European Railroad Discussion > Scotland! Freight trains?

Finally going to the home of my great-great grandparents of my mom's side.  Will be in Edinburgh, Inverness, and Fort William, briefly in Glasgow.  Any freight action in the next two weeks I should keep an eye out for? Already pestered 86235 for ideas.

Thanks!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/16 20:02 by NH2006.

Hi - I'm sure Nick will have given you some pointers. Sadly, due to the situation in the coal market, practically all coal has finsihed in Scotland. Your first search has to be the UK web site 'Real Time Trains'. Access is free and simply enter your location required and the date. Take care to drill down enough to make sure the train is actually running. There are also a couple of loco hauled evening peak services around Edinburgh. Enjoy Scotland - Chris UK.

Alan - no freight runs through Edinburgh, what does run uses the east-west suburban line across the south of the City. On Realtimetrains use Slateford Jn to get times, using the filters.

Close to Edinburgh (just east) are cement trains to/from Oxwellmains (Colas class 60 diesels) gpoing to Inverness, Aberdeen and Grangemouth just west of Edinburgh. Coming into Edinburgh itself are nightly loco-hauled sleeper trains (electric from the south, diesel from the north). Grangemouth also gets some Colas Railfreight oil trains.
In the highlands up to Inverness are intermodals with new class 68 diesels (Caterpillar engined). There are some freights up to Fort William also...GBRailfreight cement i think...The class 68's also get used on local passenger trains in the Fife area. These are just some ideas off the top of my head.
As someone else mentioned, 'realtimetrains' is a great website to show you what trains are planned and what is running. Go to the 'advanced' version of the website, type in the location you're interested in and the date and the trains are then listed in chronological order. You can see where the trains will be at what time and it's all updated in real time. You can even specify freight trains...
Any questions when you're over here, just put a post on this forum and we'll try and get back to you asap.

Have a great trip!

Paul.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/02/16 07:53 by exhaustED.