‘Jacobite’ jostling
THERE have been some fun and games on the railways around Fort William this month as, in answer to the question we posed last month about who would blink first in the ‘Jacobite’ saga, it appears the answer was West Coast Railway (WCR).
Readers will recall that back on March 20, just days before the ‘Jacobite’ season was due to begin, WCR announced it was pulling the hugely popular steam workings to Mallaig in a row over fitting central door locking (CDL) to its Mk.1 carriages. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) had said it was time for WCR to fall in line with other operators and fit CDL, but WCR said this would take time to enact, and in the meantime wanted to carry on running the trains with non-CDL coaches – as it has done for almost 30 years now.