European Railroad Discussion > Scotland 2019 - trains and ferries

Some more pictures from our holiday in Scotland; the first five days were spent at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe followed by seven days island hopping in the Hebrides before returning home via Glasgow and the (relatively) new Borders Railway.

1: We set off from SE Wales early on the 8th, reaching Abington on the West Coast Mainline (former Caledonian Railway) at lunchtime. We stopped for a sandwich and a breather. This Virgin Pendolino is the 08:43 London (Euston) to Edinburgh (Waverley).

2: On Saturday I spent the morning on my bike riding (eventually) to North Queensferry over the first Forth Road Bridge which is now restricted to bikes, pedestrians and the odd bus. Very civilised. This shot was taken from the towpath of the Union Canal, the 4E98 intermodal from Mossend Yard (near Glasgow) to Teesport (in NE England). It's crossing Craiglockart Junction

3: Following National Cycle Network Route (NCN) 1 to the Forth Bridge you pass Haymarket Station in Edinburgh's West End and I, naturally, had to stop for an obligatory tram shot.

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4: When I got out to the bridge only the west side cycleway was open, the east side was closed for ongoing maintenance which meant that a clear shot of the railway bridge wasn't available, this was the best I could do, a pair of 170s crossing on a stopping train from Dunfermline in Fife to Edinburgh

5: I went out again on Monday morning as we weren't booked to see any shows before lunchtime. This was really luck, just as I arrived at Slateford (on the Union Canal towpath) the Euston to Edinburgh sleeper was passing Kingsknowe, about a minute away. It was 48 minutes late following an earlier problem around Preston which cost it 90+ minutes. 92043 looking splendid in GBRf livery and the new CAF built cars.

6: On the Edinburgh Suburban, an east-west line which takes freight around Edinburgh through the southern suburbs, bypassing Waverley and Haymarket stations, the morning Teesport to Grangemouth 4S99 behind celebrity 66109, decked out in PD Ports livery (PD Ports own Teesport). The PD in PD Ports stands for Powell Dyffryn, a name well known in South Wales. The Powell Dyffryn Steam Coal Company was one of the largest colliery owners before WW2, the initials PD appeared on countless private owner coal wagons, colliers maintained it stood for Poverty and Dole.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/19 14:09 by 86235.

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Great shots.

Uncle Joe
Seffner,Fl.

7: From Edinburgh we drove west to the port of Oban in Argyll to catch the Cal Mac ferry to, firstly, Tiree and then Coll. Caledonian MacBrayne was an amalgamation in the 1960s of the former railway owned Caledonian Steam Packet Co and David MacBrayne, the operator of ferries to the Hebridean islands. Of course today the ferries are car ferries, but they still sail from rail connected ports with advertised connections too and from Glasgow by train. This busy scene shows the MV Isle of Mull leaving Oban for it's namesake island (which you can see in the far distance) and the MV Isle of Lewis loading for its four and three quarter hour crossing to Castlebay on Barra in the Outer Hebrides.

8: After one night on Tiree and two on Coll we returned to Oban in order to drive up the coast to Mallaig where we were planning to visit the island of Rum. On the crossing back from Coll, which takes about two and a half hours, we passed the Isle of Lewis on its regular 13:30 departure to Castlebay

9: Unfortunately the weather on Saturday put paid to our visit to Rum this time, so after lunch we drove along the West Highland Extension Railway from Mallaig to Glenfinnan where I shot the afternoon Jacobite from Fort William to Mallaig crossing Concrete Bob's masterpiece. The locomotive is LMS 'Black Five' 4-6-0 45212 from 1935

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10: From Mallaig we returned south, past Oban to Kennacraig to catch the ferry to our final island Colonsay. Smaller than Tiree or Coll a ride around the island by bike is about 7 miles, but it does possess two gin distilleries (all the rage these days) and a brewery. It's a truly delightful island, well worth the effort to reach. On Tuesday 20th we caught our final ferry, returning to Oban on the Clansman

11: From Oban we drove to Glasgow spending the night with an old friend from London before setting off on Wednesday to see my partner's cousin and uncle for lunch in Melrose in the Scottish Borders. That gave me a second chance to take some pictures on the resurrected Borders Railway, here at Tynehead

12: And here approaching Stow in the valley of the Gala Water. Just bog standard DMUs I know but on a railway which was consigned to the dustbin nearly 50 years ago and which has, in part, been rebuilt.

I've posted some more pictures if anyone's interested.

https://nick86235.smugmug.com/Trains/2019/Scotland-2019-Edinburgh-the-borders-and-Hebridean-Ferries/i-hF3d9d3

 

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FANTASTIC!

Btw, how was the scotch whisky?

Thanks, excellent as usual 😁

Wow ! These pictures are incredible !!!
Makes me want to call a travel agent up and book a trip !!! 
Yes I will check out the other pictures out !!!
Thank you for sharing !!! :):):)

Excellent images and commentary, Nick. A sincere thanks from the other side of the Pond for some especially fine work.

Thanks, Scotland is difficult to beat as a holiday destination, weather permitting.

Fine collection of photos, Nik. You did well with the freight, considering how little there is up there. Chris uk