UK: Over 1,000 main line steam trains in 2010

[John Ashworth]

From The Railway Magazine, April 2011, p73:

Busiest year for charters since rail privatisation

The year 2010 was the steamiest in the whole of the Privatisation era.

...there were a staggering 508 steam charters on Network Rail's metals last year, covering 81,204 miles and using 24 steam locomotives...

"Despite the nine failures in 2010, it was an exceptional performance..."

... it can be revealed that the casualty mileage rate is better for steam locomotives than for some so-called modern forms of traction operating daily on the NR network...

Two years ago Network Rail reduced its charges by about 50%...

Although they cannot be classed as charters, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway's Whitby and Battersby timetabled trains are still main line steam specials and there were 540 to Whitby and 30 more to Battersby last year, covering 7,625 miles.

When those are taken into account, 2010 saw more than 1,000 steam services operate on the main line and covering nearly 90,000 miles. Does the UK run the most main line steam in the world?...

How does 2011 look? Well, there are even more steam charters advertised...

CHARTERS FACT FILE

1997 - 170 charters covering 13,000 miles (14 locos)
2000 - 296 covering 36,000 miles
2009 - 440 covering 69,626 miles
2010 - 508 covering 81,204 miles (24 locos)