What must be one of the busiest and certainly the most expensive narrow gauge railway in the world is a 43km (27 mile) stretch of 3ft (914mm) gauge line which carries the vast majority of visitors to the world famous Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru.
This is a delightful 90-minute trip down the Sacred Valley, but with a single ticket costing around $75 (£55) it is one of the most obscene rip-offs any tourist could be faced with, and a sad reflection of the privatisation process in Peru, which saw the line handed to Perurail – partly British-owned – in 1999. Continue reading “A trip on the world’s most expensive narrow gauge railway”
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Rail travel in Peru is not something that the majority of its population ever gets to experience, but for the tourist wanting a bit of affordable luxury there is nothing to beat a day aboard the Titicaca Train on its thrice-weekly journey between Puno and Cusco.
Completion this month of what is known as Highland Main Line Upgrade Phase Two will see the disappearance of semaphore signalling at two locations along the magnificent route from Perth to Inverness.
For a chance to savour Britain’s finest collection of lower quadrant semaphore signals, and a number of other unique historic features, it is well worth spending a few hours on and around Worcester’s two stations, Shrub Hill and Foregate Street.
In what could well be the final year of daily scheduled steam operation, a major change to the workings from Wolsztyn depot in western Poland is taking place immediately after its famous May Day “Parade” event, which occurs this year on Saturday, 4 May.
Freight services made a re-appearance on the Portsmouth Direct Line on Saturday (2 February), when engineering work in the Southampton area led to a handful of car-carrying services to and from Southampton Docks being diverted along the route through Haslemere and Guildford.
