‘Threat’ to Harry Potter ‘Hogwarts Express’ Jacobite steam train: What was all that about? – Alastair Dalton

Surprise, surprise – West Coast Railways planning to resume trips despite losing court case

You may have heard rather a lot about the steam train associated with Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Express over the past few months – even though it’s on a winter break.

The Jacobite, which hauls hordes of wizarding fans between Fort William and Mallaig every summer, has been at the centre of a court case whose outcome its operator had claimed could threaten its future.

West Coast Railways (WCR) sought to oppose a long-standing directive from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), the industry’s safety regulator, that central door locking must be fitted to the Jacobite’s old-fashioned hinged “slam door” carriages to prevent passengers falling out.

The Jacobite train crossing the Glenfinnan viaduct, which operator West Coast Railways had said was threatened by the cost of safety improvements. (Photo by West Coast Railways)

WCR has argued the system it operates using stewards to guard the doors is sufficient. But the ORR did spot checks last summer and are understood to have found they weren’t in place on the Jacobite, triggering temporary bans on the service operating. However, that didn’t deter the company going ahead with its legal challenge to the ORR’s directive, which was first announced more than two decades ago.

It portrayed itself as a valiant crusader against officialdom, claiming the court’s decision would be “not only crucial to its long-term viability, but also the preservation of the heritage rail industry”.

However, WCR lost the case in December and I’ve heard no reports of the collapse of the industry. That’s because other heritage operators, as far as I can gather, have accepted what’s been on the cards for a very long time and just got on with implementing it.

When I revealed last year that Bo-ness-based Scottish Railway Preservation Society Railtours, the biggest player north of the Border and Britain’s oldest, had had to significantly cut back its programme while it upgraded its historic fleet, I heard not one word of complaint. They appear to have accepted it as a necessary safety improvement.

The Jacobite train at Glenfinnan Station on the Fort William to Mallaig line. (Photo by West Coast Railways)

However, at least one other operator has become so fed up with WCR’s attitude they have gone public, laying into the company in an unpublished letter to another newspaper seen by The Scotsman.

Jeremy Hosking, who chairs the Locomotive Services Limited Group, pointed out the industry had had 24 years to put its house in order and said it was wrong to regard the ORR as unreasonable, “let alone nanny-statish”.

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Mr Hosking went further, accusing WCR of “deliberate and calculated non-compliance”, which he said “has created an unlevel playing field whereby a dissenting firm enjoys a consequential competitive advantage over more responsible operators”. I put that to WCR, which said it was a question for the ORR. I find that pretty extraordinary.

But WCR also told me it was “continuing to work collaboratively” with the regulator to “find a solution to our current dispute”. That sounds like a softening of its previous tone.

In addition, as The Scotsman revealed last week, WCR is very much not throwing in the towel on the Jacobite, but looking at various options to resume the service next month. These include using a set of its coaches with central door locking, and fitting it to other carriages.

But it’s all been good publicity for a trip that, from my experience, is well worth taking.