Charity farewell event to celebrate Chiltern Railways’ Mark III fleet
A special one-off train journey is being organised by Chiltern Railways to say farewell to its iconic British Rail-era coaches and raise funds for the Railway Children charity.
On Sunday 22 February, the operator will run a farewell event for its Mark III coaches, which were built in the 1970s and have been with Chiltern since 2010.
The Mark III coaches, and the locomotives that haul them, will leave by the end of March and Chiltern is replacing them with a newer, bigger fleet of modern coaches and locomotives during the course of 2026.
The special trip is being hosted by the Branch Line Society, with support from volunteers, and proceeds from ticket sales will go to the Railway Children charity, which supports thousands of vulnerable children alone and at risk on the streets and on the rail network in the UK, Tanzania and India.
The day trip will start by running north from Banbury to Stourbridge, then run the entirety of the Chiltern Main Line up to London Marylebone, before the train returns to Banbury in the evening.
Richard Allan, Managing Director of Chiltern Railways, said:
“I am thrilled that we are celebrating these iconic coaches which have served our customers for many years.
“This special and unique journey is a wonderful opportunity to say farewell to the Mark III coaches and to raise money for the brilliant Railway Children charity.”
Jack Miller, Group Director of Fundraising and Marketing, at Railway Children, said
“We are consistently humbled by the generosity and commitment from our friends right across the rail family.
“This event, thanks to Chiltern Railways and Branch Line Society is a wonderful example of the industry uniting through a landmark occasion to support some of the world's most vulnerable children. This will be an incredible event that will create a fitting legacy.”
A total of 250 tickets went on sale for the Mark III farewell event via the Branch Line Society’s website on Friday 12 December. Tickets cost £68 for adults and £34 for children.
Available on a first-come, first-served basis, tickets can be purchased via the Branch Line Society’s website here.
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Notes to editors
- Chiltern Railways is part of the Arriva group, one of the leading providers of passenger transport in Europe, employing around 36,200 people and delivering around 1.5 billion passenger journeys across 11 European countries.
- Chiltern operates commuter/regional rail passenger services from its Central London terminus at London Marylebone along the M40 corridor to destinations in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, as well as long-distance services to the West Midlands along two routes. Services on the Chiltern Main Line run from London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill, Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford, with some peak-hour services to Stourbridge Junction.
- Chiltern also runs trains on the London to Aylesbury Line to Aylesbury (with some trains terminating at Aylesbury Vale Parkway instead), on the Princes Risborough to Aylesbury and Oxford to Bicester branch lines.