11 August 1968: the last steam passenger service in Britain

On this day in 1968, the 'Fifteen Guinea Special', Britain's last mainline steam passenger train, ran from Liverpool to Carlisle, ahead of British Railways' steam ban.

The 'Fifteen Guinea Special' at Carlisle © Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images
The 'Fifteen Guinea Special' at Carlisle
(Image credit: © Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images)

After World War II, the low price of domestic coal meant steam trains continued to operate in the UK for two decades. But when the price of oil started to fall in the 1960s, and so-called 'dieselisation' began, it marked the beginning of the end for steam.

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