The ''Scarborough Spa Express'' (SSE) is a regular summer heritage

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

service between and . It is currently operated by the

West Coast Railways West Coast Railways (WCR) is a railway spot-hire company and charter train operator based at Carnforth MPD in Lancashire. Using buildings and other facilities previously owned by the Steamtown Carnforth visitor attraction, in June 1998 the comp ...

, but has been operated in previous years by different companies, including the Railway Touring Company.

History

92220 EVENING STAR crosses Knaresborough Viaduct

Railway line approaching Scarborough - geograph

Regular steam operations on most of

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

(BR) ended in 1968. In the early 1970s, BR allowed steam back on the main line, using preserved steam locomotives, and in 1978 it ran a series of trains during the summer months on a circular route from via and . In 1981, the route was extended to after a

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was reinstated and named the ''Scarborough Spa Express''. These ran until 1988, but ceased when the staff at York who were responsible were reassigned to separate divisions at

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

and

Regional Railways Regional Railways was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982 that existed until 1997, two years after privatisation. The sector was originally called ''Provincial''. Regional Railways was the most subsidised (per pas ...

In the 2000s

After 1988, there were occasional steam railtours to Scarborough, featuring locomotives which included 60800 ''Green Arrow'', 46229 ''Duchess of Hamilton'', 48151 ''Gauge O' Guild'', 3440 ''City of Truro'' and 45596 ''Bahamas''. It was not until 2002 that regular trips began again. These were introduced by

and ran from Scarborough to York and return for three days a week during July and August. The same format was used again in 2003. The

National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant r ...

(NRM) began running a service directly from York to Scarborough in 2004. 4472 ''Flying Scotsman'', having just been acquired by the NRM, was the main locomotive used, but 45407 ''The Lancashire Fusilier'' was available in the event of any failure. 5972 ''Olton Hall'' also stood in on at least one occasion, still wearing its Hogwarts Expres livery. The NRM sponsored the SSE until the end of 2006, when they decided to hand over the running of the SSE to the Railway Touring Company. In 2007, the Railway Touring Company included the Harrogate loop in the SSE itinerary once more and ran a number of very successful tours during July and August. In 2008-2009, WCR took over the running of the SSE and they again utilised the Harrogate loop, running on three days a week during July and August. In 2010, the route was changed when gauging problems on the Harrogate loop put a stop to any steam locomotive using that route. This is how the Wakefield Circle was born, with WCR again running the SSE three days a week during July and August. The route was York----- and back to York; then, from York the usual trip to Scarborough and back to York and the Wakefield Circle as per the morning run, and finally returning to York at 21-00. It was intended that the same route would be used in 2012. As at 2019, it operates on selected Thursdays during the summer, being hauled by a WCR diesel from to York where a steam locomotive takes over for the journey to Scarborough.Choice of two journeys
West Coast Railways

Locomotives

The following locomotives have been used: * 4472 ''Flying Scotsman'' * 60009 ''Union of South Africa'' * 6233 ''Duchess of Sutherland'' * 45231 ''The Sherwood Forester'' *45407 ''The Lancashire Fusilier'' * 34067 ''Tangmere'' * 45690 Leander * 48151 ''Gauge O Guild'' * 70013 ''Oliver Cromwell'' * 45699 ''Galatea'' * 35018 ''British India Line'' *46115 Scot Guardsman On 31 July 2007, 6233 ''Duchess of Sutherland'' made its first run of the summer but hit a bridge on the approach to Harrogate, this caused minor damage to the drivers side of the firebox. Because of this incident 6233 was not allowed on the Harrogate line for the remainder of the year.

References

{{reflist

External links

West Coast Railways
Named passenger trains of British Rail Rail transport preservation in the United Kingdom Rail transport in North Yorkshire Railway services introduced in 1981 1981 establishments in England