Strathspey Railway

I'd be very "Can we get the guitars that are like, double guitars" but thats no small amount that I'm sure will be spent pragmatically.

I couldn't make it (was in America) but the Rail 200 visit seems to have been well attended and run. Hopefully the various departments have a little bit of confidence back.

 

Good news. Please get the line to Grantown built using this. Would transofrm the place and complete the railway by having two major destinations at each ond of the line.

 

Sadly, £1m is unlikely to get the railway much further. Will need a larger cash injection, and a move on from the Transport Scotland side of things regarding the road crossing layout, to see any progress.

 

Whats going on with TS? Is there some political backing driving this forwards?

 

If it wasn’t specifically stated in the gift that the money will be used for extending then sadly it’ll go into the administrative blob, or be used for some ‘initiative’.

 

Given the current financial pressures many heritage railways are under I suggest that anything that improves its long term viability - projects that might cut costs and reduce debt payments might be a wise move if not an exciting one.

 

Having £1M in the bank opens up lots of opportunities for match funding grants from elsewhere, so that it potentially becomes worth quite a lot more than £1M, if it's managed correctly. The temptation might be to spend it directly on other projects, or paying off loans, or whatever, but that might not be the best thing to do. From the sounds of it they are taking financial advice, which can only be a good thing.

 

Given that donations of this nature are so rare, it may be prudent to invest the money. The SR could draw down only on earnings, and not capital, and use the proceeds from the income to fund various projects over time, and if managed well this could allow the fund to grow to help fund the extension.

Or dont draw down at all and let it grow into a significnant endowment. Returns of 6-10% per annum are not hard to find.

With windfalls like this its wise to think in terms fo what would we have done if this had not come in? Its too easy to spend money, and thinking for the future is difficult. Taking a long term view on how the railway could look and what its finances would look like with two destinations at each end, is probably the smart move.

If £1m is not enough to fund the extension outright, the clear rebuttal to that question is, how can the money be grown in to a sum that could fund it...?

 

Where do you find such returns? Most investments barely keep up with inflation and some interest rates are below inflation, so negative in real terms.

 

You may want to look harder - talking to my IFA recently, returns at CPI+ levels are readily available. And that will be especially true where there's a large capital amount to start off with.

 

Totally agree with the sentiment, but £1m is a drop in the ocean to achieve this. What was a difficult and complex project is now even worse with the new distillery access road that was built without any consideration of the railways plans.
Need Transport for Scotland and major Political and financial will.

 

Well, there is an election coming up. Thats the time to get some political will up and running.

Whats the issue with TS? they dont want to fund any road improvements?

Litterally any ETF worth a dime has returned annualised 10% minimum for the last 20 years.

If you expect cash returns from any high street bank to track inflation, I have a few truly wonderful bridges for sale.

FTSE all world is a great place to start. 95% of the market in one fund. 3500 companies. 300% growth in the last decade.
FTSE All-World UCITS ETF - Income

 

Without diving into the political will for road improvements etc, the road in question (the A95) serves perfectly well for the current traffic loads and intended usages.

What is being suggested isn't a road improvement, but a large redesign of the road to allow the railway to either pass above or below it (to avoid a level crossing situation) and is now made trickier by the approximation of The Cairn Distillery to where said overpass/underpass will be required.

I understand your point about political will, but the cost versus the population affected by the Scottish Parliament stepping in to accelerate the railway reaching Grantown likely means this is very low on their agenda frankly.

 

Having driven that road only last week, there isn't anything wrong with it, as you say its perfectly fine for current traffic.

What is being asked is for TS to undertake a multi million pound project to suit a heritage railway. I would suggest in the current financial climate most voters would want limited funds spent where repairs / improvements are actually needed.

 

Pushing against an open door on that im afraid. Try getting some new railway built for Scotlands two most populus areas furthest from a station... its not easy.

Im tryong to understand the way forwards on this. Is it that the railway needs to come up with the bulk of the cash if this is going to happen? I imaige if that is the case we are talking about £10m plus, probalbly more... ?

TS are hard to convince at the best of times, and given this is not actually a mainline railway its going to be even harder. That being said, its not worth leaving to one side becasue its difficult. Reaching Grantown will have a hugely beneficial impact on the entire area.

 

The Scottish Government have form for that, especially during the period of SNP/Green coalition.

 

Is crossing an A road on the level really a non-starter? I mean, if the RVR can do it...
(I don't know the A95 at all though... no clue. And I realise the local politics is different!)

 

This is one of the major trunk roads in the area and on a 60mph stretch too, I would imagine very much a non-starter.
I would suggest we are looking at a GCR Reunification level of funding / engineering.
There seems to have been some agreement with TS at some point, but the new distillery access road has made that a lot more difficult.

In the meantime there is plenty to be done on consolidating the railway and stabilising the finances after a very tricky few years.
What this line really needs are more volunteers, these (& members) have taken a real hit since covid. If more people could help out they would find a real gem of a line that does a lot of things very well. I just wish it was 400 miles closer!

 

Just for clarity, what level of traffic (say in comparison to the A21) does the A95 carry?

 

I don't know the A21 I'm afraid, but it is the major link road from the A9 to towns such as Elgin & Forres in NE Scotland. Like most roads in that part of the world, I should think traffic is very seasonal, but diversionary routes scarce!