16th September - A Highlands Long Weekend, Day 1
On alighting from the sleeper, I made a bee-line towards the WH Smiths at the station to purchase a meal-deal for later on in the day, also picking up a newspaper to read during my first fester of the day. The platform for the first Kyle train of the day had been announced and it was a busy (with a coach party from America) dud 158712. Although only in the book with a Haymarket leap so not a high mileage Inverness based 158. No seat reservations had been put out (Im guessing there is an issue with the printer as there was no seat reservations for any services from Inverness this weekend), however I made a bee-line (buzz buzz) to the former 1st class area which are unreservable.
Anyhow a right time departure, and it was a peaceful trip northbound from Inverness, getting quite busy at Dingwall with the arrival of another coach party, meaning the 158 was mostly full as it headed onto the Kyle line itself, a riot was taking place as the trolley had run out of hot water before it had finished with the rear coach! Pretty soon after Garve the train was rolling into the first request stop on the line, as I was the only person to alight (or board) at
Lochluichart, which is a station built to serve the tiny hamlet of Lochluichart (which looked like it was mostly empty with some of the houses gone to ruin). Nothing else in the area, apart from a busy road, with some views of the Loch itself, but most of the views was blocked by trees.
My fester here was for 2 hours, so I took up a seat in the little seat of a waiting room, iPod on giving me some music whilst I read the newspaper and a book, relaxing as the only other company was a member of staff who arrived to empty the bins and check the station over (checking the help-point etc). A peaceful time I had but mid-day soon arrived with the sound of the train horn as I put my arm up to request winner
158714 to stop, another busy service (not as busy as the first service), but I managed to get a seat for the 10 mile & 52 chain to the passing loop at
Achnasheen. A place with houses, a little bus stop outside the station, it even had toilets!
Standing on the footbridge watching as the 158 pulled away towards the hills, it was a beautiful scene of rolling green land giving way to hills. However the station losses some marks for remoteness by having a nearby busy road ruining the sound of nature. The hour passed and 158712 had returned from Kyle, this time more empty, non-stop passed the two request stops to another passing loop at
Garve, which is a small village, but nothing else of interest other than housing. Another small fester as I waited for the 3rd Kyle service of the day to roll in, which was formed of dud 158711 (previously had on a run via the Fife Circle back in September 14). I request my stop as we rolled past Lochluichart and came to a stop at the equally remote
Achanalt. A few houses around the station but mostly it was remote wilderness, a nice place to fester for 20 minutes waiting for the return of fresh dud 158714, sitting in the other coach to make it a super-dud.
My adventure on the Kyle line was at an end of the day, as I alighted at Dingwall, having a quick look around the town, before returning to the station, the first service was a short working from Invergordon which was 158712 again, turning that down for a short wait for the service from Wick, which I was rewarded with winner
158701 getting an entry into my book with the nice run back to Inverness, where I crossed over to the 17:15 Aberdeen service which was formed of a busy 170402 (a high mileage 170 having had it from Haymarket to Dundee back on my May 14 Scottish trip, plus many smaller leaps at Haymarket). I found a table seat in the leading coach, surprised that this was one of the 170s now fitted with power sockets, which came in handy giving my phone a quick boost of energy for the hour trip in an eastern direction.
The mostly single track line towards Aberdeen starts off pretty running alongside the water, before heading inland passing the airport, pretty in parts, but a good bit of speed after Elgin arriving into
Keith 5 or so minutes early, a single platform station with evidence of former platforms and a former link to the heritage railway, but I didnt have long at Keith before a service from Glasgow via Aberdeen rolled in (there is a passing loop to the east of Keith, so it is an easy station to get in the bag if you arrive in the right direction). Duds 170455 & 158730 rolled in to take me back the 55 miles to Inverness, as I stayed in the 170 for comfort over the Haymarket 158.
An early finish compared to normal for me, as I checked into the hotel (Waverley Guest house, located less than 3 minute walk from Inverness station), swinging via Tesco Metro for a toothbrush (I remembered my toothpaste but not a brush, doh!), food via McDonalds as I chilled out before heading to a noisy hotel room (as it overlooked a pub, staying within the city centre is a blessing and a curse). Excluding the locos on the sleeper, 2 more 158s into the book with 5 more shacks in the book, tomorrow I shall be heading over the hills to reach the west side of the Kyle line.
Some pictures:
158712 at Lochluichart (the building that satellite dish was attached to looked full of junk):
Loch Luichart:
Achnasheen:
Garve:
Achanalt:
Keith:
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17th September A Highlands Long Weekend, Day 2
On studying the timetable I noticed a couple morning peak short workings from Elgin back to Inverness, which operated on the Saturday, so I decided before heading out to Kyle to grab a trio of shacks on the line out towards Aberdeen with only 30 minute festers between trains (on a line which is normally 2 hourly).
It was an early start of the day as I walked the tiny distance to Inverness station to board the 05:54 service to Aberdeen (there is an even earlier service towards Aberdeen which continues to Edinburgh departing at 04:53!). This service was quite busy and formed of 158714 & 158711, so at least I knew I would have two different units on the Kyle line later. It was a run in the early morning light arriving into
Elgin mostly on time. Elgin is a passing point on the single track section, has a Lidl on one side of the line and an Asda on the other side. A nice warm ticket office/waiting room took my seat for the short wait for the ECS from Inverness to roll in, which divided quite rapidly on arrival.
Dud 170451 was at the Inverness end, which departed first to take me the 12 and a bit miles to
Forres, a station which seems to be on a bit of a loop compared to the rest of the line, a former platform was opposite the sole operational platform, and another platform for the former line towards Aviemore. A Tesco was spotted over the road, so a quick hop over there to pick up some supplies for later (proved useful in the end), returning to the station to see a dud 170 heading towards Aberdeen, which pauses in the Forres loop to the east of the station, allowing 158730 to roll in. 9 and a half miles later I alighted at
Nairn, another nice little station (passing loop inside the station), but I didnt go out for long as winning Haymarket based
158735 rolled in (wasnt expecting to score a Haymarket 158 this weekend) to eventually take me back to Inverness, where due to signalling problems it ran slowly rolling into Inverness 20 minutes late.
Hence I was thankful I did the Tesco at Forres, as I had no time at Inverness to jump onto the first Kyle train of the day, again jumping into the former 1st class area on dud 158722 to take me nearly to the end of the line at
Plockton. As the weather was beautiful I decided to have a little walk, judging by signposts I gather there is some footpaths which would have shorten my walk via some narrow lanes up a massive hill, passing a castle before reaching
Duncraig station, built to serve the castle, it is very remote, but has a very nice waiting room.
As I had planned not to have done the walk (in case of bad weather) I was ahead of my plan, as I put my arm up to request for 158722 to stop, local door only due to the tiny platform, and it was a run to
Strathcarron, where I decided to take a gamble with being able to pull off the connection at the passing point. The other service was in the platform, but luck was on my side as I dashed over the footbridge onto 158708 which departed a few minutes later to take me back towards Kyle, alighting at
Stromeferry. A nice little single platform (evidence of a former platform from when Im guessing it was a passing loop), a large boat and good views of the loch. A nice enough place to spend an hour in the sunshine, but soon 158708 had returned, where I made my request to the guard, she misunderstood me due to some loud passengers and we shot straight through Achanshellach. Anyhow it would be another tight connection at the passing point of Achnasheen, or so I had through...
158708 arrived, and there was no sign of the other unit, I was standing on the bridge, and through I saw it coming (must have been a trick with the light), as 158708 disappeared onto the single track. I managed to get RTT to load and it suggested that the Kyle service was running slightly late and was stuck at Garve waiting to be looped there. I took up a seat, and had a nice little wait, but it was worth it as winner
158723 rolled in mostly empty around 50-odd minutes late. I made no mistake in requesting the next stop, and over the hills and 12 and a half miles later I alighted at the very low platform of
Achnashellach, a station in the middle of nowhere. A couple farm buildings along a farm track, in the middle of a forest a good 10 minute walk from the road below, but gave me a chance to zen out, as I would be here for at least 2 hours.
Those 2 hours passed very quickly, and the departure time came and went, eventually I managed to get RTT to load (a poor 2G signal) to see that the train had departed 27 minutes late. Taking a seat on the step, it was rather cold, as I was waiting, so back to the little bench in the shelter, waiting for the time RTT suggested the train would return. I put my arm out to stop fresh dud 158723 as it headed back towards Inverness (this is the service which would have gone round the back of Inverness depot, to reverse into Inverness station before carrying on to Elgin). The guard came on the PA to mention that due to this service running late it would have to wait 15 minutes at Achnasheen for the 4th and final Kyle service to pass (which did look empty). Further delayed due to door issues eventually departing 30 minutes later, 68 minutes down, no stops at the little request stops and Garve was local door only. After checking RTT to see that a short working was also being delayed due to a late running Wick train I decided to bail at Dingwall.
37607 was at the rear of a freight service (looked like a 66 at the front) waiting for the line to be cleared due to late trains, however my luck wasnt on my side as dud 158722 reappeared to take me back to Inverness. A dud 158 was on the last Aberdeen (which if it was required I was thinking of a hop to Forres as it passes an Inverness bound service in the loop outside the station), so I decided to call it a night, swinging via a takeaway to pick up a pizza.
Back to the hotel, to relax, 2 more 158s into the book (5 Inverness 158s, 2 Haymarket 158s left of the Scot-rail fleet) but this weekend was always going to be about clearing the Kyle line which I had completed, with the bonus of clearing Inverness to Keith leaving just Dyce to Huntly to do, a job for next May on my Spirit of Scotland adventure.
Some more pictures:
Elgin:
170415 departing Forres:
Nairm
Plockton:
Some of the views on the road to Duncraig:
Duncraig:
Stromeferry:
The unexpected return to Achnasheen:
Achnashellach:
A tractor at Dingwall:
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18th September A Highlands Long Weekend, Day 3
A lazy day for me, after getting breakfast at the hotel and checking out, it was a swing via the Co-Op to purchase lunch for later (just in case it was the week with the Salmon or Egg sandwiches), before saying farewell to Inverness city centre for another few months, walking over to platform 1 to board the Highland Chieftain, which on a Sunday calls at pretty much all the stations towards Perth (apart from Dalwhinnie). Due to engineering works it was being diverted via Carlisle which meant a journey time of 9 hours 40 minutes, so when booking I decided to pay the extra to sit in coach L.
A good decision as there was no weekend first available due to the heavy loadings in 1st class. Sadly my last 2 VT 43s decided not to pop up, instead I had low mileage 43300 Craigentinny 100 at the front and 43308 Highland Chieftain on the rear, which due to the run would become my 2nd VTEC 43 over the thousand mile mark. I had a single seat on the left hand side in the direction of travel, as I relaxed watching the scenery of the Highland Main Line, as the train had no trouble with the inclines, on a beautiful run southbound. Breakfast was served pretty soon after departure, as I relaxed watching the world go past.
The seat opposite was taken up at Perth by a Canadian gentleman heading to London and it was a return to the lowlands and into Edinburgh, a quick reversal and it was non-stop to Carlisle coming into platform 3, with a quick chance of some external observation of a 390 coming in on route to Euston. Lunch was served pretty much soon after Edinburgh, the Chicken & Bacon wrap was beautiful. After a speedy run down the WCML it was onto the Tyne Valley line which is a bit slower, but gave me ideas for when I eventually get around to completing the line next year. Into Newcastle with a delay as we had to wait for a platform to become available for another reversal for a fast run down the ECML, another change of crew meant another lunch run! Although sadly unlike normal, this service didnt run non-stop after York, picking up at Doncaster & Peterborough where some passengers were not happy that 1st class was full (even going as far as sitting down in the doorway even through seats were available).
Arrival into Kings Cross onto platform 0, a few minutes early gave me some hope as after a normal found the process of opening the door hard work, I fast walked it to the Victoria line platform, hoping onto 11059/11060 for the short run down to Oxford Circus, crossing over jumping onto 3265/3560 which got held at Oxford Circus for a couple minutes (and slowed right down between Embankment & Waterloo, so much that you could read the numbers on the tunnel lights), anyhow I came out of the Underground at 19:41, so with a slow walk over to platform 9 I jumped onto the 19:45 Salisbury Flyer, formed this evening of 159018 & 158882, glad I made that connection as it got me back to Andover a good 45 minutes earlier than the 20:15 service, having slow getaway from Clapham but flying through Woking, but coming to a stop outside Basingstoke to wait for the Weymouth train to clear the platform.
No winners today, but a very relaxing trip back south, sadly not in the lush refurbished HST set, but still was very nice:
The sign was a bit wrong:
My seat for nearly 10 hours:
Carlisle:
