West Coast Railway Company (WCR) has been a licensed Train Operating Company since 1998, when it became the first privately owned company to obtain a licence, under rail privatisation, so allowing the Company to co-ordinate and run its own trains without third-party involvement. Based at Carnforth, Lancashire, having developed from Steamtown Railway Museum, which opened there in 1968, the year when steam was finally withdrawn by BR, it currently operates three regular timetabled services, which, together with its other charter operations, amount to approximately 400 train operations per annum.
WCR renamed one of its steam locomotives, the "Olton Hall," and repainted for use in the Harry Potter films. "Olton Hall" is seen pulling the Hogwarts Express in all the movies, and footage was filmed both at King's Cross Station in London and along the Glenfinnan Viaduct, part of the West Highland Line.
WCR also operates the Jacobite Express, a steam train excursion that operates during the summer months from Fort William to Mallaig with stops at Glenfinnan (featuring a small museum about the West Highland Line in its station house) and Arisaig (the westernmost railway station on Mainland Britain). The highlight of the route is when it passes over the Glenfinnan Viaduct.
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 "Lord of the Isles", No. 60025, at Fort William, July 31, 2005 |  "Lord of the Isles", No. 60025, at Fort William, July 31, 2005 |  "Lord of the Isles", No. 60025, at Glenfinnan, July 31, 2005 |
 "Lord of the Isles", No. 60025, at Mallaig, July 31, 2005 |  Passenger coaches at Fort William, July 31, 2005 |  The Glenfinnan Viaduct where footage for the Harry Potter films was made, July 31, 2005 |
 "Lord of the Isles", No. 60025, crossing the Glenfinnan Viaduct, July 31, 2005 |  "Lord of the Isles", No. 60025, at Fort William, July 31, 2005 | |
 EWS Class 37 at Fort William, July 31, 2005 |  Class 37 No. 37261 (most likely) at Arisaig, July 31, 2005 |