The Guardian view on heritage railways: where the British summertime gets steamy | Editorial

Up to 95% of the 18.5m journeys on heritage railways each year are taken by domestic tourists. They owe their popularity to a combination of nostalgia, enjoyment of the countryside as seen from a railway carriage and enthusiasm for the old engines that are the heart of each enterprise. The Waverley paddle steamer, which operates as a charity running excursions on bodies of water, ranging from Scotland to the Isle of Wight, is run along similar lines.