TOPICAL MATTERS and NEWS

Online version of January
Far North Express

It is now possible to read the online version of the January edition of Far North Express, on our website.

Although it's useful to have all copies of the magazine available online, from the point of view of reading a copy in full the printed version is vastly superior, and a much more enjoyable read!

Of course, if you were a member you would have had your copy three weeks ago.

Perhaps you might think of joining now (see below) - if you do you'll also receive a free copy of our book, FoFNL 25 , which sells for £5.00

Time for Timber Trucks to Give Way to Trains

The January edition of our triannual magazine Far North Express went to press today. We just missed the chance to include an article about the urgent need to get timber back on trains in Scotland, by FoFNL member, renowned railway author and Scottish Representative of the Rail Freight Group, David Spaven.

We strongly recommend that you read this - especially if you are a politician or owner of a factory that uses Scottish timber.

We were delighted that Rhoda Grant, one of our Vice-Presidents, lodged this motion in Holyrood on 18 November. It has already received valuable press coverage which helps us to keep the Far North Line in the forefront of people's minds.

Motion S5M-19935: Rhoda Grant, Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour, Date Lodged: 18/11/2019

That the Parliament congratulates Friends of the Far North Line, which is celebrating 25 years of campaigning; acknowledges that it has worked tirelessly to protect, promote and deliver rail improvements to the Far North Line and the Caithness/Inverness rail service; notes that it has produced an informative anniversary booklet to celebrate its achievements, its members and its combined knowledge; believes that the group has made a real contribution to keeping the economic and social value of the line in the public eye for more than two decades, and wishes it all the best and a celebration of more improvements in the future.

Supported by: Liam McArthur, Bill Kidd, Richard Lyle, Gil Paterson, Elaine Smith, Jenny Gilruth, John Finnie.

Far North Express - September 2019

This is a rather belated announcement that FNE 78 is now available online .

The printed copy is much more enjoyable to read though - if you're a member, you'll know this already!

If you haven't yet joined, please do - the more members, the more influence. We've had several life members join this year too - very encouraging!

We also use FNE as a way of keeping the FNL in the forefront of the minds of politicians and the rail industry by giving them complimentary copies.

We know from feedback that they read them too!

FNL Catering Trolleys

FoFNL has been asked by ScotRail's Commercial Director for any thoughts on how to improve sales on the catering trolleys on the Far North Line.

As many people will know, there has sometimes been a catastrophic lack of catering provision recently. Our first reaction therefore was that sales would increase if passengers knew they could trust SR to provide catering. Obviously, if you're about to travel and you know the likelihood of last minute catering cancellation, you'll bring your own supplies.

However, we feel this is a serious opportunity to pass your suggestions on to ScotRail. Please have a think and email us - we will pass on all constructive suggestions.

FoFNL AGM & Conference 2019

This is a belated post about FoFNL's extremely enjoyable and informative AGM & Conference last Friday in Brora.

The only disappointment was that attendance was a little down on last year's event. We think this is due to the fact that we have a policy to move our AGM to a different place each year. Its length is pretty fixed and that didn't fit well with Brora's train times.

Good news though that our membership is now well over 200 and growing - please join now if you're not a member!!

We had five excellent speakers this year. Bill Reeve, Director of Rail, Transport Scotland, opened with a lot of positive reactions to the success of the Far North Line Review Team, which met for the final time on 1 February. He listed the many initiatives now coming to fruition and hinted that the bigger things we are hoping for (e.g. the Lentran Loop) are on the way. Indeed Bill's opening remark to me on arrival was, "I'm suffering from a sense of optimism!"

Bill was followed by Sir Peter Hendy, Chairman of Network Rail who continued in the same optimistic vein. Summing up he said, "the idea that the Far North Line could ever be under threat of closure is inconceivable (or words to that effect)"

The third speaker was David Shirres, Editor of Rail Engineer. His brief was to talk about trains beyond the end of diesels. He gave an excellent presentation covering other forms of propulsion currently under development, referencing Vivarail's battery train and the Hydrogen-powered train built by Alstom. As he said, all future trains will be electric and the motors will not care where their power comes from.

After lunch we had a summary by Frank Roach of the current work of HITRANS, including plans for a sleeper service from Caithness to the Central Belt, which is now in urgent need of political support - MSPs and Councillors etc please note! Frank was joined in front of the audience by Alice Gillman, Head of Marketing at Vivarail who gave an entertaining and inspiring pitch for using one of Vivarail's battery trains to provide a shuttle service between Thurso and Wick, pointing out that powering the train would be almost free, using power from the Pentland Firth, stored in a container-sized building - or indeed a container, perhaps - full of life-expired batteries from other transport uses, and used to charge the train at Wick. This seems to us a no-brainer as long as it is something people would use. There are already good indications of interest from local residents - we look forward to hearing more...

Next in line was Scott Prentice, Head of Business Development, ScotRail. Not obvious from his job title is that he is responsible for designing service patterns and is currently working on a completely new way of organising FNL services. This will take a while and depends on the Scottish Government agreeing to fund certain enhancements (e.g. the Lentran Loop). It is an exciting prospect, aiming to give as much of a regular 'clock-face' service as possible.

The last speaker was chosen to fulfil our current wish to have one speaker not from the rail industry. In Brora it was Dr Nick Lindsay, Chairman of the Clyne Heritage Trust which is all about the history of the Brora area. Dr Lindsay's talk was fascinating and I for one now wish to return to Brora and have a good look round!

Please look out for info about next June's event and join us - it's open to the public!

Opening Up The View

FoFNL has been asked by ScotRail's Tourism Manager to help identify sections of the Far North Line that we believe would benefit from vegetation clearance for tourist/visitor purposes. This is to improve views from the train of particularly scenic areas, rather than necessarily improving operational performance (which is already part of scheduled maintenance on an ongoing basis by our colleagues at Network Rail).

He says, "We carried out a similar exercise a few years back but I am keen to ensure we have updated records and are prioritising the right sections. We will only be able to carry out a limited amount of vegetation clearance so it is essential we focus on the sections which will give the greatest benefit.

"Ideally if you could identify the geographic area/section, roughly how long it is, and whether the vegetation needs to be cleared on one or both sides (and if one side, which side), we will then compare this info with Network Rail’s data to identify a schedule of works.

"Please note I am also looking at other scenic lines, such as the West Highland and Kyle Lines, and that we only have a limited budget and timescale. Therefore, I cannot guarantee we will be able to carry out the work in the current financial year, but the info supplied will help us develop a priority list for the works.

"If you are able to identify 1 or 2 short sections quite quickly (say by the end of April) then we can try and get to work on those quite quickly, and add other sections at a later date once you’ve had the opportunity to consider and review in more detail."

Please email us with any thoughts.

FoFNL 25th Anniversary Offer

2019 is the 25th anniversary of the formation of FoFNL. To mark this we have introduced the option of Life Membership of the Friends costing £120, with a special reduced rate of £100 if you become a life member by 31 October 2019.

Why not become a life member now, guaranteeing that you will receive our three magazines each year and won't have to remember to renew your subscription ever again?

Download and print out our membership form from here.

HIGHLAND MAIN LINE - URGENT!

Although FoFNL is the campaign group for improvements to the Far North Line, we are also very aware of the terrible shortcomings of the two lines that feed in from the south.

Although some very welcome work is being done on the busy Inverness to Aberdeen route the Highland Main Line, from Perth to Inverness is in dire need of extensive upgrading to achieve even the modest improvements promised for 2012 by Alex Salmond in 2008.

The enhancements being carried out at the moment are tiny compared to what's required.

Our current magazine carries a detailed article by Richard Ardern which should be a 'must-read' for all Scottish politicians.

Please Write to Your MSPs!

Having started the process of asking all MSPs to think very carefully about Network Rail Scotland Route being owned by (effectively), and answerable to, the UK Government instead of the Scottish Government, we are hoping that as many people as possible will take the time to write in support of devolving NR Scotland Route. Each of us in Scotland has eight MSPs that we can write to as individuals - seven Regional 'List' MSPs and our constituency MSP.

My predecessor as Convener of FoFNL, Mike Lunan has written to all eight of his representatives. His letter makes the reasons very clear indeed:

http://www.fofnl.org.uk/archives/Mike-Lunan-Letter-to-His-MSPs.pdf

Please help to get this message across as soon as possible by writing to (preferably) all of your eight MSPs. If you want to check who they are, and how to contact them, use this tool.

Strategic Rail Routes Should be a Major Part of the Nation's Future

The High Speed Trains which are to be introduced on the inter-city routes north from Glasgow and Edinburgh will give passengers more carriages and a much more comfortable ride. Although capable of 125 mph, the permitted track speeds will limit them to 100mph.

As you reported ("Passengers do not care how old their trains are", The Herald, October 9) delegates to the SNP conference were highly critical of the service capacity on the Highland Main Line to Inverness. On board capacity will be much improved by these refurbished trains, but the £60 Million infrastructure improvements mentioned are only a small step towards improving the track capacity to prevent trains having to wait in loops to access the next section of single track when another train is coming the other way.

Without wishing to be too political, we might remember that the sanctioned enhancement spend on the line for 2014-2019 was up to £120M, double what is actually happening. The Strategic Transport Projects Review in December 2008 put the line as third priority after the Queensferry Crossing and the Edinburgh-Glasgow [rail] Improvements Programme. Now EGIP is nearing completion, it is high time to deliver a modern strategic railway to the north. As the Scottish Chambers of Commerce said in April 2016 "a connected economy is a successful economy" such that "single track railways linking Inverness, Aberdeen and the Central Belt are unacceptable in the 21st century". The superb Airdrie to Bathgate line would be a standard to aim for.

The problem now for the Government is that money is getting ever tighter and other claims such as replacing vessels for Caledonian MacBrayne are also getting more urgent. This is compounded by the denial of geography which is affecting HM Treasury this year and resulting in them allocating railway monies on a crude per capita basis rather than, as hitherto, by need. Scotland's railways have been denied some £400M through this.

Underlying all this is yesterday's electrifying report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggesting that we only have 12 years in which to avoid a catastrophic environmental breakdown. Despite good work on energy emissions, Scotland's transport emissions are still going up. It is essential that we put more effort into sustainable transport. Strategic rail routes within Scotland should be a major part of that.

Scottish Grand Tour

ScotRail is offering a spectacular one-way circular tour of Scotland using trains (The West Highland Line, The Kyle Line, the Highland Main Line and between Edinburgh and Glasgow), ferry between Mallaig and Armadale on Skye and coach between Armadale and Kyle of Lochalsh

You get to travel on two of Scotland's most scenic railways, plus a visit to Skye!

This allows four travel days, with unlimited breaks in journeys, the whole circle to be completed within eight days.

The cost is £89 and normal Standard National Railcard discounts apply, EXCEPT for the Glasgow or Edinburgh Days Out travel pass. There's a 50% discount for children aged 5-15 and under fives travel free.

You can start and finish the tour at any point on the route.

Although you are free to travel almost whenever you wish, you must stick to one direction once you have begun your trip.

The only time restriction is that journeys on the Highland Main Line and Glasgow-Edinburgh must commence after 09:15.

First of This Year's Subsea 7 Pipe Trains

On 23rd May the first consignment of pipes for the Subsea 7 fabrication plant near Wick ran from Hartlepool to Georgemas Junction.

Here is a video of the train leaving Brora.

North Needs Rail Links Fit for 21st Century

This piece by John Finnie MSP appeared in the Inverness Courier on 4th May and is reproduced with permission.

Last week while down in the Central Belt as part of my normal working week, I took the opportunity to nip along to Coatbridge and visit the Freightliner Rail Freight terminal.

A single freight train can carry enough material to build 30 houses and while it's good to see the likes of Tesco and Diageo utilising rail to carry goods to and from the north, many businesses are missing out on opportunities to switch from road to rail, simply because the single track Highland Main Line simply does not have the capacity to cope with any significant increase in freight traffic.

Those who regularly travel to the Central Belt by train will understand the potential for major disruption to journeys as a result of extremely limited capacity. While I am pleased that the Scottish Government has recently announced a modest £10 million investment to improve the Highland Main Line, I fear it will amount to little more than tinkering, rather than the serious improvements that are needed.

Time and again we see major investment in trunk roads, with billions splashed on projects which continue to prioritise the motor car. The government trumpets City Deal projects, which are all too often just glamorously titled road building schemes.

I cannot imagine a project that would be more transformative for the Highlands than the dualling of the Highland Main Line. Every tonne transferred by rail, rather than road, cuts CO² emissions by 76 per cent. Dualling the Highland Main Line would be of huge benefit to the climate and could take between 250 and 300 lorries a day off the A9, which would make our roads safer and reduce repair bills.

Increasing capacity on the Highland Main Line would also offer exciting opportunities to greatly improve journey times between the Central Belt and the Highlands. I am confident this move would be widely welcomed, particularly by businesses who could engage with their counterparts in the Central Belt much more conveniently.

The tourism sector is of course vital to the economy of the Highlands and Islands and ensuring that we have rail links fit for the 21st century would greatly improve the appeal, encouraging many more visitors to the north.

Further improvements to the Far North and West Highland lines would enhance this further of course. But as the main rail route to and from the Highlands, we simply can't afford to continue waiting, we need to dual the Highland Main Line now!

Although FoFNL doesn't actively campaign on railway matters outwith the Far North Line, this route is vital for passengers and freight travelling to the line. All MSPs should read this and THINK!

At a ceremony on Friday 13th April 2018, organised by FoFNL member Frank Roach, a plaque to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Sutherland Railway (part of the Far North Line) from Bonar Bridge (now Ardgay) to Golspie, was unveiled by Lord Strathnaver.

It was another six years before the line reached Thurso and Wick with huge financial help from the Duke of Sutherland.

The Beast From the East Reaches Forsinard

or 'Frozenhard' as someone responsible for FNL snow clearing used to call it!

The very heavy snowfall which affected most of the UK last week made for some amazing pictures!

These photos were taken by Jonathan Ford from the Flows To The Future Project based at RSPB Forsinard.

P&J Letter About HML

26 February 2018

Although FoFNL exists to campaign for improvement on the Far North Line, we obviously have very strong views about the lines south of Inverness. The following letter appeared today (26 Feb) in the Press & Journal. It encapsulates a fact that we frequently mention - for some reason it seems that although Scottish Government policy is to encourage the use of public transport, it can't stop itself from putting road building first. It is extraordinary that one of Scotland's cities should have all four railways that radiate from it being single-track with passing places. Imagine if all the roads were the same!

Here's the letter:

TIME TO ‘DUAL’ THE RAILWAY TRACKS TOO

Having just arrived in Inverness on the excellent overnight sleeper from London, it seems ironic that our train and its many passengers were held on two of the several passing loops - at Kincraig and Tomatin on the now mainly single-track section - awaiting southbound trains. If many millions are going to be spent on dualling the A9, which will simply encourage more road traffic, surely a few million more could be spared to dual some of the railway to keep passengers and freight on the tracks. And a second track, where there's room, takes less space than a whole new two-lane carriageway.

John Davis,
Harpenden, Herts

158 at Scotscalder 20th Feb 2018

Saw this picture today and really liked it!

It was taken by Felix Saward who has a blog called Least Used Stations. He very kindly gave me permission to reproduce it here.

Facebook

FoFNL now has a page on Facebook.

We are hoping our page will stimulate interest in what we do and the Far North Line in general. Please have a look at our page, like it (if you do!) and share it with your friends.

Audio Guides to the Far North Line

The Scottish Natural Heritage website used to carry some excellent audio guides to the Far North Line. They were in MP3 format and were ideal for listening to on the train.

We now have them hosted on our site.

Highland Survivor, The Story of the Far North Line, wins Award!

David Spaven's new book, Highland Survivor: the story of the Far North Line was launched on 21st September 2016 and has now won the 2017 Railway Book of the Year award from the Railway and Canal Historical Society.

It's hard to imagine that anyone reading this wouldn't want to get their hands on a copy straight away, especially if they have recently read David's book, Waverley Route: the Battle for the Borders Railway. The Story of the Far North Line is a great read and explains exactly how the Far North Line has arrived at this point in its history

Price: £16.99
Published by Kessock Books
Also available from:

• Waterstones, Eastgate Shopping Centre, Inverness
• Picaresque Books, 55 High Street, Dingwall
• Amazon

Friends of the Kyle Line

We've had a request from our colleagues at the Friends of the Kyle Line who ask:

Would you have any member in Dingwall or Inverness who could work part time for our Charity selling Kyle Line maps @ £10 per hour. Daily 10-2?

Review Team

At the Rail Stakeholder Conference on 16 December Fergus Ewing, the Scottish Government's Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity, announced he has instructed Transport Scotland to set up a Review Team to look at the Far North Line in detail and come up with a suite of actions. The team consists of Abellio ScotRail, Network Rail, HITRANS and FoFNL.

This is a major step towards achieving necessary improvements including the installation of the Lentran Loop.

The Review Team's work is now in full swing.

FoFNL Commissions In-depth Report into the FNL

FoFNL has commissioned Tony Glazebrook of Aliona Ltd to carry out a detailed study of the Far North Line.

Tony was given full access to the line during the first week of October, including a full-length journey in the cab of a service train, the best position to see the state of the infrastructure.

Phil Verster, Managing Director of the ScotRail Alliance, ensured that Tony had full access to the railway and the operational staff. This enabled a comprehensive review of the difficulties the line has been experiencing.

FoFNL Convener Mike Lunan commented, "FoFNL has made its views known to politicians and funders for many years: this Report will allow us to be more focused and evidence-based, and we record our gratitude to its author, Tony Glazebrook."

The full report is available here.

Scottish Golf by Train

If you're interested in golf, and if you're not, you'll find Scottish Golf by Train well worth a look. It is packed with information about over 400 Scottish golf courses with all the information you need to reach them by train. Can't help thinking that someone will want to attempt the complete collection!

It is lamentable that you currently need to change onto a bus for the last five miles of your journey to the Home of Golf. Campaigners in St Andrews are working hard to rectify that.

Viewhill House Inverness

FoFNL has been asked to lend its support to a project to restore a large house in Inverness. The house was designed by and built for Joseph Mitchell who was a civil engineer and surveyor responsible for many Highland and Far North projects, including, on the Far North Line, Tain Station and the Oykel Viaduct.

The proposal is to convert the house to flats and to include a small museum showing Joseph Mitchell's work.

Have a look at the Highland Historic Buildings Trust for full details.

Thought For The Day

T his should really be a thought for every day for government ministers, politicians in general and commentators on railway matters:

Single track railway with passing loops = single track road with passing places (in the case of railways such as ours it is many miles between passing places - on the roads they are every few yards to avoid inconvenience).

Double track railway = single carriageway road.

Quadruple track railway (e.g. West Coast mainline out of London - rare in UK) = Dual Carriageway.

Conclusion:

In road terms the four rail routes out of Inverness are all single track roads with passing places apart from a 30 mile stretch of "single carriageway" north of Blair Atholl.

Interesting that work has now begun on the Perth-Inverness section of the A9 to widen it to the rail equivalent of four tracks.

If you have any comments or require any information please contact FoFNL by E-mail