltenham Spa (SD 16.51) - Kings Norton Arrive/Departure Line - Landor Street Jct - Water Orton - Nuneaton - Leicester (SD 19.30) - Melton Mowbray - Peterborough (SD 20.46) - Stevenage (SD 21.42) - London Kings Cross (SD 22.16)