SHORT HST FOR SKIPTON TO CARLISLE SERVICES
RAIL CHARTER Services’ popular tourist service over the Settle and Carlisle line will return this summer, but with a change in rolling stock to a 2+5 HST set and a different service pattern including a trip to Carlisle.
The service, which operated for the first time in summer 2020, was intended to provide a day out over one of the UK’s most scenic routes through a difficult year, when many people were forced to forego their annual holidays; because of this the service rapidly became known as ‘The Staycation Express’. ‘This is a visitor attraction and not a railtour, so we are going to be less ambitious with the number of trains we run, which will also keep the costs of the operation under control, and run them at times when people really want to travel’ RCS Director Adrian Quine explained to Modern Railways.
