Strathspey Railway

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The Strathspey Railway in Badenoch and Strathspey, Highland, Scotland, operates a 10 mile (16 km) preserved railway from Aviemore to Broomhill via Boat of Garten, part of the former Highland Railway line which linked Aviemore with Forres.

1 The Route
- 1.1 Boat of Garten
- 1.2 Broomhill
2 Future Extension
3 Strathspey Railway Association
4 Locomotives & Rolling Stock
5 Stations
6 Special Events
7 External links

[edit] The Route

The Strathspey Railway (SR from herewith) does not originate from its first terminus in Aviemore. From 1998 onwards, the railway started its services from the south from the Railtrack (now Network Rail) station that was situated a good three hundred yards from the old terminus. The old terminus, was of course known as 'Aviemore Speyside'. Nowadays Aviemore Speyside no longer sees trains stopping at its platforms, though the station has been kept as a fallback in case of problems with Network Rail.

From Aviemore, the line passes through the aforementioned station and visitors can see one of the country's most impressive Victorian engine sheds left in regular use. The engine shed at Aviemore was constructed by the Highland Railway in 1898 and possesses four roads. Originally the purpose of the shed was to provide engines for the Speyside line and for the roads to Perth and Inverness (via Carrbridge). It was common for original Highland Railway engines to be allocated to the shed and in LMS days it possessed a competent stud of Stanier Black 5s, Pickersgill Bogies (Caledonian Railway), Caley 439 tanks, Caley 812 classes, and Fairburn tanks. In British Railways days the shed was allocated the shed code '60B'. These days the engines that are in traffic proudly wear the 60B shedplate on their smokebox.

Apart from the engine shed there is also a carriage maintenance shed which was erected in 2005 and saw its first coach enter during that year. This shed allows the railways volunteers and staff a safe, warm and well-lit environment to work on the railway's fleet of coaches. The spacious interior allows for most of the necessary work to be done inside. The benefits of this shed will really be felt in the next twenty years.

Another building of interest is the former enginemans' hostel called 'Spey Lodge'. This building has now been reverted to its original use for housing locomotive crews, though it also is used by many other volunteers who are not necessarily engaged in work on the railways steam locomotives. This building was erected by the LMS during the Second World War 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 1970s.

After passing Spey Lodge, the railway comes across Dalfaber Level Crossing. This level crossing was not originally part of the railway but was installed after the development of the Dalfaber Estate in the 1980s. The crossing is a hotly disputed topic in the area because of its lack of barriers. Because the crossing is 'open' (ungated) it means that cars can still drive over the railway tracks even if a train is approaching. There are several near misses every year and occasionally a car is hit by a train. Fortunately there have been no deaths as of yet.

[edit] Boat of Garten

The extensive Boat of Garten station, unlike other stations on the line, features the original buildings dating from when the station became a parallel junction between the Highland Railway's main line from Perth to Forres and the Great North of Scotland Railway's branch to Craigellachie. (This was the original Strathspey Railway, the company being a subsidiary of the GNSR.) Today there are two passenger platforms and the yard stores the majority of the Strathspey Railway's Rolling Stock collection.

Up to this point all the track was original but from Boat of Garten northwards, the track had been lifted and structures demolished by BR in the 1960s. The tracks to Craigellachie and Grantown had left the station extending in a Double track formation as far as Croftnahaven, where the GNSR line turned sharply South-East and crossed the Spey. This curious arrangement was adopted because a signal box for a junction here was deemed too expensive.

Leaving Boat of Garten, trains cross the road on the new single track box-girder bridge and pass the site of the original GNSR engine shed, long demolished it is now the site of a Permanent way depot. The railway passes though mainly farmland on the re-laid track, which was mostly recovered from Kincardine power station in Fife in the 1990s.

Boat of Garten also has the railway's only water column where the engines take water every time they head north through the station. Also the railway's engines are coaled (normally) during the morning on the south side of the station.

This is currently the only station with signalling in operation and has two signal boxes, Boat of Garten North and Boat of Garten South. Signalling is traditional British Railways mechanical signalling with semaphore signals.

Most of what visitors to the railway see today is original from the days of British Railways. The main layout of the station has not been altered in any major way with the exception of two new coal sidings which have been installed on the east side of the station and the creation of an extensive yard behind the signal box. One turnout was removed that would have allowed access to the yard without having to access the headshunt, there are no plans to re-install the turnout.

[edit] Broomhill

The line reaches its current terminus at Broomhill, in countryside roughly half-way 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. It is anticipated that this will be removed when the extension to Grantown is complete. Broomhill, is used as the station for Glenbogle, in the BBC series "Monarch of the Glen".

[edit] Future Extension

In July 2006, the Scottish Executive made a firm commitment to re-aligning the A95 at Gaich, near Grantown. This move would allow the Strathspey Railway to be extended to Grantown along the former line to Dava and Forres. Track has been gifted for this project from the lifted rails of the Stirling to Alloa railway that is being currently being relaid for a new passenger service.[1]

The BBC reported that the £2.9m road scheme would involve the rail line going under the A95. Transport Minister, Tavish Scott, said the project would be ready for construction by 2008/9 and funding had been allocated for 2009/10. Strathspey MP, Danny Alexander, speculated that the proposed rail link between Aviemore and Grantown would be good for tourism. [2]

[edit] Strathspey Railway Association

The role of the Strathspey Railway Association is to provide funding and volunteers to run the Strathspey Railway. It is the biggest shareholder in the Strathspey Railway Company, the organisation which owns the actual light rail orders and does the actual running of the railway.

Most of the people you seen working on the railway are volunteers belonging to the Association and come from all backgrounds and walks of life.

[edit] Locomotives & Rolling Stock

Steam Locomotives
- LMS 2-6-0 Class 2MT no. 46512 "E. V. Cooper, Engineer" (out of service awaiting a heavy boiler overhaul and a general overhaul of the axleboxes/frames, hopefully going to move to Crewe soon for Overhaul)
- Wemyss Private Railway 0-6-0T no. 17 (in service after prolonged difficulties with the rear axlebox on the left-hand-side of the locomotive)
- Caledonian Railway 0-6-0 812 Class no. 828 (17566, 57566) (undergoing overhaul)
- LMS 4-6-0 Class 5MT no. 5025 (45025) (awaiting overhaul, expected to cost a quarter of a million pounds)
- WD 0-6-0ST Austerity nos. 9 (boiler separated from the frames. Boiler has had all the tubes extracted and is now awaiting to be despatched to a boilersmith for extensive firebox repairs), 48 & 60 (major overhauls required)
- Andrew Barclay & Son, Kilmarnock 0-6-0ST (works no. 1833) no. 6 "Niddrie" (currently residing at Aviemore Engine Shed)
- Andrew Barclay & Son, Kilmarnock 0-4-0ST (works no. 2020) no. 2 "Balmenach" (restoration required)
- Andrew Barclay & Son, Kilmarnock 0-4-0ST (works no. 2073) no. 1 "Dailuaine" (restoration required)

Diesel Locomotives
- BR 0-4-0 North British shunter no. D2767. Operational at another railway.
- BR 0-6-0 Class 08 no. D3605. Operational.
- BR Bo-Bo Class 26 nos. D5302 and D5325 (both needing repairs. D5302 is currently in the yard at Boat of Garten while D5325 is being kept in the engine shed at Aviemore)
- BR Bo-Bo Class 27 no. D5394 (away for repairs)
- BR A1A-A1A Class 31 no. 31327. In traffic following a repaint in BR green.
- Andrew Barclay & Son, Kilmarnock 0-4-0DM (works no. 517) "Power of Enterprise"