page_title: Mainline steam trains in Great Britain
section_title: Services
hierarchical_section_title: Mainline steam trains in Great Britain / Services
caption_attribution_description: Day 4 of the Scottish Adventure sees me stood on a muddy, wet hill side near Glenfinnan Viaduct, awaiting for the Jacobite to come round the curve and into view. The pleasing sight of the train coming into view was one of the most impressive I have seen for years, an incredible sight to say the least. Providing power is LNER Thompson/peppercorn Class K1 62005 "Lord of the Isles". The train is running from Fort William - Mallaig along the West Highland Line, considered the most sceninc railway line in the UK. The viaduct is known for many as being used in the Harry Potter movies, which the Jacobite stock was also used in. Hills and mountains around the viaduct only add to the atmosphere of the area. The headcode is 2Y61 10:15 Fort William - Mallaig
context_page_description: Although steam locomotives were withdrawn from normal railway service in Great Britain in 1968, due to sustained public interest including a locomotive preservation movement, steam hauled passenger trains can still be seen on the mainline railway in the present day.
context_section_description: Most steam-hauled mainline services are operated as public charters - i.e. trains organised by a tour operator and available to passengers on a pre-booked basis only. Certain services however are run as scheduled services. In some cases, trains are operated as private charters. A small number of journeys by the British Royal Train have been hauled by steam traction.
  Many of the services have names which echo the historic named passenger trains of the United Kingdom, and will often feature an appropriate headboard. The Jacobite is summer season daily service along the West Highland Line in Scotland, voted the most scenic in the world in 2009. The Torbay Express is a regular summer season weekend service in the South West. The Scarborough Spa Express is another regular summer season service, which was originally run in the BR era of the 1980s, before being revived again in the 2000s by various private operators. Selected services run by the luxury train operator Belmond (formerly Orient-Express) are steam hauled - the UK leg of the Venice-Simplon Orient Express, plus the British Pullman and Northern Belle.
  In 2007, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, a heritage railway, gained permission from Network Rail to extend some of its steam services along a 6-mile stretch of the Esk Valley Line, from Grosmont (the NYMR northern terminus) to Whitby. This marked the first time that a volunteer run heritage railway had been allowed to operate services on NR track.
  In an effort to boost tourism in the summer of 2015, the Abellio ScotRail railway franchise began offering steam specials on scenic routes, although the company was criticised for having not promoted the services enough, leading to an initial shortfall in demand, which Abellio attributed to a late change of operator. The franchise also provided 3 days a week steam specials on the newly opened Borders Railway between Edinburgh and Tweedbank. Network Rail suffered heavy criticism after an error led to it proposing to cancel trips hauled by Flying Scotsman on these services with just two days notice, only to reverse their decision a day later. Hailed as a success, the Borders Railway trips returned for the 2016 season.
  On three consecutive days in February 2017, Northern Rail replaced two return journeys between Appleby and Skipton, normally operated by a diesel multiple-unit, with steam-hauled services worked by No. 60163 Tornado. Unlike the services described above, regular National Rail tickets were valid for travel on these trains, thus making them the first regular scheduled steam-hauled passenger trains since the end of BR steam.
caption: The Jacobite, hauled by Lord of the Isles, crossing the  Glenfinnan Viaduct
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