Excursion trains

An excursion train is a chartered train run for a special event or purpose. Examples of excursion trains are: a train to a major sporting event; a train run for railfans or tourism; a chartered train such as the Reno Fun Train that runs to the casinos in the winter on weekends; a special train operated by the railway for employees and prominent customers.

A number of excursion trains are run in the United Kingdom and in some cases there are regular steam worked passenger services over some routes, one such train being The Jacobite which runs Monday to Friday from Fort William to Mallaig from April to October (a second afternoon train also runs from May to mid September but is Mon to Fri only, weekend services running from June to October). There are also a number of routes across the UK which are famed for running excursion trains, examples include: Settle and Carlisle line, Cumbrian Coast line, Shakespeare Line, West Coast Mainline and East Coast Mainline.

The Train Operating Companys that operate steam locomotives on the national network include: West Coast Railways, DB Cargo UK & most recently Locomotive Services Ltd, the later company gaining their operating licence on 4 August 2017.

Some special excursion trains are pictured below.

45699 Galatea at Carlisle Citadel station after arriving with "The Dalesman" on Tue 2 June 2015

46100 Royal Scot at Crewe railway station after arriving back with "The North Wales Coast Express" from Holyhead, Wales on Sat 6 February 2016

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Wikipedia