What's on the itinerary for Michael Portillo in the latest series of his Great British Railway Journeys?

 

THE WEST HIGHLAND LINE 

 

 

Here, the pleasure starts before you’ve even set foot on board: from the moment you book, you can start annoying railway purists by referring to it as “the Harry Potter line”. There’s a danger you’ll be one of their number by the time you’ve finished the trip, though: the “Hogwarts Express” Viaduct (Glenfinnan) isn’t even the most spectacular part of the route. That honour probably belongs to the epic emptiness of Rannoch Moor, and the lonely little station at Corrour (also a celluloid star, after a cameo in Trainspotting). Tranquil Loch Lomond, looming Ben Nevis and the bonkers, almost 360-degree loop of Horseshoe Curve beneath Beinn Dorain are all contenders, however – and that’s before you’ve even considered buzzy Glasgow at one end of the five-hour trip, and Mallaig’s ferry link to the Isle of Skye at the other… scotrail.co.uk 

 

 

SNOWDON MOUNTAIN RAILWAY

 

 

 

 

Mountaineering is so much more civilised when you can do it sitting down, isn’t it? And if it seems bizarre that you can climb the highest mountain in England and Wales by rail, it will seem even stranger – as you puff serenely past them – that so many people still insist on slogging up it on foot. The journey takes a good hour, so there’s plenty of time to take in the gorges, waterfalls, viaducts, valleys, summits, crumbling stone cottages, old stone chapels and gyring peregrine falcons, and to swap a few tales of the mythinspiring landscape (“That’s the cave where Owain Glyndwr lies in wait to lead the Welsh out in battle against the English!”; “Those are the rocks where witch Canthrig Bwt is said to catch children!”; “Here’s the grave of the ogre Rhita Gawr, slain by King Arthur!”). Best of all, this year the train is stopping at the last station before the top – so you get to walk the final stretch to the summit like a hero anyway! snowdonrailway.co.uk 

 

 

THE NIGHT RIVIERA 

 

 

Choosing between Britain’s two great overnight services is tough: the Caledonian Sleeper – linking London, Edinburgh, Glasgow and the Highlands – has some spectacular stretches; but for giddy off-on-hols thrills, leaving London just before midnight and waking up beside a beach in Devon or Cornwall is unbeatable. The Night Riviera can deposit you at Plymouth or Penzance, which means you can be sharing late-night drinks in the lounge car with a fantastic mix of constituency MPs, business people, farmers and surfers – before retiring to your cabin for the night. Their look is like an aeroplane’s business-class, but with a lot more space, proper beds and that lovely rolling rhythm to rock you to sleep. Don’t lie in, mind: towards the end of the trip, the track runs close enough to the sea for the train to get splashed by waves, and you won’t want to miss those seagull-speckled views. gwr.com 

 

 

 

THE SETTLE AND CARLISLE LINE 

 

 

If Portillo’s choice of routes for the new series is questionable, his taste was spot-on when, as Margaret Thatcher’s transport minister, he stepped in to save this 105-minute slice of gorgeousness from closure. It’s a jaw-slackening feat of Victorian engineering – 21 viaducts, 14 tunnels, 72 miles of track – but it’s the natural beauty that quickens passengers’ pulses here. More than a third of the route wanders through the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the kind of God’s-honest handsomeness of the land there, which looks as good under grey skies as it does in buttery late-evening summer sunshine. The unquestioned high point (pun regrettably unavoidable) is the Ribblehead Viaduct, whose 24 arches soar 32 metres into the sky as if to echo Pen-y-ghent fell beyond. settle-carlisle.co.uk 

 

 

THE BELMOND BRITISH PULLMAN 

 

 

There are plenty of companies promising to “whisk you back to the golden age of luxury railway travel” on gussied-up trains with fancy dining cars – but the dowager duchess of them all is undoubtedly Belmond’s 1920s British Pullman. When not in use for the UK leg of the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, it roves the country on a variety of scenic routes, though you may forget to look through the windows, so splendid are the food, drink, interiors and pedigree: previous passengers in these carriages include Charles de Gaulle, Nelson Mandela, the Queen and the Queen Mother… belmond.com

 

Great British Railway Journeys Monday—Friday 6.30pm BBC2/BBC iPlayer

 

Ed Grenby