FoFNL was very interested to read 'news' in The Scotsman on 4 December of the impending electrification on the Far North Line of which we were unaware.

The paper published a press release by one of the Land & Rural Business Associates at Thorntons, the Scottish legal and property firm, tagline, "We do what's right". It is a pitch for business based on the Scottish Government's plans for rail electrification and the need for local landowners to negotiate with Network Rail on bridge matters and site access.

This extract from The Scotsman does make one wonder whether the writer has actually read the Action Plan, or indeed history since the time of the Romans:

"Network Rail in Scotland has a target to be net nero^* by 2035 so is implementing the Scottish Government's Rail Services Decarbonisation Action Plan to electrify the rail network across Scotland from Carlisle and Newcastle, all the way to Thurso and Wick."

Amusingly, the original press release on the Thorntons website is illustrated with a photograph of a part of the railway which will definitely not be electrified.

^*To be fair to Thorntons, the actual press release refers to "Net Zero" - perhaps The Scotsman's typesetter was also thinking about the Romans.