Strathspey extension to Nethy Bridge

Good morning everyone
I'm new here but I was wondering if forum members had any views on the following?

I was wondering what is the possibility of the Strathspey Railway ever extending to Nethy Bridge?
As the extention to Grantown appears to have stalled, and looking at what remains of the tracked etc, I wonder if this is feasible? I know that the bridge over the river Spey would need to be replaced but the railway has already proved that this is possible.

It would give another option for the railway as they would then have a junction station at Boat of Garten and another station within a large village.

I've nor spoken to anyone at the Strathspey, I just wondered what everyone's thoughts were?

 

I would have thought that reinstating Boat of Garten as a junction station again would appeal. You've got three distinct destinations, once the extention to Grantown and Nethy Bridge were finished, Aviemore with its mainline station, shops, hotels and attractions. Grantown on Spey is a traditional highland town on the banks of the river Spey, attracting coach loads of tourists in its own right, and finally Nethy Bridge, taking passengers to a large highland village in the shadow of the Cairngorms.

 

It's actually a pretty good idea for a few reasons, it means that the road alignment is missed out so they don't have to wait on the bungling government, an estate spokesman has come on here recently and announced that the estate that owns grantown East station wishes to restore it, so the railway could still get to grantown. It also puts the railway on an alignment with the Keith and Dufftown heritage railway, though joining up with them would be a long way off and some would say fantasy. It does allow long term future extension planning as on the current Inverness and Perth junction alignment , they cannot get past Forres and rejoin the network there due to redevelopment. The issues? It makes the brand spanking new dulnain bridge useless, the gap over the river Spey is far larger, and the grantown East station is far smaller than the west station ever was. I think it's a good idea, being that it's the actual whisky line. The tourism potential is very great with many distillery stations along the line such as aberlour and dailuane. The speyside way walking route utilises the track bed however, but the dava way uses the current alignment so it's the same issue they are facing. All in all if this road realignments doesn't get a shift on I think the railway should seriously consider it.

 

I thought I read recently that the Strathspey have been granted planning permission for their new station at Grantown - so not stalled yet..

 

My idea would be only as far as Nethy Bridge. If the railway was to extend towards Grantown east you would have to stop before the original station site as, if I remember correctly, the track bed has a fish processing factory on it as we as a major road.

 

I believe the station at Grantown west is not the issue. It's getting through the a 95 at Gaich is the problem as the road realignment as been put on hold.

If there's anyone from the Strathspey railway on here that could confirm the facts that would be great.

 

Nethy Bridge while a nice idea, is a dead duck. There is the minor issue of a bridge over the Spey. Thats a pretty cheap problem. Then theres the Nethy Bridge site. The station building has been repurposed and the site has been rebuilt. Theres nothing in Nethy Bridge worth extending for. The Grantown East site is undergoing work courtesy of the Revak estate but there is a fish processing plant and major road blocking the western approach to Grantown East with the Speyside Way on the trackbed. Over on the Highland line. Transport Scotland has stalled with the Gaich project with it sliding further and further down the priorities pole with money going towards the A9 dualling and new Forth Road Bridge amongst other things. If someone was to find several millions down the back of the sofa it would speed the whole thing up. Thats before we even look at the motive power or stock situation. 828 is only just returning to service and at that on less running days than ever before. 46512 is once again holding down the steam services. 5025 is slowly getting there but is a huge project on a very tired locomotive. All of the Austerities and WPR are in various states of disrepair and will be almost useless on Grantown services due to their small bunkers and tanks (maybe would get a return trip out of them). Ideally acquiring fourth ex BR loco would help. Two in service, 1 under restoration and a 3rd spare.

 

I understand that the Estate that own the Grantown East site are intending to refurbish the site and install a couple of camping coaches - but it is not going to be coneected to anything else...

 

Attractions? I'm not being facetious, but have you ever been to Aviemore? It comes alive for about a week for the skiing during a decent winter. Apart from that the place is a dump.

A few tourist tat shops full of Jimmy wigs and shortbreat in tartan tins, a few overprices hotels blaring out stereotypical bagpipe toonz and a steam railway. That's it.

 

But it's so much better than it was in the 1970s

Back to the original question, since the thread started I've been trying to find a copy of a Railway Magazine article (by Neil T Sinclair) which I've had since the 70s and starts "Agreement has been reached between the Strathspey Railway Company and BRB on terms for acquisition of the Aviemore to Boat of Garten line" and goes on to cover the history of the line and aims of the new owners; towards the end of the article there is the comment that "The trackbed on the H.R line to Grantown (West) is being purchased by the Strathspey Railway for possible future expansion".

Unfortunately there isn't any discussion of why that was the chosen option north of Boat of Garten but it does look as if there was never any interest or intention of using the old GNSR route east of the Spey.

Scott

 

Don't forget the chippy that does deep fried haggis.

 

You seem to have missed out the fairly large numbers of outdoor stores. Aviemore provides a place to go for the many walkers in the area to stock up on supplies, buy some gear, and have a browse on a rest day. It's not really any different to Fort William in that respect. It's also a reasonable place to stop off for a night if touring round the Highlands. Sure, it wouldn't be my first choice place to stay in the Highlands, but it serves a purpose as one of the larger towns. Certainly, my Mrs has no problems occupying an hour or two in the shops there. There may be nothing to attract you there, but that doesn't mean there aren't things there that other's enjoy.

 

I have always stayed at the Cairngorm hotel when I visit the Strathspey having come up on the overnight sleeper. While not cheap, its not massively expensive either and it is right next to Aviemore station. I like their menu as well.

It is such a shame that the extension is being held back by the road realignment as the railway has great potential

 

Nethy Bridge sounds like an extension for the sake of it, without any knowledge at all, Grantown on Spey sounds worth waiting for

 

another Question to anyone who knows: the original Grantown west station has gone I believe, but to sight a new one south of it seems a long way from the heart of Grantown, and whilst this is obviously the most affordable option taking the railway round further the edge towards the caravan park might prove to be a worthwhile investment.
Either way its a lovely place and I hope it all goes well there.

 

I posted the question that started this thread and was in grantown recently and had a walk over the Spey to have a look at the east station. Whilst I agree that it would be to expensive to cross the main road to reconnect to the east station. I did notice that's there's a large parcel of empty land next to the track bed just before the now closed fish processing factory. Also looking at the hurdle of getting in to the site for new west station, I was wondering which would be cheaper and easier. Staying with the present plan and wait for the road realignment. Or bridge the Spey and go via Nethy Bridge. Both ways would bring the railway to Grantown with a station about the same distance from the centre.

 

Went to school in Grantown so I have some insights/ thoughts on the matter. Both stations were poorly sited. I believe running up to the back of the caravan site was mooted. The line through Grantown to Forres was built wrong in the first place. The better sites for a station are now under council houses etc. It should have been closer to the town from the start. The industrial estate is on top of the station site with old station house in amongst it.

Still dead in the water. Crossing the Nethy road AND A95 (which theyre already having to cross) is never going to get any traction in the halls of power. If they were still only at Boat of Garten Id almost agree and say go up Speyside itself but the line was never built to the axle loadings or for the weight that would go over the groundwork. The Strathspey has an incredibly high axle loading (could carry the heaviest of locos if required) where the heaviest on the Speyside line would have been a B12.

 

An interesting point about the axle loadings, I think the real clincher is the dulnain bridge, if they hadn't already put that in then putting a bridge over the Spey and extending along the speyside trackbed would be the right way to go. Of course when they put the bridge in a few years back, they weren't to know about the road alignment delays. The speyside line is the one with all the history, potential for lots of future extension, a small chance to link with the Keith and dufftown. And obviously the huge whisky tourism pull, they could've had whisky special trains that dropped punters at distillery halts and coincided with guided tours of distilleries.