Rails To Grantown

Apologies if there is a dedicated thread(I tried search but no joy) but may I please be enlightened on the progress with the Strathspey's Rails to Grantown project?

I drove past Grantown station recently, and also notice a photo or two has appeared on Railscot in the last wee while, but other than the installation of the bridge at Dulnain, its all gone quiet.

Why is there a coach and station restoration at Grantown if the track isn't even in place yet? Whats happening with crossing the main road?

 

Are you getting confused with Grantown East Station https://www.national-preservation.com/threads/grantown-east-railway-station.677588/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grantown-on-Spey_(East)_railway_station https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...16.htm&usg=AFQjCNFrwGGih_-FjLKM700qhXT_ZB8xEA

 

You are indeed getting confused with grantown on Spey east station, the strathspey railway is extending to grantown west, though through the fault of the Scottish government they have been and will be waiting a long time before road improvements to the A95 happen, then they can cross it. Until that point, nothing will happen.

Grantown east however is a cultural centre project enacted by the estate the station is built on to create a place for Highland games, and to preserve the station which was in a sorry state.

Hope that clears everything up, here is a link to the grantown east works, I may visit someday, looks interesting! http://grantowneast.com/

 

There is the Strathspey Railway Charitable Trust. They are the ones who keep pushing the plan to build to Grantown West
Follow their facebook page (unfortunately they don't have useful website): https://www.facebook.com/Strathspey-Railway-Charitable-Trust-944687798949063/

 

Thaks for the replies. Yes, I was deeply confused. Woops!

On reading the Transport Scotland page, this project is no where near the top. AWPR, the Queensferry crossing, the M8, the A9, these are all huge projects and the peer wee trainy isn't going to get a look in until the bulk of that lot is done and then some.

Thanks for the FB link Railboy, on reading through it says they have estimated 13.5 milllion pounds, which is surely the cost to the railway alone and not the cost of the road realignment...

 

My favourite WIBN is to extend the Strathspey Railway all the way through to Forres, purely because this would include the 15 miles of 1 in 75 from Forres up to Dava Summit.

 

Every single penny is allocated to the doubling of the A9 from Perth to Inverness. As large sections of this hundred(-ish) mile road are still single carriageway, and as it passes through some seriously challenging terrain, that's a whole heap of pennies invested. As well as a hell of a lot of political capital.

Leaving precisely none for the A95, thereby stalling the Strathspey Railway's plans, possibly indefinitely....

 

Well, the A9 is really needing it, it should have been double road 40 years ago! It is pretty impressive when you see how much the Scottish Government have invested over the last decade, I for one am delighted the AWPR is almost finished, as Iv shortened my lifespan considerably driving in Aberdeen, primarily Dyce!

If funding is going to be a mojr issue, perhaps a seperate organisation needs to be set up, between the local council and the Railway to handle this project? The thought of having to wait another decade for this to happen isnt a great one.

 

Much of the track bed is still dormant isnt it?

 

That's not the point, it's just wilderness, would cost a fortune to lay track to the next nearest habitable area, the views would be lovely, but that's not enough. And Forres has been massively built on, big housing estate.

 

Where's grantown mentioned please if you don't mind? I like the p-way blog, they seem rather punctual with their uploads on a weekly basis at present, but that's not always the case. Maybe I'm too used to broadway providing a wealth of info almost daily . The facebook page posted further up the page to the strathspey charitable trust provides a good amount of info about grantown, and they do reply if you query them on the current situation, From what's been posted on that page the Scottish government seems to be pondering over the little details of the plans/drawings at present.

 

The Strathspey Railway Association is also actively posting on facebook. There you'll get a lot of information what's currently happening at the railway.
https://www.facebook.com/Strathspey-Railway-Association-652156741521358/?ref=py_c

Don't Forget to follow the Strathspey Railway Charitable Trust which aims to extending the railway to Grantown.
https://de-de.facebook.com/Strathspey-Railway-Charitable-Trust-944687798949063/

 

Without being too critical, I feel it would be prudent of the Railway to start raising the profile of the Rails to Grantown project.

 

Rather pointless if they have no new information to share, which they don't, ball has been in the Scottish governments court for a long while. Saying that, some greater detail of the station plans wouldn't go amiss, only seen some basic sketches so far.

 

IIRC the delay to the railway extension is due to ongoing inaction regarding a road scheme (or rather the budget for said scheme).

Until/unless someone in councils and/or highways gets their finger out, the railway can't really get anything into motion. I just hope the Strathspey are using the hiatus to fine tune their plans. It's an extension with a hell of a lot of potential

 

To clarify, I think it would be good to campaign for extra funds, and monthly donations. I fear that the delay is being caused by a reluctance to commit funding, which is looking ever tighter with CP6 funding being cut, and the Scottish block grant being further reduced.

I don't want people to get snippy, I want this extension to happen as much as everyone else. The potential is massive.