Royal Highlander
The Royal Highlander was a named passenger train travelling between London, England and Inverness, Scotland until it was withdrawn in May 1988.[1]
In the 1950s the Northbound train's scheduled departure from London Euston was 7:25pm, stopping at Rugby, Stafford, Crewe, Carlisle, Perth, Pitlochry, Blair Atholl, Dalwhinne, Newtonmore, Kingussie, Kincraig, Aviemore, Carrbridge, Tomatin, Moy, Daviot and Inverness, arriving approximately 9:00am next day. The Southbound train departed Inverness at approximately 5:30pm and followed the reverse route, although with fewer stops at the local stations. The train was pulled by steam engines, doubleheader, normally Duchess class locomotives assisted by an additional engine at the rear at Beattock Summit.
A dining car offered dinner service between London and Crewe, where it was uncoupled at approximately 10pm. A breakfast car was added at Perth at approximately 6am, offering a full cooked breakfast to accompany dawn views of the Grampians during the slow pull over Drumochter Pass behind a steam double-header.
1st, 2nd and 3rd class sleeper services were offered, as well as 1st/3rd class compartments. Trains were typically about 12 cars long, of which not more than three would have contained standard seating. The fare surcharge for a 2nd class sleeper berth was 22/6! The sleeping compartment accommodations themselves appear not to have substantially changed in design until 2012
The Royal Highlander was in its day the longest-distance through train in the UK, and had the longest travel time, of almost 14 hours.
References
- "No sleepers on ECML". The Railway Magazine (1049): 690. 1 November 1987.