Strathspey Railway

A beautiful day yesterday on the railway for the DMU service.

 

Perhaps some Scottish politicians are grown up enough to promote ther interests of their community against the failings of a government department even if it is a department of the government they support. Sounds to me like they are doing the job that they were elected to do - I know, it is not an idea that will catch on.

Peter

 

Indeed. Though when other elected politicians do it, it's called other things, and within a very heavily whipped party it stands out the more.

 

Its not really either of those things, sadly. The cold reality, as I see it anyway, is that within TS one hand was unaware of what the other hand was doing in this particular example.

It would be good to see this resolved swiftly as the benefits of getting back to Granton are difficult to overstate. This is true not only for the SR but also the residents of Granton who stand to gain much from increased tourism and economic activity.

 

That’s a lovely pair of pictures you got there.

Ben

 

The Strathspey Railway opens the season next week with a diesel only event, Fri 18th, Sat 19th and Sun 20th March. Featuring home based locomotives 31327, 27050 and new addition 37674, together with shunters class 08 D3605, North British D2774, Ruston 48DS Queen Anne and Vanguard 0-4-0 DH formally of BSW Ltd Corpach, Fort William. Timetables and ticketing details on the website. Also on Saturday 19th the SRPS are running a charter train to the event.
37674 on test last week.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/roddymacp ... 9994096157

 

Queen Anne is looking excellent! Last time I saw it was it partially plinthed at Speyside gathering moss. That's a future charter candidate

 

It's not just a paint job either, Alan and John have almost had every last nut and bolts apart and rebuilt it. They have a blog describing a very long and thorough journey https://whiskyshunters.blogspot.com/

 

I've been following it from the beginning!

 

After what looks like a very successful and well run diesel gala over the weekend (I was hoping to get up but family stuff got in the way) including bringing in a railtour, news came in Monday that Strathspey had won the HRA's Coiley Award for the restoration of 5025! Which leaves me wondering when was the last time there were 3 x 37s in PH22? I think the record for Boat Of Garten is still 2.

 

Dalfaber AOCL crossing on the Strathspey railway is being upgraded to an ABCL crossing. The S+T group are posting pictures and updates on their blog for anyone interested.
https://signallingstrathspey.blogspot.com/?m=1/

 

Latest update from the S+T blog about Dalfaber crossing.
https://signallingstrathspey.blogspot.com/?m=1/

 

Flying Scotsman to visit the Strathspey Railway.
https://www.railwaymuseum.org.uk/fl...-programme/flying-scotsman-strathspey-railway

 

Presumably with the corridor end to the tender - effecting separation it from the rest of the train...

 

Fortunately with vacuum brakes unlike the first time it passed through Aviemore back in 200(1/2). Theres a photo I think by Timon Rose of 46512 at the old Speyside platform as it was heading south. Theres also an interesting lede buried in there too.

 

Something overlooked in that is the rescheduling of the Steam Gala date to accommodate the visit. On that front, when was the last time Strathspey held one of those (or have they ever held one for that matter)?

 

The Strathspey railway has held a steam gala for many years, the last one was in 2019 before lock down stopped it. In earlier years it was marketed as a steam fair, then it was called a family gala, and in latter years became a mixed traffic event. 2019 also saw the first diesel only event, which was a one day affair, this was revived last year as a three day event.

 

A quick search brings up video of the 2019 event; looking at it though it appears to be more of a mixed traction weekend (3 diesel, 2 steam). Before then, I can't find anything marketed as a steam/family gala/fair by the railway (and you'd think something would appear when searching it year by year on Google and Flickr...) By chance I spoke to the Ops manager over the weekend and even he wasn't sure when the last 'steam gala' was run - if ever.

If anyone has anything 'conclusive' it would be interesting to see - and potentially makes for a good marketing angle?

 

Well, I will leave you to your doubts, the Ops manager that you spoke to is my successor and came from outside the railway. Having been employed by the Strathspey railway between 2011 and 2022 in several roles, including Operations manager, I do know what I am talking about, regardless of what is on line. I also volunteered for many years before being employed and continue to volunteer afterwards.

 

More than happy to accept they have happened, more surprised at how little documentation of them there is. As a journalist too I like to know things for certain as there are always people who will complain/correct you when you get it wrong. That's all it is - looking for something concrete I can cite.