Touring the SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS by luxury train

Even Edna St. Vincent Millay, who insisted that there wasn’t a train she wouldn’t take no matter where it was going, might be at a loss for words aboard Britain’s Royal Scotsman.

Just imagine chugging through the Scottish Highlands in an 1892 glass-windowed observation car while a cheerful young butler in morning coat pours chilled champagne, or being led by tartan-clad bagpipers down a country lane to meet the laird of the castle.

Visualize yourself dancing a Highland fling with the gentlemen who make Chivas Regal at the Strathisla distillery (after a discreet sampling of their product), or eating fresh-poached salmon in the oldest railway dining car in use anywhere in the world.

The Royal Scotsman is an excursion sleeper train that carries a maximum of 30 passengers through three or six days of Scottish luxury and indulgence, a way of wrapping oneself in the atmosphere, history and culture of Scotland as easily as one draws on a fine cashmere robe.

And if thinking of Scotland brings images of moors and dour country folk, chilly castles presided over by kin of the Macbeths, and oatmeal-and-haggis dinners, you’ve either never been here or have been away far too long.

We left a cool, rainy June morning in London by British Rail for Edinburgh and came blissfully into warm Scottish sunshine and scenery much more beautiful than we had remembered. The fields and hillsides were green and rich, set off with accents of fluffy white sheep and bright-yellow broom and gorse, and great fat blossoms of rhododendron in pink and purple lined the tracks along our way.

Edinburgh’s Waverley Station was our starting point; the BritRail express from London’s King’s Cross station had taken about five hours--hardly longer than the time and trouble to go from London to Heathrow, fly to Edinburgh, then take a cab into the railway station. Besides, it helped ease us from the late 20th Century into the 19th.

The Great Scottish & Western Railway Co. is headed by Fergus Hobbs, formerly one of the forces behind Continental Waterways’ luxury barge tours of France, and the Royal Scotsman has many of the same delightful, deluxe approaches to package travel.

As on the barges, one feels like an invited guest at a select country-house party. Our fellow travelers, sophisticates all, were from California, Hawaii, Geneva, London, Sussex, Kentucky, Ohio and Toronto, and ranged in age from a pretty and precocious 13-year-old girl to a retired English gentleman in his 70s.

Although we have enjoyed some railway excursions with train buffs, such as the gentleman on the nostalgic Istanbul Orient Express who wore his striped engineer’s overalls and hat and red bandanna all through Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria, the other passengers aboard the Royal Scotsman seemed content with the sybaritic aspects of the expensive trip.

Still, railway enthusiasts will get excited about the carefully restored late Victorian and Edwardian day cars, the 4-6-0 Great Western Railway steam locomotive that draws the train between Fort William and Mallaig, and the overnight stop beside the privately funded Strathspey Steam Railway Co. at Boat of Garten, where aficionados can find all manner of railroad memorabilia in the museum and shop.

Sightseeing is not confined to what you see from the glass-windowed caboose of the observation car (or from a lazy, reclining position in your bedroom compartment, where the windows can be opened for fresh air and picture-taking).

When time comes to visit, say, the tragic battlefield at Culloden where Bonnie Prince Charlie was vanquished, the custom-designed Royal Scotsman bus comes down to the station to fetch you, and the train waits on a siding until you return. And it isn’t merely a run-of-the-mill sightseeing bus, either; it’s cushiony, with stretch-out-your-legs seats that are upholstered to match the saloon-car sofas on the train.

The first Royal Scotsman excursion ran May 15, 1985, and its marketers, Abercrombie & Kent in Chicago, have scheduled it to run in the spring, summer and fall of each year. The six-day journey goes from Wednesday afternoons through Tuesday mornings, while two three-day versions, beginning on Wednesday or Saturday afternoons, also are available. Whichever you choose, you’ll board in Edinburgh’s Waverley Station.

Award-Winning Hotelier

The hotel part of the train is managed by Stephen Coupe, an award-winning young hotelier from Cromlix House in Perthshire. “I like looking after people,” Coupe says, “and years ago I decided that small was better,” so serving luxurious movable feasts to 30 people in fin-de-siecle elegance seemed the perfect challenge.

His handpicked staff, all veterans of the same luxurious country hotel, strike a good balance between correct formal service and warm personal demeanor.

The food must be talked about, perhaps even raved about. Andrew Radford and Mark Newell, in a galley so tiny that they can hardly pass each other, turn out culinary miracles from all fresh ingredients: a still-life of fresh salmon, turbot, langouste, lobster and prawns napped with beurre blanc and garnished with caviar; noisettes of white veal with morels and chanterelles; homemade nectarine ice cream in a crisp cookie shell topped with raspberry sauce.

“It’s getting easier with practice,” Radford said. “We know when to expect the pot to fall from the top of the cupboard now.”

The train is not always moving, of course. It pulls onto a siding for dinner and overnight, then departs around breakfast time the next morning. As on the Orient Express, passengers dress up for dinner, many wearing black-tie outfits. While daytime dress is more casual, it is still tailored, with no jeans or jogging outfits to be seen.

Robes Are Provided

Terry-cloth robes are provided in each cabin for trips to the shower room and water closet, which are large, spotless and tiled. Some compartments have private bathrooms with shower, for supplementary charges.

The Royal Scotsman has other features that are different from Orient Express trains: All compartments have lower beds and can be booked as singles, doubles or adjoining singles.

Beds do not convert to seats in the daytime, which encourages guests to ride in the observation or saloon car rather than in the private compartments. Built-in wardrobes provide more space for hanging garments. Each compartment has its own washbasin.

In the observation car, tea is served every afternoon--with appropriate baked goods (a Dundee cake on the day we traveled through Dundee, for instance). Early-morning juice and coffee is available before breakfast.

Sightseeing highlights on the three-day southern route include the splendid Burrell Collection of Art in Glasgow; a personal visit to Achnacarry stronghold (where Sir Donald Cameron, clan chieftain of the Lochiel, is often on hand to conduct your tour), and a visit to the home and gardens of Scone Palace.

Northern Itinerary

The three-day northern itinerary features a tour of the “tower house” Castle of Crathes and its lavish gardens surrounded by yew hedges; an evening of entertainment and whisky tasting at Strathisla distillery; a tour of Culloden battlefield; a visit to Kyle of Lochalsh and the Isle of Skye; Cawdor and Dunrobin castles, and Strathspey Steam Railway Co.

The Oldest Golf Course

Passengers on the six-day itinerary also visit St. Andrews, where the shopping is good and there’s time for a glimpse--but not a game--at the Old Course, the world’s oldest golf course, and a tour of Glamis Castle, ancestral home of the Queen Mother.

Fares for Royal Scotsman excursions are $1,340 per person, double or single occupancy, for the three-day itineraries; $2,380 for the six-day tour. Supplement for private bathroom with shower is $480 for the three-day, $880 for the six-day. British Airways is the cooperating carrier; air fare is extra.

For information or reservations, contact Abercrombie & Kent, 1000 Oak Brook Road, Oak Brook, Ill. 60521, telephone (312) 887-7766, or your travel agent, or The Great Scottish & Western Railway Co. Ltd., 127 Albert Bridge Road, London SW11 4PL, England.