A love affair that will never run out of puff

Whatever Britons may think of modern-day rail services, there is an enduring love of travel by steam train that to this day fires the imagination of young and old alike.

This year steam enthusiasts in particular are marking a very special anniversary – 50 years exactly since the lifting of what had been a short-lived ban on steam trains from 1968 to 1971.

Steam lovers will celebrate the moment on Oct 2 1971 when the ban was effectively ended with the running of a “Return to Steam” special – which travelled from Hereford to Tyseley Works via the Severn Tunnel, Swindon and Didcot at a cost of just £5 per person.

Appropriately it will be the Birmingham-based train operator Vintage Trains (vintagetrains.co.uk) that will mark the anniversary with another “steam special”, as it was the company’s founders that convinced the leaders of British Rail in 1971 that steam-hauled specials could make money for them.

“Fortunately the day went without a hitch,” said Michael Whitehouse, Vintage Trains’ current chairman. And it paved the way for steam locomotives to run on the national network ever since – much to the delight of enthusiasts.

Before the Covid pandemic, annual passenger numbers on mainline steamhauled trains in Britain had reached 300,000. Popular locomotives such as the Flying Scotsman and Tornado regularly sell out on their excursions around the country, while the Jacobite has been made famous by the Harry Potter films. Many more travellers enjoy steamhauled trips on Britain’s network of heritage railways. The locomotive being used for the anniversary trip is “Castle” Class, No. 7029 Clun Castle.

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