Peter Watts 50 years of railtouring

Peter Watts celebrated 50 years at Pathfinder Tours in June, with GB Railfreight naming a Class 69 in his honour a few days later. Richard Clinnick met him to look back at his career.

PETER Watts greets you with a smile. This friendliness is what has helped him to create what he describes as a “family” amongst those who have travelled and worked on the charters he has organised since the first one ran on June 10, 1973. So much has changed since that first train ran. Then, under the Fielding & Watts banner – F&W, ‘The Snowdonian’ ran from Gloucester to Pwllheli. This was powered by No. 1644 (now No. 57009) to Gloucester from where it was replaced by Class 24s Nos. 5079 and 5087 (which became Nos. 24079 and 24087 respectively). In those early days, Peter says the charters were about non-passenger traction and track. There was a lot more variety to choose from, however getting those locomotives for the trains could be a…

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Rail Express (Digital) - 1 Issue, September 2023

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