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Jacobite Steam Train Tours › The Jacobite Steam Train with Kids: Fares, Ages and Long DaysUpdated 2026-09-25

The Jacobite Steam Train with Kids: Fares, Ages and Long Days

Hours, prices and access verified by the Jacobite Steam Train Tours team — last checked 2026-09-25.

Locomotive 45407 with The Jacobite headboard at a station platform

The short answer. Children love the engine and the views, and the train is easy with them: tables, a buffet car and your own snacks allowed. The hard part is the day around it. A child aged 16 or under pays £43 for a standard return from Fort William. Most tours with the train will not take children under five, and a day from Edinburgh lasts twelve to fourteen hours.

If you are travelling with children, the question is less "will they like it?" and more "can they manage the day?". The train itself is about two hours each way. Everything that makes the trip long happens before and after. Here is how to plan it by age.

What a child pays

West Coast Railways prices a child as anyone aged 16 or under. These are the 2026 fares for a same-day return.

TicketStandard classFirst class
Adult day return£76£116
Child day return, 16 or under£43£76
Family of two adults, two children£238£384

The family line is simply two adult and two child fares added up; there is no family ticket. First class needs at least two passengers. A booking fee of at least £3.75 applies. Tour fares are per person. The rest of the fare detail is on the Jacobite visitor guide.

The minimum age on each kind of tour

Every tour sets its own lower limit. Most of those with the train start at five.

Important. Bring proof of age. The viaduct day from Charlotte Square asks for a passport or birth certificate for children, and the two-day and four-day trips ask for the same. The private days with infant seats are compared on jacobite steam train tour from edinburgh.

Surviving a twelve-hour day

A day tour from Edinburgh leaves early and comes back late. The ride day runs thirteen hours, the Gray Line day fourteen, and the viaduct days twelve. That is a lot of sitting for a young child.

  • Pack food. No tour here includes lunch. You can bring your own food onto the train, and there is a buffet car.
  • Plan the loo. On the viaduct day from Castle Terrace the first stop is about an hour and a half out, and there are no toilets on the bus.
  • Travel sickness. It is a long road day; bring medication if your child needs it.
  • Something to do. A book or a game for the road; the scenery wins on the train.

If that sounds like too much, split the trip. The two-day and four-day trips build in nights, and the private days let you set the pace and stop when you need to.

What children like most

Ask a child and it is the engine: the bark of the exhaust, the steam and the long note of the whistle. The Black Five that usually hauls the train is a working engine of a class first built in 1934. After that it is the crossing itself. The train slows on the curve of the Glenfinnan Viaduct if time permits, and for Harry Potter fans that is the moment of the day.

At Glenfinnan the visitor centre has a model of the 1745 gathering, which the National Trust for Scotland calls a favourite with every child who visits. In Mallaig, at the end of the line, there is the harbour and the fish and chips. The stops and what is at each one are on the route page.

Did you know? The train takes its name from the glen. At Glenfinnan, on 19 August 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard and began the last Jacobite rising, and the 18-metre Glenfinnan Monument by the loch marks the spot.

Breaks along the line

The train gives children two natural breaks. On the morning service you have 1 hour 45 minutes in the harbour town at the end of the line before the train turns for home: time for lunch, the boats and a walk. If the timetable allows, the train also pauses at Glenfinnan station, where the restored station building holds the West Highland Railway Museum.

At Glenfinnan itself, a family ticket from the National Trust for Scotland costs £13, or £8 for one adult with children, and a child alone is £4. The car park is £5. Both are worth knowing if you drive yourself and stop on the way to or from the train.

Seats, tables and pushchairs

Standard class seats you around tables for four, which suits a family of four well. First class has tables for two and four. On a tour you cannot choose where you sit, and on the Gray Line day even a small group may be split across tables.

The coaches date from the 1950s and 1960s, and their doorways are narrow. West Coast Railways cannot take a wheelchair into the seating area, but it tries to store folding chairs and to seat anyone with limited mobility near the doors. More on the carriages is on what to expect on board.

Our pick by age

  • Under 3: a private day with infant seats, watching the train rather than riding it.
  • 3 to 4: the two-day trip from Edinburgh, which rides one way and stops for the night.
  • 5 to 12: the ride day from Edinburgh, or the day from Inverness if you are staying there.
  • Teenagers: the three days from Inverness, with Skye's Fairy Pools and the Quiraing after the train.

Whatever you book, keep one eye on the weather and a plan for a diesel day. What happens if the Jacobite is cancelled explains your options.

Where these facts come from

Trips that take younger children

Next: Check which way you will be facing in choosing a seat on the Jacobite. Every way onto the train, and every way to watch it, sits side by side on Jacobite Steam Train Tours.