The Friends of the Far North Line
Cairdean Na Loine Tuath
the campaign group for rail north of
Inverness - lobbying for improved services for the local user, tourist and freight
operator
Britain has a total of 2563 railway stations. Well to be completely accurate, it's actually 2562 at the moment. What's that Sir Humphrey? Has the privatised-nationalised rail network managed to misplace a station? Well no, this is all rather embarrassing. There seems to be a dispute between ScotRail and the private individuals who own the station house as to who has access to the platform. We can get to the platform by train. (Well I should hope so.) But all our maintenance is done by road, and this station's up the end of a long, private one!
I suppose the lesson from this is: don't sell the flat above your shop if you need access to maintain the roof. The fact that the railway felt compelled to sell off their own infrastructure tells us just how much pressure they were under from Sir Humphrey to save money. It's a bit like people buying a house next to a village hall and then getting it shut down because there's noise of people enjoying themselves. "Hey, we bought a house on a station and trains keep stopping there".
While lawyers and courts untangle the mess, ScotRail has stopped stopping at the station. Hopefully they will stop not stopping at the station soon. Some 300 people a year used to alight there, which is quite impressive considering how stranded you are when you leave the train.
One of the strangest stations I've ever stopped at is Lympstone Commando on the line from Exeter to Exmouth. It has dire warnings that the area is restricted and if you get off the train, you will be unable to go anywhere (unless you're a genuine commando) and will be stuck on the platform until you are arrested or rescued by the next train.
Maybe the Commandos could pay a visit to Altnabreac one day.
