Top 10 main line steam highlights

Selecting ten highlights from the last 50 years has been difficult, such as the return to steam to the Kyle line in 1982, the Cambrian in ’87. Lion, of 1830, has worked on the main line, as has last-built ‘9F’ Evening Star.

And that’s before we factor in steam running through central London on the Underground or Northern Ireland Railways hiring in preserved steam locomotives to work ballast trains.

1 March 25 1978

Of all the routes BR approved to steam, the most eagerly awaited was the Settle & Carlisle. ‘V2’ Green Arrow becomes the first steam locomotive to haul a train on the line since August 11 1968, with the incongruously titled ‘Norfolkman’.

2 May 27 1984

ScotRail tries to give the glorious Fort William-Mallaig line a financial boost with steam operation. Paddy Smith’s ‘Black Five’ No. 5407 hauls the inaugural ‘West Highlander’, the first steam on the line since the 1960s and forerunner of today’s ‘Jacobite’.

3 1985

From demonstration steam-hauled goods trains, specials to Portishead and Carmarthen and steam over the South Devon banks and into Cornwall, BR marked the Great Western’s 150th ‘birthday’ year in fine style… and then closed Swindon Works.

4 September 29 1990

Network SouthEast’s ‘Cambridge Gala Day’ offered the incongruous sight of an industrial steam locomotive - Thomas, from the Nene Valley Railway, no less, working passenger shuttles under the wires. Something that’s never happened before… or since.

5 October 29-30 1994

Thirty years after No. 60009 Union of South Africa hauled the last timetabled steam train out of King’s Cross, it makes an emotional return to haul the Steam Railway-organised ‘Elizabethan’ railtour to Peterborough.

6 December 19 2000:

Railtrack hires ‘8F’ No. 48151 to haul the final ballast train between Hellifield and Carlisle to mark the end of major work on the Settle & Carlisle. It’s the first revenue-earning goods train to be hauled on the national network by steam since 1968.

7 June 11 2002

Stanier ‘Pacific’ No. 6233 Duchess of Sutherland hauls the Royal Train, with the Queen on board, from Holyhead to Crewe as part of Her Majesty’s Golden Jubilee celebrations. It’s the first steamhauled ‘Royal Train’ since 1967.

8 April 3 2007

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway takes main line steam in a whole new direction when it starts running regular services over Network Rail metals. What makes the Grosmont to Whitby trains extra special is that they’re all crewed by volunteers.

9 May 29 2010

Tyseley’s ‘57XX’ No. 9600 becomes the first steam locomotive to bank a train up the fearsome 1-in-37 Lickey Incline since 1965, when it gives No. 6201 Princess Elizabeth a helping hand. It’s also the first steam banker since August 3 1968.

10 April 12 2017

In order to operate new ‘A1’ Tornado at 90mph rather than the 75mph speed limit for steam, a series of trials are undertaken to monitor the locomotive’s behaviour at high speed… including running at 10% above the permitted maximum. In other words, 100mph.