Just been looking into the possibility of going on WCRC's Jacobite next year, but on reading Trip Advisor reviews, there seem to be regular comments of "No Heating". Assuming the Mk1 coaches used are steam heated, can that be right?
In my experience, steam heating is useless.
If in good repair it works very well,
Depends where you're sitting. Generally it works far better at the front of the train than it does at the back, but the design of it is fundamentally very inefficient.
if sat close to the engine. if not......................................
It's romantic and all that but very inefficient.
Given that it runs from early April to late October, in Scotland, I think there will be many days when passengers would legitimately expect a working heating system.
An alternative that I did last year is to use the ScotRail service but time it so that you will see the steam train at Mallaig. Your ScotRail train is likely to be less busy and you can book a window seat. My priority was the views which didn't disappoint. The ScotRail option is a lot cheaper and was warm when I travelled in April.
I did the Jacobite at the end of September. Wasn't very cold weather, but was right at extreme end of the train. No difference in heat in either direction... Well worth it though, and found a great pub for lunch before most of the other travellers arrived. I was surprised how many one-way travellers there were