AVIEMORE & INVERNESS 30th June 2012

No complaints here, I think it was pretty much set in stone when 60009 failed it's initial boiler test. As said above, rather this settled now than a panic a few days before. Really looking forward to this

 

I understand timings have been received by SRPS (nice and prompt by NR for once!) and tickets are due to be dispatched over the weekend.

 

Yes, quite close to the provisional time as far as Perth is concerned, which is good. Might even get a Wetherspoons breakfast in, too!

 

Times are up on UKSteaminfo. Quite long waits at Kingussie (26 minutes) and Kincraig (25 minutes) to await clearance of single line sections. No mention of a waterstop on the outward run. Only a 10-minute stop at Aviemore, so no time for water there. Anyway, looking forward to it. Looks like rain on Friday, but here's hoping it'll clear up a bit on Saturday.

 

With half an hour at Kingussie and only a few miles to Aviemore outward, hopefully there may be some adjustments on the day. Rather have longer at Aviemore than Kincraig to be honest! Timings look leisurely but in practice will probably require some good running on the day to keep to them. Can't wait for this, waited a very, very, long time to do this route behind steam. Rain on Friday should banish any thoughts of fire risk anyway!!

 

Apart from RTC's 'Great Britain' tours and the occasional SRPS jaunt to Broomhill on the Strathspey, I don't think a 'normal' steam railtour has done the length of the Highland Mainline between Perth and Inverness; certainly not for a good while at any rate. I think there was something back in 2000, but cannot confirm if it traversed the whole section. As for the adjustments, it can certainly happen in Scotland; we were due to wait for over an hour at Spean Bridge for an 'Enterprise' to pass through on the West Highlander last year, only for it to pass through an hour early! The downside was that we ended up waiting time outside Fort William Junction for most of the period gained.

 

As I understand it, long stops tend to be at Kincraig because both loop-lines are bi-directionally signalled. If a charter needs to be overtaken by a following service train, Kincraig is where it can happen. Water could be taken at Kingussie or Kincraig. Kingussie is a nice station for a leg-stretch, since there are semaphore signals there. No platforms at Kincraig, IIRC.

 

Kingussie station is perfect for a photo of a northbound train with its original station building and a useful footbridge just beyond the station. I look forward to a decent length stop there!

 

Thanks for the info, that explains it nicely. Kingussie is indeed a very nice station with very decent length platforms which hark back to a bygone era of excursion traffic to the town. There are some very nice gardens close to the station with the town centre close by.

 

60009 Perth - Inverness, SRPS, July 4th 2009.

 

Strange; I trawled through UKSteamInfo back to 2002 yesterday, and I can't remember seeing it. Must've been day-dreaming when I was on 2009...

 

Timings for 46115's LE moves now up at t0701p.htm & t0629p.htm . Return run on Sunday is notable with 46115 being routed over the Forth bridge and through Haymarket and Waverley station on the return. With steam previously considered out of bounds through Haymarket, I make this 3 in as many months? Annoyingly my train home leaves 20 mins earlier!

 

What I would give for a ride on that ecs move!

 

[video=youtube;EFoVQEy1NdM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFoVQEy1NdM[/video]

 

I hope you had you midge repellent on - hundreds of the horrible little critters floating around in that last clip!

 

Nicely done. Good locations and good camera work. I see what Frank means about the midges!

 

Lovely coverage of what was a splendid trip which has put my faith back in steam tours! Brilliantly organised with sensible timings from Network Rail which were delivered in good time within minutes of what was requested. Getting to Scotland proved tricky on Friday, with a taxi provided from Carlisle to Edinburgh. We were lucky, others certainly were not. On the day, 46115 performed brilliantly with the 37 left behind at Perth as requested. 10 was proably the limit for her, with speed down to the mid to high 20's on the climbs. There were plenty of opportunities to get out and photograph the train with some very lively running to maintain the section times (top speed of 72mph on the slopes down towards Dalwhinnie). 4 hours in Inverness was more than adequate to enjoy this very attractive destination. The Highland mailine itself needs no introduction, simply stunning, with glorious scenery and a stiff test for any loco. Unfortunately, the Strathspey didn't do themselves any favours with a less than welcoming attitude to a trainload of potential customers, with a tannoy announcement on train needed to apologise on their behalf.
Finally a word of thanks to SRPS. Communication was excellent throughout the booking process, with regular emails updating me of progress with the change of locos. A simple request to be close to the loco saw us in coach M, with full 3 cylinder music in surround sound all the way to Inverness, utterly fabulous. The coaching stock would put a lot of other charter rakes to shame and the stewards were friendly, chatty and constantly up for a laugh. Tannoy announcements were regular, informative and didn't treat the customer like an idiot. The food was excellent value for money, perhaps the presentation would not be found in premier dining, but it certainly saves on washing up! Although it is a long way for me to get up to Scotland (especially trying to travel on the rail network this weekend just gone), I would not hesitate to travel with them again. Other operators could learn a lot from the old masters of charter train organisers with excellent value, customer service and attention to detail. Well done SRPS, I will see you again next year!

 

An excellent day out, although I did suffer a mishap in that I forgot to bring the SD card for my camera, so had to purchase one in Fort William. However, it did mean I could sit and listen to the locomotive working hard one carriage away on the outward journey (I was in Coach M, too). I must admit, I had a slight problem in getting up to Scotland too, but it only emerged by the time I got to Carlisle. As my split tickets were routing me via Edinburgh (it was cheaper that way than going via Glasgow), I was somewhat crestfallen when I discovered that the lines were down on Beattock, and that there next service to Edinburgh via Carstairs was cancelled due to it being a Pendolino. So Glasgow it was... Luckily, the guard of the Scotrail service I took from Queen Street to Perth was understanding, and let me travel to my destination without having to purchase a new ticket. Apart from an embarrassing hiccup on the Sunday regarding me temporarily mislaying my return tickets (and all the panic that ensues), I enjoyed my time up north; friendly, quick-witted stewards and a good atmosphere. I look forward to more trips in future.

 

Fort William?! We were really lucky. We were due to change trains from a Glasgow service to a TPE Edinburgh one at Preston. Due to late arrival of stock we were late away from Wolves, so were late arriving at Preston and missed the connection. The guard let us stay on until Carlisle where on arrival the TPE unit was waiting as it had been held up by being the wires down. It was full to standing with little sign of movement, so the staff directed us to a taxi. A taxi for Edinburgh was ready to go, so off we went - probably only been in Carlisle 10 minutes, whereas one of the people in the taxi had waited 2 hours.. Arrival in Waverley was an hour late with just 20mins until the Glenrothes train which we cauight without issue. Fortunately there was a bus connection to our hotel even at 22.30!
On the way home the Voyager was a single rather than the booked double, but fortunately we had seats all the way home and it wasn't too crowded to be honest. Considering the difficulties, our experience was positive, with helpful staff and not too much disruption. Others I fear may of had a different experience, but given the negative rail bashing seen in the media recently I felt they coped well with a difficult situation.

 

Erm, I've just got back from 12 hours of the modern railway (not really a complaint, but a marked contrast to Saturday's excursion), and I think its scrambled my brain. Either that, or I had a flashback to the Fort William trip I did with them last May (equally excellent, and still the best trip I've ever done. Saturday's is definitely second-best). Anyway, I'm glad I did it, even if it did hit me in the wallet for the next month...