Strathspey Railway Boat of Garten. XTR 3192-317
The extensive Boat of Garten station, unlike other stations on the line, features the original buildings dating from when the station became a parallel junction between the Highland Railway's main line from Perth to Forres and the Great North of Scotland Railway's branch to Craigellachie. (This was the original Strathspey Railway, the company being a subsidiary of the GNSR.) Today there are two passenger platforms and the yard stores the majority of the Strathspey Railway's Rolling Stock collection. Up to this point all the track was original but from Boat of Garten northwards, the track had been lifted and structures demolished by BR in the 1960s. The tracks to Craigellachie and Granton had left the station extending in a Double track formation as far as Croftnahaven, where the GNSR line turned sharply South-East and crossed the Spey. This curious arrangement was adopted because a signal box for a junction here was deemed too expensive. Leaving Boat of Garten, trains cross the road on the new single track box-girder bridge and pass the site of the original GNSR engine shed, long demolished it is now the site of a Permanent way depot. The railway passes though mainly farmland on the re-laid track, which was mostly recovered from Kincardine power station in Fife in the 1990s. Boat of Garten also has the railway's only water column where the engines take water every time they head north through the station. Also the railway's engines are coaled (normally) during the morning on the south side of the station. This is currently the only station with signalling in operation and has two signal boxes, Boat of Garten North and Boat of Garten South. Signalling is traditional British Railways mechanical signalling with semaphore signals. Most of what visitors to the railway see today is original from the days of British Railways. The main layout of the station has not been altered in any major way with the exception of two new coal sidings which have been installed on the east
Size: 5288px × 3512px
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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