The North Highland Explorer

Join us for a rare opportunity to enjoy steam in the highlands of Scotland as our annual tour of Great Britain travels from Inverness to Wick and Thurso.

We leave Inverness early in the morning for a diesel hauled adventure to Wick, an exceptionally scenic and often remote journey along the full length of the Far North line, an unforgettable route that hasn’t hosted a steam hauled train for quite some time.

The train runs along Beauly Firth to Dingwall, where we take the Far North line onwards along the edge of Cromarty Firth to Invergordon. We skirt the edge of Dornoch Firth before cutting through more beautiful valleys to Tain and ultimately to the ocean at Golspie.

Heading inland from Helmsdale, you’ll experience some extremely remote terrain as we go off-grid through Kinbrace, Forsinard and Altnabreac stations then onwards to Georgemas junction.

After that we’ll cut across Caithness to Wick, where our steam locomotive for the return journey to Inverness meets us.

We’ll be steam hauled out of Wick to Georgemas Junction before joining the short branch line to Thurso, Britain’s most northerly station. The journey back to Georgemas junction is diesel hauled, after which we turn around and return to Inverness, steam hauled all the way.

There’s a dramatic climb through Altnabreac to County March Summit, then an equally thrilling descent via various remote stations to Helmsdale. The coast is yours to enjoy to Golspie, then there’s an exciting steep incline up to Dunrobin station, a private station built for the Duke of Sutherland who used to live at nearby Dunrobin Castle. More hard climbing follows to Lairg Summit before we enjoy a less severe but equally attractive loch and coastal run, a relaxing evening return journey taking us back to Inverness.

On Board Catering