In May 2018, Midwest Rail Rangers President Robert Tabern and Midwest Rail Rangers Education Officer Kandace Tabern spent two
weeks exploring the various train lines of England, Scotland, and
Wales... everything from heritage steam locomotive trips... to taking the
Eurostar at nearly 200mph for a day trip to Paris, France. Robert and Kandace will be sharing their candid
experiences with you over the course of the next eight months in a
series of TrainWeb articles that document their journeys.
Hopefully this will inspire you to someday ride the rails of the United
Kingdom if you haven't got the chance yet. Below is a map of what railroad
routes the Tabern's were able to cover:
If you are planning a visit to
Scotland, one of the “must see” railroads on your list would definitely
be the Strathspey Railway, which is based in Aviemore. If this city
sounds familiar to you, then you might have read our previous TW
articles in this series about the Cairngorm Mountain Funicular
(released in November 2018) or ScotRail (released in December 2018).
All of these trains are located with-in easy driving distance of
Aviemore -- making it a perfect location to spend a few days on your
itinerary.
Originally opened in 1863, the Strathspey Railway primarily served
the timber and distillery industries; unfortunately, it closed to
passengers a century later in 1965. That wasn't the end though... part
of the line (from Aviemore to Broomhill) was re-opened by the
Strathspey Railway Association in 1978. Many of the old stations were
restored... and the whole operation now gives an experience of rail
travel in the 1950's. The varied countryside with the Cairngorm
Mountains as the backdrop provides for an amazing ride all-around. When
planning your trip on the Strathspey, note there are departures from
Aviemore, Boat of Garten and Broomhill stations. The full 20-mile
round-trip journey takes about an-hour-and-a-half. The trains are
pulled by a selection of historic steam engines, the oldest of which is
a Caledonian Railway Engine, built at the famous Saint Rollox plant in
Glasgow.
As we were planning for the trip, we contacted railroad officials
at the Strathspey and told them we planned to write an article about
their organization; in turn, they set up a very special “behind the
scenes” tour for us, led by historian Paul Blount. We met Paul on the
morning of Wednesday, May 23, 2018 at the Aviemore ScotRail station. We
immediately thought it was interesting that both ScotRail and the
Strathspey tourist line board from the same station. Paul explained
that when the steam train began operating, British Rail policy
prohibited the Strathspey Railway from using Aviemore's main station,
despite it having a spare platform. Instead the service operated from a
separate station a little farther up the line. This changed around
1998, and the Strathspey Railway now operates from the eastern-most
platform (Platform #3) at the main ScotRail station in Aviemore. We
honestly couldn’t think of any station in the United States that is
served by regular passenger service and also a regular tourist train
operation! (If there is one you can think of... drop us an
e-mail!)
Guided by Paul, we walked a short distance down the tracks in
Aviemore to a large locomotive shed that is home to Strathspey
Railway's engineering works. While not normally open to the public,
Paul and some of the other workers were kind enough to provide us a
nearly two-hour-long guided tour of the incredible facility and
adjacent railroad yard. One of the highlights was seeing the four-track
locomotive shed built by the Highland Railway in 1898! We learned
that the original purpose of the shed was to house locomotives for the
lines to Perth and Inverness. In the London, Midland and Scottish
Railway (LMS) days, it housed Stanier Black Fives, Pickersgill Bogies
(Caledonian Railway), Caley 439 tanks, Caley 812 classes, and Fairburn
tanks. In British Railways days, the shed was allocated the code '60B'
(that is why these days the engines that are in traffic on the
Strathspey bear the ‘60B’ shed plate on their smokebox).
Also located on the Strathspey's Aviemore property is the former
enginemens’ hostel called Spey Lodge. This building was erected by the
London, Midland, and Scottish Railways (LMS) during World War II to
allow railway crews a safe and cheap option for accommodation after
they had finished working on their trains for the day. It was saved by
the Strathspey Railway Company during the 1970’s and has now reverted
to its original use of housing locomotive crews and other railway
volunteers.
A number of other buildings on the Aviemore property are not
necessarily historic, but are important for maintaining the
equipment... we took a quick peek in these, too. This includes a car
maintenance shed which opened for use in 2005; this building allows the
railway’s volunteers and staff to work on its fleet of coaches indoors.
There is also a three track car storage shed that opened in 2011; this
allows the coaches to be stored under cover and protected from the
weather. Coaling is carried out using a facility constructed in 2014.
Also on our walking tour, we got to see many of the railways’
historic steam locomotives. The former Caledonian Railway 0-6-0 was
built in 1899 and returned to steam in 2010. A LMS “Black Five” 4-6-0,
the same type which worked most trains in the Scottish Highlands from
the 1930’s until steam was taken out of service in the 1960’s, is
currently being overhauled. Also on the steam roster was LMS 2-6-0
Class 2MT #46512, which was built in 1952 and returned to steam in
March 2011. A Wemyss Private Railway 0-6-0 built in 1935 is currently
awaiting overhaul. Three other steam locomotives that are out-of-use
are located at the railroad's facility up in the line in Boat of
Garten. We also got a quick look at the Strathspey's ten diesel
locomotives and seven diesel multiple unit cars.
It was finally time to head back to the station in Aviemore and
begin our ride! Before saying goodbye, Paul surprised Robert with
a 'footplate pass' for the first half of the day's ride... which means
he got to ride right behind the engineer and fireman in the cab of the
steam locomotive. Besides a one-time cab ride on the Milwaukee Road 261
in St. Paul, Minnesota, Robert had never been in the cab of a steam
locomotive while it was actually operating. What a special treat! Since
there was only room for one person in the cab, Kandace would have her
own private six-person compartment to ride in... not too shabby!
(Robert would join her in the compartment for the second half of the
ride and lunch).
The approximately 10-mile-long line we rode from Aviemore to Boat
of Garten was originally part of the Highland Railway’s line from Perth
to Forres and features great scenery.
Some passengers either got on or off the train at Boat of Garten
station... those of us who were continuing on for the full ride to
Broomhill also had enough time to get off for about 10 minutes or so
and walk the platform and check out the depot, which was built in 1904
by the architect William Roberts. Boat of Garten was originally a
parallel junction between the Highland Railway's main line and the
Great North of Scotland Railway's (GNSR) branch to Craigellachie. This
was the original Strathspey Railway, the company being a subsidiary of
the GNSR. Today there are two passenger platforms... while the adjacent
yard stores the majority of the Strathspey's out-of-use rolling stock.
Boat of Garten also has the railway's only water column where the
locomotives stop to take water on their way north through the station
(this is the reason why we stopped here for 10 minutes). There are two
signal boxes here --- Boat of Garten North and Boat of Garten South.
The railway uses traditional British Railways mechanical semaphore
signalling; it is the crossing point on the line when there are two
trains running. Paul mentioned that most of what visitors to the
railway see today at Boat of Garten is original from the days of
British Railways. The main layout of the station has not been altered
significantly, with the exception of the extensive yard behind the
signal box. The turnout that formerly allowed access to the yard
without having to access the headshunt was removed before the line
closed and there are no plans to re-install it.
Leaving Boat of Garten, trains cross the road on the new single
track box-girder bridge and passes the site of the original GNSR engine
shed; long demolished, it is now the site of a permanent way depot. The
track had been lifted and structures demolished by British Rail after
closure of the line in the 1960's. The railway passes though mainly
farmland on the re-laid track, which was mostly recovered from
Kincardine power station in Fife in the 1990's. The tracks to
Craigellachie and Grantown had originally left the station extending in
a double track formation as far as Croftnahaven, where the GNSR line
turned sharply south east and crossed the River Spey. This arrangement
was adopted because a signal box for a junction here was deemed too
expensive.
The line reaches its current terminus at Broomhill, in countryside
roughly halfway between the villages of Nethy Bridge and Dulnain
Bridge. The replica station building has been reconstructed on the
foundations of the original. The run-round loop is beyond the station.
The train stops at Broomhill for about 20 minutes while the engine is
switched from one end of the train to the other for the return journey.
A small shop is all that is there at Broomhill. Broomhill station is an
odd station situated in an isolated rural location, unconnected with
any town or village. It was previously a junction (closed in 1965) of
two lines. Its claim to fame as the 'Glen Bogle' station in the former
BBC TV series, 'Monarch of the Glen'. This may not be the end of the
line for too much longer, as Paul said that eventually the Strathspey
hopes to extend their rides even farther to a location called Grantown.
My cab ride ended at Broomhill, and I headed back to join Kandace
in our private compartment. It timed out perfectly because we enjoyed a
light lunch on the return trip back to Aviemore. The meal service
consisted of a lovely selection of sandwiches and a warm bowl of soup,
freshly prepared on board by the catering chef – there was actually a
choice of 2 soups, accompanied by a cup of tea or coffee. Before we
knew it -- we were back in Aviemore and it was time to hit the road to
Fort William -- for our final train ride of the trip -- the Jacobite!
