{"id":7048883,"date":"2026-08-27T06:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T06:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/scotlands-hogwarts-express-derails-days-after-fans-slam-its-new-blue-carriages\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T06:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T06:02:09","slug":"scotlands-hogwarts-express-derails-days-after-fans-slam-its-new-blue-carriages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7048883","title":{"rendered":"Scotland’s ‘Hogwarts Express’ derails days after fans slam its new blue carriages"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The Jacobite, the steam train most folk know as the Hogwarts Express, came off the rails at Mallaig on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Literally.<\/p>\n

On 14 June the 1940s \u201cBlack Five\u201d locomotive that hauls it jumped the track at the platform while shunting round for the run back to Fort William<\/a>, and the West Highland Line sat blocked for the best part of seven hours.<\/p>\n

Nobody was hurt (the thing was barely crawling, around 3.45pm)<\/em>, but ScotRail still had to cancel three of its own services and shove passengers onto replacement buses.<\/p>\n

Normal service was back by Monday morning, so this isn\u2019t a disaster. It\u2019s just the latest knock in what\u2019s been a rough few weeks for Scotland\u2019s most photographed train.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019ve got a ticket booked this summer, you\u2019ll want to know what\u2019s actually going on.<\/p>\n

From maroon to blue, and the \u201cPrimark\u201d jibe<\/h2>\n

The rumor that started all this chatter was true, with one catch: it\u2019s the carriages that changed color, not the engine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The classic maroon Mark 1 coaches, the ones you recognize from the films, still run on the morning departure out of Fort William. But on some services, West Coast Railways (the operator) has been coupling up blue-and-grey ex-Inter-City \u201cMark 2\u201d carriages instead. Old British Rail commuter stock. On the Hogwarts Express<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fans were not amused. The campaign group Friends of the West Highland Lines summed it up better than I could, comparing it to \u201cseeing a Marks & Spencer store from the pavement and going in and finding it\u2019s Primark.\u201d<\/em> Ouch.<\/p>\n

The sore point is that the Jacobite\u2019s own brochure still promises carriages \u201csimilar to those used in the Harry Potter films,\u201d<\/em> and the photos are all maroon. So you can see why folk who\u2019d booked the afternoon train felt a bit short-changed.<\/p>\n

West Coast Railways isn\u2019t apologizing, mind.<\/p>\n

Commercial manager James Shuttleworth pushed back hard: \u201cWe do not differentiate between \u2018heritage\u2019 liveries. Blue\/grey was last applied to service stock by British Rail in the 1980s. It is therefore a heritage livery.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

A heritage livery!<\/p>\n

Technically he\u2019s not wrong. Whether the average tourist who booked this for the Harry Potter photo cares about 1980s British Rail paint schemes\u2026 well, that\u2019s a different question.<\/p>\n

The real reason: a door-lock row with the ORR<\/h2>\n

None of this is really about paint. It\u2019s about doors.<\/p>\n

The rail regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), has been enforcing a rule, roughly 27 years on the books now, that says carriages need central door locking.<\/p>\n

The Jacobite\u2019s lovely old heritage coaches don\u2019t have it.<\/p>\n

That standoff is why the 2026 season started two whole months late, on 1 June, with the full seven-day timetable only kicking in from 10 June.<\/p>\n

West Coast Railways has now agreed to fit central door locking across its Mark 1 fleet, and says it\u2019s going back to the traditional maroon stock after, in its words, \u201cvaluable feedback from our passengers.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Good. That\u2019s the right call.<\/p>\n

But the work is still ongoing, which is exactly why those blue Mark 2s have kept turning up on some afternoon runs this season. You can\u2019t magic a door-locking system onto a 70-year-old carriage overnight.<\/p>\n

Booked a seat this summer? Read this first<\/h2>\n

Right, the practical bit. The Jacobite is running, it crosses the Glenfinnan Viaduct<\/a> every day it operates, and that view alone is worth the fare. I\u2019d still go in a heartbeat. Just go in with your eyes open:<\/p>\n