Excursion train

A steam-powered excursion train stops at the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Passenger Station in Iowa City, Iowa in 2006

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;^[1] a special train operated by the railway for employees and prominent customers.

United Kingdom

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.^[2]

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
• 
  46203 Princess Margaret Rose at Holyhead, Wales, operating "The Intercity Sunset" railtour in 1992
• 
  60019 Bittern at London King's Cross railway station with "The Silver Jubilee" railtour in 2010
• 
  60163 Tornado in Lancashire, England, operating the "Cathedrals Express" in 2012
• 
  76084 and 45690 Leander at Brighouse taking on water while working "The Buxton Spa Express" on Sat 25 February 2017.

Tour operators in the UK include: The Railway Touring Company,^[3] Steam Dreams,^[4] Torbay Express,^[5] Vintage Trains,^[6] Orient-Express,^[7] UK Railtours.^[8] Further details can be found on the Main Line Steam Tours index page.^[9]

United States

Preserved China Railways QJ class locomotives 6988 and 7081 operating a triple-headed excursion train with Milwaukee Road 261 on the Iowa Interstate Railroad in 2006.

The Pennsylvania Railroad ran special excursion trains from New York City and Washington, D.C. to the Army–Navy Game in years when the game was held in Philadelphia at Municipal Stadium (1936–1941, 1945–1975).^[10] The special Pennsylvania trains were discontinued as the railroad, then known as Penn Central was on the brink of declaring bankruptcy, with the last trains running for the 1975 game. The tradition of running excursion trains to the Army-Navy college football game was resurrected in 2005 when philanthropists Bennett and Vivian Levin chartered a special train composed of their own locomotives and some donated passenger cars^[11] to take recuperating wounded veterans from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington and the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland to the game in Philadelphia.^{[12][13][14][15]} The Army-Navy Game trains ran in 2005–2008, were suspended in 2009 due to a death in the sponsors' family, and again in 2010.^[12] The Army-Navy football game is a big enough event in Philadelphia that the local rail transit company SEPTA also runs extra trains on game day.^[16]

Since 1908 an excursion train has carried travelers between Denver, Colorado's Union Station and the Cheyenne Depot Museum to attend the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo event.^[17]

Since 2013, Amtrak has operated the Autumn Express every year during late October or early November. It is an excursion train that runs on lines normally used only for freight. The train originates and ends at the same station. Past trips have included Philadelphia–Harrisburg via the NEC, the port road branch, and the keystone corridor; Philadelphia–Harrisburg via Reading, and Albany/Schenectady to East Deerfield, Massachusetts via the Hoosac Tunnel.

Other countries

Pictures of excursion trains in various countries.

• 
  Australia
• 
  Austria
• 
  Czech Republic
• 
  Germany
• 
  Japan
• 
  Poland
• 
  South Korea

Seasonal trains

Seasonal trains tend to run on a schedule at certain times of the year. Examples are:

• Ski trains which operate in winter, with emphasis on weekend service
• Train to the Game in the New York City area goes to Yankee Stadium in the summer and to the New Jersey Meadowlands in the fall

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charter trains.