HIGHLAND EXPRESS

All aboard!

Discover more magical train rides with Michael Portillo on BBC Two’s Great Coastal Railway Journeys, available on iPlayer

There’s still something romantic about rail travel across the British Isles. Stepping on board at your departure station marks the beginning of an adventure as your train gets underway to take you effortlessly to your destination.

Grab a window seat and then sit back to watch the journey unfold outside: townscapes giving way to suburbs, which in turn are replaced by a rolling countryside of fields, trees, hills, hedgerows, moors, mountains and stunning coastal views.

There’s a more intimate connection with the landscape as your train whisks you on high embankments, across tall viaducts and through those tunnelled feats of engineering. When there’s a steam locomotive at the head of your train,