Scarborough Spa Express

The Scarborough Spa Express is a regular summer heritage steam locomotive service between York and Scarborough via Harrogate and Leeds. It is operated by the West Coast Railway Company, however has been operated in previous years by different companies, including the Railway Touring Company.

History

Regular steam operations on most of British Rail ended in 1968. In the early 1970s, British Rail allowed steam back on the main line, using preserved steam locomotives, and by the late 1970s, the company ran a series of trains during the summer months from York to Scarborough and back. In 1982, these were extended to run over the circular route from York to Harrogate and Leeds and back to York, before running to Scarborough. [Cite Web|url=http://www.steamsoundsarchive.com/1/1_2.html|title=Steam Sound Archive - the Scraborough Spa Express|accessdate=2008-07-24|publisher=Steamsounds] These ran until 1985. [Cite Web|url=http://www.steamsounds.org.uk/sse/sse80s.html|title=Steam Sounds - the SSE in the 1980s|accessdate=2008-07-24|publisher=Steamsounds]

In the 2000s

Since 1985, there had been occasional steam railtours to Scarborough, including the 'Ride the Legend' tours using LNER Class A3 4472 Flying Scotsman. It was not until 2006 that regular trips were run. These were introduced by the National Railway Museum, and began running directly from York to Scarborough on 18 July 2006. [Cite web|url=http://www.uksteam.info/tours/t06/tscspa.htm|title=Scarborough Spa Express times|accessdate=2008-07-24] The following year, this was extended to include the Harrogate Loop once more.

Locomotives

In recent years, the following locomotives have been used:
*LNER Class A3 "Flying Scotsman"
*LNER Class A4 "Union of South Africa"
*LMS Coronation Class "Duchess of Sutherland"
*LMS Stanier Class 5 "The Sherwood Forester"
*LMS Stanier Class 5 "The Lancashire Fusilier"
*SR Battle Of Britain Class "Tangmere"
*LMS Jubilee Class "Leander"
*LMS Stanier Class 8F "Gauge O'Guild"
*BR Standard Class 7 "Oliver Cromwell"

On its first run, 6233 "Duchess of Sutherland" hit a bridge between Harrogate and Leeds, causing minor damage, and was not used on this route subsequently.cn|date=July 2008

External links

* [http://www.wcrc.co.uk West Coast Railway Company]

References