Royal Highlander

The Royal Highlander was a named passenger train travelling between London, England and Inverness, Scotland.

In the 1950s the Northbound train's scheduled departure from London Euston was 7:25pm, stopping at Crewe, Carlisle, Perth, Pitlochry, Blair Atholl, Dalwhinne, Newtonmore, Kingussie, Kincraig, Aviemore, Carrbridge, Tomatin, Moy, Daviot and Inverness, arriving approximately 9:00am next day. The Southbound train departed Inverness at approximately 5:30pm and followed the reverse route, although with fewer stops at the local stations.

A dining car offered dinner service between London and Crewe, where it was uncoupled at approximately 10pm. A breakfast car was added at Perth at approximately 6am, offering a full cooked breakfast to accompany dawn views of the Grampians during the slow pull over Drumochter Pass behind a steam double-header.

1st, 2nd and 3rd class sleeper services were offered, as well as 1st/3rd class compartments. Trains were typically about 12 cars long, of which not more than three would have contained standard seating. The fare surcharge for a 2nd class sleeper berth was 22/6! The sleeping compartment accommodations themselves appear not to have substantially changed in design until 2012

The Royal Highlander was in its day the longest-distance through train in the UK, as well as the longest travel time of almost 14 hours.