Time to ban steam trains?

[Eddie]

I've just been watching a couple of recorded programmes of "Scotland's Beautiful Railways" which featured a couple of famous old steam trains (including the Flying Scotsman) traversing the lines. What was clear is that significant investment had been made into the locos to keep them running and some of the staff seemed happy to work for nothing but the sheer enjoyment of being part of something historical.

It brought back happy memories of a week in the summer spent travelling to Skye via the Kyle of Lochalsh and back from Mallaig (on a SailRail ticket). Two "Jacobite" steam trains a day manage to travel between Fort William to Mallaig and back on a single track line which also has 4 ScotRail trains a day in each direction.

There must be a blueprint here for ensuring the steam trains and service trains can happily co-exist.

Btw, I can thoroughly recommend the trip.