The Speyside Railway

“Is it a steam engine, today, please?”

Ever since I started going to preserved railways in 1969, my concerns have always been that the locomotive that was to haul us was

[a] steam

[b] ex-BR

[C] in ex-BR livery.

The reason was that that is how we had always known them from our earliest days [c.1960] to the end of steam on BR in 1968. Basically, we just wanted to carry on as though nothing had happened.

“Well it was when it went out,” was the somewhat caustic, if accurate, reply I received at the ticket office at Aviemore. “Though we have been having a bit of trouble with it and it’s the only one that’s working,” was supplemented, objectively and rather dispassionately, as I searched intently for the hint of a smile that indicated that this was an example of dry Scottish humour.

We bought our tickets and stepped out onto the spacious island platform, buoyed by the extensive canopies and the plentiful examples of light blue, British Railways Scottish Region doorplates. In my imagination, Ivatt Class 2 2-6-0 No. 46512 has always been the Speyside Railways “go-to” engine and here she was in the flesh.

As suggested, engineering staff were noticeably fussing around her, but she managed the course splendidly in the end – and what a course? What could be better than Speyside in summer sunshine from a steam train? That feeling of having space to spare, whether admiring the vista across the wide valley itself, or the lay-out at Boat of Garten station, with its fabulous floral display - it struck me as being so typical of Highland Scotland at large. Compared to much of built-up  Britain further south, this is a country where you could never feel hemmed in.

By the end of our trip, I had completely forgiven the abrupt manner with which we had been received. There will be a training course available for that sort of PR thing, no doubt.