Friday 7 April 2006 was the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Perth to
Dunkeld Railway. At which time the station was the railway terminus prior
to the remainder of the line being built to Inverness.
The scenery around Dunkeld is magnificent and although Dunkeld and Birnam
are two small adjacent Scottish villages, anyone going north on the A9 should
visit the villages, and enjoy the atmosphere. With tourist attractions
including the Hermitage, a Victorian Folly, and one of Scotland's finest music
pub's, (so I understand!) Dougie MacLean's Tayview Bar. For the kids
there's the Beatrix Potter garden in Birnam.
Although I couldn't get there that day to watch the ceremony on the day of the
anniversary, I did manage to get up there on Saturday the 8th April, took some
pictures, and filmed a 'First Scotrail' 170 'Turbostar' Series train. This
was the 09.24 departure from Inverness calling at Dunkeld and Birnam at 11.16
before leaving for Glasgow where it was due to arrive at 12.45.
(Click the play button to view the video on the left hand side, and the
background noise is A9 traffic less than 100 yards away)
The station has been redecorated for its anniversary and the wrought iron work
has received the proper treatment with the patterns picked out
The plaque to commemorate the anniversary is prominently displayed in on the
Perth (southbound) platform. The Earl of Mansfield, whose great, great
grandfather was the Chairman of the Perth to Dunkeld Railway Company, carried
out the unveiling of he plaque ceremony.
Now you can say it in Gaelic as well
Magnificent views to the north towards Inverness
The southbound view to Perth, including the manned signal box and semaphore
signal, in the 'off' position for the 11.16 to Glasgow
The April sunlight catches the camera lens - and was it cold for April!!
Sunday 28 May and the
Scottish Railway Preservation Society
(SRPS) had arranged a
'heritage' train trip from Linlithgow to the Kyle of Lochalsh. Pictured
left is the signal giving the train the all clear. On the right the video
clip. The train
stopped at Perth to pick up passengers at 10.05. Passengers had a choice
of destinations and could either get off at Plockton or travel all the way to the
Kyle of Lochalsh. It was obviously a very popular trip as it was fully
booked. Unfortunately, according to the SRPS website (see the above link)
"The final
timings below show that the train is delayed by nearly 1½ hours on the outward
journey. Although both ScotRail and Network Rail would be willing to delay a
service train by about 10 minutes so that the SRPS Railtours train could avoid
this delay, the regulations imposed when the Scottish railway system was
devolved do not permit this. The unfortunate consequence is that the return
times are much later than anticipated". Isn't our Scottish devolution a
truly wonderful thing? Please don't bother to e-mail the answer to me!
But I would be pleased if someone gave me the engine details.
