GREAT Western Railway (GWR) will provide a one-off charter train from London to Buckfastleigh and Heathfield to raise money for treatment of prostate cancer.

All proceeds from the service will be donated to First Devon and Exeter Prostate Cancer Fund, set up by GWR area operations manager Geoff Fidler for the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital after receiving treatment for prostate cancer.

The fund aims to raise £20,000 to buy a scanner for the hospital.

The High Speed Train tour of the South Devon Railway will depart from London Paddington at 7.15am on Saturday, October 10, stopping in Buckfastleigh to return to London at 8.40pm.

The service will call at Reading, Didcot Parkway, Swindon, Bristol Temple Meads, Taunton, Exeter St Davids, Buckfastleigh and Heathfield before returning to London.

At Buckfastleigh passengers will be able to participate in a range of activities, including tours of the workshops and museum and steam train rides.

Passengers on the service will also have the opportunity to meet Sir Kenneth Grange, one of the designers of the original Intercity 125 High Speed Train and a founding father of Pentagram, the design company undertaking the current GWR rebrand.

An optional extra trip will then travel from Buckfastleigh to Heathfield and back, before the train returns to London.

Both tours are open to all members of the public.

For further details, train times and bookings visit www.branchline.org.uk/events.php.

For booking enquiries email [email protected]. For general enquiries email [email protected].