Europe's last regular standard-gauge steam passenger service | Hacker News Reader

Europe's last regular standard-gauge steam passenger service

parowozowniawolsztyn.pl

119 pointsGungulSurm27 comments

There’s loads of standard gauge steam in the UK with regular service, but it seems that these are excluded because

1) flying Scotsman as it’s not regular service with integrated tickets but runs on public railways and stations

2) festiniog has integrated tickets and runs to normal station but is narrow guage

3) north yorks, swanage, bluebell, svr, Dartmouth etc are regular service to real stations but arent integrated. Dartmouth (kingswear) is certainly used for non tourist purposes.

The Severn Valley railway is about to start a trial where you can buy a standard railway network ticket to Bewdley which is then valid on the SVR on special purpose trains for the Kidderminster to Bewdley section; some of those will be steam. I think if that trial becomes a permanent operation it would count.

https://svr.co.uk/news/heritage-trains-to-carry-commuters-as...

Yes, and the UK's industry body - Rail Delivery Group - has thoroughly screwed up distribution of the timetable data for this trial... so no online retailers (with the exception of BR Fares) will be selling tickets for the operation. Hardly a fair trial.

Does the line still pass the giraffe enclosure? It's been a few years since I was on it. Around 12 years ago it was the elephants.

Yes, though I think it's being positioned as a commuter service for the people of Bewdley to get to Birmingham and back rather than for visitors to get to Bewdley.

The Isle of Man has some too, and yes, some people do use them to commute although most of the passengers are tourists.

Just took steam out to Holt on Monday. The conductor mentioned it was the first run in weeks due to the drought.

I also think there must be more

Not sure from the page but I rode one coal powered steam train in Poland for “fun” and i wish i never did. It was an open carriage trip in koszalin and the pollution it did was such that coal particles rained on everyone. It was awful and I don’t get the nostalgia of riding such an obsolete vehicle. I was so outraged about it I told my wife the experience was like trying to experience a big pre industrial city without sewage system and finding it nostalgic.

Coal or ash in the smoke means they didn't operate the engine correctly. The smoke is supposed to be quite minimal (in particular relative to the massive amount of exhaust steam) and free from significant solids. Ash is dumped in special areas in daily maintenance.

Sad to hear you had a bad experience.

We rode a birch log powered narrow gauge steam train and it was absolutely splendid. There was some smoke but it was nice and adding to the experience. Mostly it was steam clouds. Open and closed carriages were available. It was very slow mind you.

Funny, I rode many steam trains and I love it. I even plan trip at places specifically to enjoy an obsolete, stinking, smoky ride :)

My sympathies; I did the same elsewhere once (during sporadic rain, so the ash stuck!) and had an absolute ball. The novelty was fantastic but I am however under no illusions that I'd ever want to live during a period where that was the prevailing technology.

Different strokes, eh.

Funny that you can buy tickets for this train as a part of the countrywide train network system, but they don’t have a right graphic for this kind of train. The website displays an electric unit with no information that this will be a steam engine: https://koleo.pl/connection/c21a973b-4eaa-55bd-80d0-5dd2541a...

If you're interest in this, there are holiday operators that offer packages, e.g.:

> We offer the wonderful nostalgia of travelling by private train in luxurious carriages through spectacular landscapes behind vintage steam locomotives to captivating locations. With delightful cuisine and fantastic hand selected hotels all alongside our vibrant and experienced Holidays Team, you will be sure to experience an unforgettable trip.

* https://www.belletrains.co.uk/about-belle-trains

Richard Bowker of the Green Signals railway podcast has a video about their 2026 package through the Alps:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QvRL98aEuQ

2027 will be in Ireland:

* https://www.belletrains.co.uk/emerald-belle-2027

Train nerd here..

In Australia there are a fair few steam tourist train services. Not regular time tabled ones unfortunately. These ones operate on the main line & are not limited to their specific line.

https://www.picnictrain.com.au/ NSW / around Sydney https://www.steamrail.com.au/tours VIC / around Melbourne

https://transportheritageexpo.com/ NSW/Sydney (Gov supported) https://www.steamfest.com.au/ NSW (Hunter Region/New Castle) [1.5-2h north of Sydney]

Yes coal particles will rain on your face if you stick your head out of the window.

By the way, wasn't there a monorail in Sydney that was dismantled in recent years? I remember watching some show where this train was running in the background

Yes, but it was always a bit of a tourist trap: one-way service only, tickets overpriced and not integrated with the rest of the Sydney network, etc. And sadly it was not steam powered.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Monorail

Hah, literally named Sydney Monorail - thanks

Okay, now I really want to ride a steam-powered monorail

https://www.tanatvalleyrailway.co.uk/monoloco

Steam powered Maglev! Oh wait O guess every electric train is technically still steam powered for the majority..

Literally the Simpsons episode

Google bought one of the decommissioned monorail carriages and turned it into meeting rooms named North Haverbrook and Ogdenville.

This is a nice, recent article on the Wolsztyn service, if you don't read Polish:

https://railwayworld.net/2026/03/21/daily-steam-services-res...

This is unrelated, but will put a smile on your face if you like steam and real world narrow gauge:

https://railwayworld.net/2026/08/09/a-remarkable-revival-of-...

After WW2 the Dutch railway system was in such a bad state that it had to be completely rebuilt. This was a blessing because they could electrify the network in one go without annoying questions regarding budgets.

Destruction breeds creation.

In Strasburg PA, there is a place called the Strasburg Railroad that regularly runs steam engines for tourists.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com