Win tickets for Edinburgh trip

TRAIN lovers are being given an opportunity to soak up the views in coaches built in the 1950s and 60s on a special journey from Accrington Railway Station to Edinburgh next month. And we are thrilled to be able to offer two lucky readers the chance to win a pair of standard tickets each, worth a total of £180, for this memorable journey.

Run by the Green Party, the Edinburgh Festival Coast-to-Coast Grand Tour on Saturday 23 August will travel over the Pennines via the scenic East Lancashire line, through Portsmouth and the wooded Calder Valley, over the Vale of York and past the White Horse of Kilburn, Durham Cathedral and the Angel of the North.

At Newcastle there is a panoramic view along the Tyne and then it will be time to enjoy mile after mile of sea views along the Northumberland coast, including Lindisfarne (Holy Island) and Bamburgh Castle.

Travellers will then cross the magnificent Royal Border Bridge at Berwick-upon-Tweed and enjoy further view of the North Sea as the train enters Scotland.

It will arrive in Edinburgh at lunchtime for a stay of around four hours.

Organiser Clive Lord said: "The train will be operated by Britain’s smallest independent train operating company, West Coast Railways of Carnforth, and will comprise 13 heritage coaches.

"Passengers will have the rare chance to travel back in time on board a locomotive- hauled train with coaches built in the 1950s and 1960s. For many it will bring back fond memories of British Rail’s Merrymaker Tours which provided great days out by excursion train in the 1970s."

The return journey will take passengers back on the West Coast main line, over Shap Fell with views to the Lakeland Fells before descending to Carnforth and views of Morecambe Bay.

The train will have a buffet car service on board and all passengers have reserved seats.

Tickets are priced at £45 per person and more details are available from Clive Lord, Green Trains, 44 Upper Batley Low Lane, Batley WF17 0AP tel: 01924 472767.

To be in with a chance of winning this fantastic prize answer the easy question in this week's Observer (25 July), fill in the entry form and send it to Edinburgh Train Competition, Accrington Observer, 103 Blackburn Road, Accrington, BB5 1JJ, before midday on Wednesday 30 July.

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