the capital highlander

Saturday 8th February

Locomotives - 37403 ‘Isle of Mull’ + 37409 ‘Loch Awe’

Stock - 35185, 3140, 3127, 80043, 1863, 5991, 13227, 5912, 5366

06:58 1Z37 Carlisle to Inverness and 16:42 1Z39 Inverness to Carlisle

The train departed Carlisle on time just before 7am on its 269.5 mile journey north with 37403 leading and 37409 assisting. Uneventful stops to pick up passengers were made at Lockerbie and Motherwell, before we were notified that a freight train had failed in front of us and we were to be diverted towards Glasgow and therefore miss out the booked pick-up points at Cumbernauld and Larbert. After a few quick phonecalls, volunteers were on hand at Larbert to provide taxis to Falkirk High station, where the train would make an additional stop. All this was done with minimal fuss and the good news was that we were now to be diverted over the famous Forth Bridge and along the Fife coast before making our way to our next scheduled stop at Perth, where we were able to depart just 1hr late. After a glorious run up the Highland Mainline, where fabulous views of the snow capped mountains at Drumochter were aplenty, the streams were in full flow at Moy and Slochd summit was reached with ease, we arrived into our destination of Inverness just 50 minutes late just after 14:30. This was plenty time to enjoy the delights of Inverness, where it was very pleasant weather for a fresh February day. An on time departure just after 16:40 saw us return with 37409 leading and 37403 assisting. The journey was smooth, uneventful and even arrived into Carlisle early that evening!

Thanks to all the passengers who found the time to provide feedback, which included… "Outstanding day. Thanks to all the teams from SRPS, LSL and Network Rail for re-routing the train so quickly"… "Class trip! Thanks all, especially the steward in coach B!".. “Great day out. Big thanks for the crew who looked after us in coach G”… "Thank you 🙏. We had a great day and thank you to all the crew and volunteers for dealing with the rerouting issues, especially to Graham in Coach D (aka Ice Station O) for the free drink 🤭"… "A fantastic day out and being at the front on the way back was superb. Both locos were perfectly in sync. Well planned, great re-routing and look forward to the next one"… “Just a note to say many thanks for organising such a great tour and a big thanks to the staff and train crew for making it such a great day. It worked very well, and turned even better for me, it was the first time crossing the Forth Bridge!”

Locomotives - 20096, 20107 ‘Jocelyn Feilding 1940-2020’, 20118 ‘Saltburn-by-the-Sea’, 20132, 37403 ‘Isle of Mull’ + 37409 ‘Loch Awe’

Stock - 1863, 5366, 5912, 13227, 5991, 80043, 3150, 3112, 35185

1Z31 06:11 Linlithgow to Carlisle & 1Z32 11:46 Carlisle to Preston

1Z33 14:48 Preston to Carlisle & 1Z34 17:28 Carlisle to Linlithgow

On a cold misty morning we departed Linlithgow on time just after 06:10 and headed for our first pick-up point at Edinburgh Waverley with the class 20s, 20118 and 20132 leading the way and 37403 assisting from the rear. We headed across to Glasgow via Shotts and then joined the Glasgow & South Western route heading for Kilmarnock, Kirkconnel and Dumfries. As the morning broke, it became clear that this was going to be a gloriously sunny day and so it proved.

Arrival at Carlisle was on time around 11:10, where our two class 20s left us and we were joined by another pair of class 20s, 20096 and 20107. Departure was on time at 11:45 and we headed for the famous Settle & Carlisle line with its magnificent rolling hillsides and structures such as the Ribblehead viaduct before arriving at Preston from the south before embarking on the steep climb of Shap and through the Lune Gorge to arrive at Carlisle on time at 16:35. We said goodbye to our class 20s and 37409 joined 37403 on what was now the front of the train for the run back to Linlithgow via the Hadrians Wall line through Hexham and into Newcastle before a storming run up the East Coast mainline to Edinburgh and Linlithgow where we arrived back on time.

Just one of the kind comments from a happy passenger “It was a brilliant tour, first I have done with SRPS Railtours in a very long time and was very impressed! Hoping to be able to get along to future tours too! Well done to everyone involved and a big thank you from me!”