Highland Mainline Community Rail Partnership
Newsletter Winter 2024/25
Community Rail Partnership – There is a clue in the name of our group, Rail, Community and Partnership and we have been trying so hard since the pandemic to engage our communities and reinvigorate ourselves, our stations and our many travellers. We will have to see what 2025 brings, but certainly by mid 2024, our line was recovering well and lots of exciting things were happening.
So, this is the newsletter which has been on the list of things to do for months! Our apologies, we have been so busy doing things, we have not had the time to write about them. We cannot believe it is well over six months since our last newsletter, but a busy 2024 summer all around our line and in our communities! Despite the Scottish weather managing to do its’s worst over the school summer holidays last year we still saw lots of travellers and visitors. Later in 2024 we had one of the most, if not the best colours ever, glorious, spectacular Autumn show from the trees, which more than made up for the wet summer. We continued to be relatively busy as everyone flocked along the Highland Main Line to enjoy this most beautiful time of year in Highland Perthshire and the Cairngorms National Park.
Last May we met the “new in post” Transport team of the CNPA at the newly refurbished “Waiting Shed” at Blair Atholl Station. We have continued to collaborate and were pleased to welcome John Lauder of NR to our late autumn meeting in Kingussie to meet them also.
We also managed to return PT21 to the Armoury Park behind Pitlochry Station, after a five year project to restore the Victorian Semaphore. Many thanks go to the Railway Heritage Trust for funding to support this and the restoration of the Dalwhinnie Station clock.
During last summer along our line we enjoyed a variety of railway events. Model railways, Talks, Exhibitions and “Hairy Coos” and we were doing a lot of planting, painting and community projects.
All our Station Adopters were busy throughout May and June planting and painting at their adopted stations, a brand new train appeared at Pitlochry, much painting needing done here, a new blue train at Blair Atholl, new posters by artist Bob Kinnaird at Aviemore and flowers in planters and baskets elsewhere too. Our grateful thanks go to all of them, they do enhance the Highland Main Line Stations for everyone.
We welcomed Scott Prentice of ScotRail to our June session in Pitlochry and watched a presentation on current and potential rolling stock and heard about the increasing mid year passenger numbers. Shortly after this, a “Hairy Coo” arrived for ten weeks at Pitlochry Station as part of the CHAS fundraising Art Trail. This CHAS project brought many visitors to view the “Legacy Coo” and the Pitlochry Station Bookshop takings soared.
Finally James Ledgerwood of ScotRail attended our September and December meetings and AGM. And in late autumn, we finally got to unveil the restored Dalwhinnie Clock and see “The Railway Rooms” in Kingussie shortlisted in the Railway Heritage Trust Awards.
From our Communities and Stations
Blair Atholl Station
Friends of Blair Atholl Station News
What do we want for the future of our stationhouse?
That was the question asked of the 250 people who attended the end-of-oral-history project exhibition in August, and that’s the question we are faced with now that the project is all but over. Ina a way, the oral history project (funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund) was the easy part. We conducted interviews, created podcasts and made a cartoon film based on the life story of a local resident and member of the Friends of Blair Atholl Station group.
Watch The Opening of the Blair Atholl Station Exhibition 2024 on Youtube
We also carried out a deep dive into the village at the time of the 1881 census, exploring the life and work of railwaymen and their families at that time. All of these resources are now freely available on our website (www.blairathollstation.co.uk), and copies of the children’s illustrated picture book “Mike’s Station” can be purchased as well. The activities have increased our visibility in the community and also strengthened our relationships with ScotRail and Network Rail, leading to small but significant improvements in the fabric of the station (including repairs to the footbridge and a refurb of the station waiting room). We were proud to have been shortlisted for two categories in the ScotRail in the Community Awards, for best adopters’ and best project, but sadly were unlucky on the day. Undaunted, we entered the Community Rail Network Awards and have three shortlisted categories and are looking forward to attending the Awards in Newcastle in March.
But what next? This really is a crossroads for the group, as we continue to work out whether we have the resources, skills and, above all, resilience to see through what will be a long-term project to reclaim and rebuild our long-empty and neglected stationhouse.
Please get in touch if you can help the group in any way- friendsofbastation@gmail.com
Friends of Blair Atholl Station is a sub-group of Blair Atholl & Struan Initiative.
Aviemore Station
At long last, the wonderful Art Posters were put in place.
Dalwhinnie Station
A few years ago, the desire to restore the nineteenth century clock became a Highland Main Line Community Rail Partnership project. (HML CRP) The clock is the original “slave” that would have been driven from the mechanical eight day master clock inside the station. Dating from 1870/80, the case is Pitch Pine with a cast bezel and restored original dial. It had been painted over with many coats during the years since 1927, when it was rescued after the station burned down. When dismantled the inside revealed what is probably Highland Railway green primer. All parts that could be re-used have been restored and re-instated. It has not been possible to accurately date the clock, however research with the National Railway Museum in York suggests it was made by W. R. Christie, Clockmaker for the HR in Inverness. This was a project of research, restoration and returning the Dalwhinnie Station Clock back to the railway station.
It is always interesting being involved in these unusual, well for us, projects and finding all the pieces of the jigsaw to fit together. When we first discussed this 10 years ago, we were not even sure a clock was inside the painted over glass frontage. A slight scratching of paint revealed something and we then had to find a way of removing it carefully off the building, finding out its provenance and someone to repair it. We were fortunate in having two folk assisting us, Allan Brooking of Network Rail and Jules Akel who lives at the bottom of Station Road in Dalwhinnie. Jules found us Clockwork, and Jeremy Burr who specialises in the restoration of heritage clocks.
Once we had delivered the clock to Jeremy and it was stripped back, a third person came to help us. Tim Hedley- Jones of the National Railway Heritage Trust, who also funded the Pitlochry Semaphore Signal project. We are very grateful to all three of them for their assistance and also to Scotland’s Railway staff who have met us at various times at Dalwhinnie. We are very grateful to everyone who helped us.
Why not hop on a train and visit the station and its clock, Monty connection and history posters and then pop into one of the cafes in Dalwhinnie to warm up. You could even take a tour of Scotland’s highest whisky Distillery and taste Winter’s Gold? And remember, Dalwhinnie Station is only two stops from Paris...
Carrbridge Station
Carrbridge Station had the bicycle rack replaced and it lasted a brief time before being hit again by a vehicle. We are now looking at the re-siting of the rack away from reversing traffic, as no-one wants to leave their precious bike in it risking damage.
Carrbridge Community have long had aspirations to re-open the former waiting room. Tim Hedley-Jones visited late 2023 to view the inside of the station and a report was compiled for HML CRP by John Wilson as no conditions report could be found. There is strong support from the local community for this project, including from the Carrbridge & Vicinity Community Council and the Carrbridge Business and Tourism Association. Some funding is likely from the CC via their company Carrbridge Ahead, and other funding bodies may support it, including the Cairngorms National Park. Volunteer Action Badenoch and Strathspey is also a good source for funding streams.
We are hopeful that some movement on this project will happen soon.
Pitlochry Station
The restoration and refurbishment of the oldest Semaphore Signal P21 removed during the platform extension was finally finished in late Spring and here are some newer photos. We have received wonderful comments from residents and train drivers who were very pleased to see we had rescued it.
Early summer saw station adopters Pitlochry in Bloom, aided by the Pitlochry Path group clear out the shrub beds at the back of the station building. Contractors had twice worked over them and with help digging by Pitlochry Path group and donated plants from Perth & Kinross Council and ScotRail funds a team planted over 150 new shrubs and plants. Pitlochry Station also reached the semi-final in the World Cup of Stations, pipped at the post by Maghull near Liverpool.
The Bookshop and Pitlochry Station hosted one of the CHAS “Hairy Coos” on the Wild Art Trail this summer, and my goodness, it was popular. There were 3 “Coos” in Pitlochry all part of the 30 sponsored around Perth & Kinross area as a fundraiser for the Childrens Hospice Association Scotland. This is such an amazing charity, and one the bookshop supports with its charitable donations.
Having such a large footfall at the railway station and involvement at the Bookshop itself saw takings exceed an incredible £50,000 last summer and the bookshop’s next milestone will be half a million pounds raised for its’ charities. The 30 full size and 21 smaller “Coos” were auctioned off at Scone Palace in Perth after the trail finished and raised a staggering £272,000 for CHAS. We were all delighted to be part of this very worthwhile fundraiser for a unique charity and one dear to our hearts.
During the winter of 2024, the Placemaking and Planning meeting at Perth & Kinross Council voted on Network Rail’s proposal for design and location of a new footbridge, lift towers and demolition of the Victorian footbridge. Voting was 9 to 2 against the plans.
We have now been advised that these plans will be revisited with Community consultation, so we are hopeful about this too. Our wish is that NR can improve both the design and location.
Dunkeld & Birnam Station
There has been much achieved in the past few months as work has commenced on the various elements identified during the community consultation. In late autumn, long – awaited work was carried out by ScotRail to light the station car park and was finished in about three weeks.
Work has now commenced on raising the level of the station platforms and should be finished by late May. It has taken a fair number of years to reach this stage, due to the difficult logistics at this Grade A railway station, so we are delighted to see this underway. The raised platforms should increase passenger safety and prevent passengers suffering injuries as they board and alight from the trains.
Dunkeld & Birnam Station Community Group continue to work in collaboration with Network Rail, Historic Environment Scotland, Perth & Kinross Council, Paths for All, Sustrans and ScotRail on the remaining two work streams.
Access to and from the Station to the village; securing a safe future for the Station building for long term Community use.
A community engagement about the community purpose for the building is in the second phase and will be shared with the Community Forum for further discussion and wider community thereafter.
The local group have their own Facebook page Dunkeld & Birnam Station Community and you can follow their progress and the community engagement with Network Rail and ScotRail and Transport Scotland.
Kingussie Station
We can confirm that the Platform 2 Waiting Room is now being left open for passengers in response to difficulties with Sleeper passengers having no shelter. The access through the gate off Platform 2 is unlocked, but has a quite narrow and steep path, hopefully after a site meeting in December, an alternative exit point from the platform can be found.
We are delighted to announce that The Railway Rooms, having been shortlisted for a National Railway Heritage Trust Award, won a Highly Commended at the December ceremony. Many congratulations to Jill and her “ Wild Thinking” team.
The Railway Rooms is the former station house newly renovated and now re-opened for exclusive use. It is an accessible and refreshing self-catering accommodation in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park. It’s right on the Kingussie railway station platform and offers comfortable, characterful and environmentally friendly self-catering accommodation with 12 en-suite bedrooms for groups of up to 24 people. It has been redeveloped by team specialists Wild Thinking, the Railway Rooms are a great destination for work teams and groups of all sorts wanting a low-carbon and exclusive venue to escape to in the Highlands, especially by train.
www.railwayrooms.co.uk
Dan Wright CRN – Community Support Officer Scotland
We now have Dan as a part time support helping us with a wide variety of skills, Dan sits on the Railway Heritage Trust Advisory Board and loves heritage projects, especially smaller items of heritage. He is assisting with organisational structure, planning processes, which might help with new partners, volunteers and bids for external funding. We still have our eyes firmly on the Carrbridge desk and the Quaker Oats freight orders from a hundred years ago!
AGM at Kingussie and the Railway Rooms.
We held our AGM in The Railway Rooms in Kingussie in December, very late for us. It was our 10th year of becoming a Community Rail Partnership and so we celebrated with cake. Celebration Station in Perth provided us with yet another masterpiece, having supplied all our cakes since 2014. John Yellowlees, our Honorary President, had been in London the previous week and brought with him, the Highly Commended award for the Railway Rooms from the Railway Heritage Trust. This will be presented to “Wild Thinking” by our Secretary in due course.
Other news
All Aboard
We enjoyed watching the C4 series on Sunday evenings at 8pm with actor Alan Cumming travelling around Scotland on “The Royal Scotsman”. Episode 1 showed the departure from Waverley Station as guests were piped along the red carpet to board the luxury train. The first part of their journey was out west to the West Highland Line and Alan met the famous Hege Hernes at Glenfinnan Station, one of many visits the train makes on its touring through Scotland.
Episode 2 features the Highland Main Line and a visit to Pitlochry and the renowned Festival Theatre, where Alan has just recently taken on the role of Creative Director.
ScotRail Suspension of Peak Fares Trial
The trial of removing peak fares for all ScotRail services, in response to the post Covid travelling patterns, was extended to the end of September 2024. Sadly it failed to reach the target uptake from passengers, a 10% increase needed for it to be continued, resulting only in about a 6% increase and was terminated at the end of September.
Environmentally, if one in five of everyone’s journeys was made on Sustainable Transport, it would cut carbon emissions by 20%.
Sadly at our recent AGM, Lara stepped down from the CRP, due to pressure of full time work and Claudia Stuerck of Tactran moved on from her role. We thank them both for their time with us and wish them well for the future.
We now await notification from Tactran of Claudia’s replacement, but currently Niall Gardiner is in touch. Simon has volunteered to move in as the Kingussie rep in the meantime , as he is a Trustee on the Development Trust and hopefully we can fill his role at Aviemore at some point.
2025 is Railway 200 and will be a year-long partnership campaign to celebrate 200 years of the modern railway. A touring exhibition train is planned to travel Britain, we are hoping we will see it in Scotland this autumn. Entry will be free.
It will consist of different interactive exhibitions, exploring the past, present and future of rail and developed in partnership with the National Railway Museum. Hopefully by showcasing innovation, it will encourage the next generation to consider a career in rail and show the diversity of roles required for people of all backgrounds.
