Pub and restaurant owners are fearing the worst after the north’s Harry Potter steam train was suspended over a near crash incident hundreds of miles away in England.
The Jacobite steam train attracts thousands of tourists to the Fort William to Mallaig line, and its popularity shot up when the train became the Hogwarts Express in the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.
Fans were left spellbound by the iconic scene where the Express races across the Glenfinnan Viaduct on the West Highland Line.
The 84-mile round trip, described as “one of the great railway journeys of the world”, takes visitors past Britain’s highest mountain, deepest loch, shortest river and most westerly station on its way to the west coast fishing village of Mallaig.
But now the West Coast Railways (WCR), the company that runs the heritage train, has been hit with a Network Rail suspension notice for all of their trains after one went through a stop signal and was within minutes of colliding with a high-speed passenger train travelling at 100mph.
It happened near Wootton Basset in Wiltshire on March 7 when a WCR service between Bristol and Southend overshot a busy junction.
The suspension notice states that the company must carry out seven safety actions and if five are completed by May 15, with “demonstrable progress” towards completion of the other two, the suspension notice will be withdrawn.
The Jacobite is scheduled to run from May 11 until the end of October.
Michele Milligan, owner of the Steam Inn in Mallaig, said: “It would be extremely detrimental, in fact catastrophic for us. I have spent more than £100,000 in refurbishments since November last year. A lot of smaller tea rooms and restaurants have emerged in the area because of the trade from the steam train and the existing restaurants have got bigger. When I first took over it was a spit and sawdust place but now I have a nice restaurant and a 130-seater beer garden and if this continues I will have to half my current staff.”
Neil Dennison at The Grog and Gruel in Fort William’s High Street, said this could be a “big blow” for the area, adding: “We certainly get a lot of customers who use the steam train and the guys who run the steam train are locals here.
“Any disruption to the service will be a huge impact. People come to Fort William to use the steam train and there are people queuing there every day.”
A Network Rail spokesman said it was concerned about a recent Signal Passed At Danger (Spad) incident and the company’s response to the problem.
No one from Lancashire-based WCR was available for comment.