Royal Highlander

The Royal Highlander was a named passenger train[1] travelling between London, England and Aberdeen, Scotland from 1927.

[5] The service was expanded during the "Rush to the Moors" when it left in six portions, each for a separate district, Inverness, Aberdeen and Perth, Forres line, Oban and Stranraer.

[8] At 4.25am on 16 November 1937 in dense fog the Royal Highlander running at around 15 miles per hour (24 km/h) ran into the back of the Night Scotsman near Crewe.

[10] In the 1950s the Northbound train's scheduled departure from London Euston was 7:25pm, stopping at Rugby, Stafford, 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.

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