Scenic Scotland

 

Filmed before the pandemic turned train travel into a fraught business, Scotland’s Scenic Railways is a wonderful piece of escapism. The series climbs aboard the West Highland Line, Flying Scotsman, Strathspey Railway and Bo’ness & Kinneil Railway, following the guards, engineers and volunteers who keep them chugging along. With glorious scenery to enjoy as well as the locomotives themselves, it’s easy to see why the region’s commuter and heritage railways ordinarily attract travellers from far and wide – especially the famous West Highland Line. Here are four of the most spectacular Highland journeys – why not embark on your own great escape in 2021?

 

FOLLOW IN THE TRACKS OF THE HARRY POTTER EXPRESS

The West Highland Line has been voted the world’s most beautiful railway journey – and for very good reason. It climbs from Glasgow into the Highlands, skirting freshwater lochs, crossing the wilds of Rannoch Moor, and terminating at the fishing town of Mallaig. The scenic high point of the five-hour journey is the 100ft Glenfinnan Viaduct, which spans 1,200ft across a valley and looms over Loch Shiel. The railway also stops at Britain’s highest station: 1339ft Corrour is 20 miles from the nearest road and has a welcoming station café where you can have lunch. From May to October, the Jacobite steam train – better known as the Hogwarts Express after its cameo in the Harry Potter films – puffs up and down the 41-mile section between Fort William and Mallaig.

 

Less famous but equally enchanting is its branch line. After running along the shores of Loch Lomond and through the Trossachs National Park, the West Highland Line forks and a branch line heads west, offering views over Scotland’s longest freshwater loch, 25-mile Loch Awe and ending at Oban.  Both Mallaig and Oban have options for onward travel – from Mallaig you can hop on a ferry to Skye, while Oban is the main gateway for many of the Hebridean islands.

 

TRAVEL BACK IN TIME IN THE CAIRNGORMS

Steam and diesel engines still haul vintage carriages along a restored tenmile section of the original Highland Railway Line between Aviemore – the gateway to the Cairngorms – and Broomhill, along the River Spey.  The Strathspey Railway usually welcomes 80,000 visitors a year and revives the sights and smells of the golden age of train travel, when nearly every Scottish town was linked by rail. The first railways were built to transport coal from the mines to the coast, while the arrival of passenger railways in the late 1800s brought the first tourists to the Highlands: gamehunters and fishermen. Drivers from the old Speyside Railway, which ran through the Spey Valley, would try to outrun drivers on the adjacent Highland line. The Strathspey Railway is currently running one service a day in each direction until the end of October.

 

DROP IN ON HAMISH MACBETH

The short but spectacular Kyle Line curves from Inverness across Wester Ross, burrowing through hillsides and passing bulky Ben Wyvis, the brooding Torridon Hills and remote lochs.  After a dramatic descent to the coast, it wends along the shores of Loch Alsh – the sea inlet that divides Skye from the mainland – to Kyle of Lochalsh. From there, you can take a bus across a road bridge to Skye. Begun in 1870, the line took 27 years to complete.

 

A popular stop is the charming little seaside village of Plockton, which was the setting for the film The Wicker Man and the 90s BBC drama Hamish Macbeth. You can also explore the 19th-century mansion Duncraig Castle on the shore of Loch Carron, which is open to the public and a B&B; and Achnashellach Forest, where a battle is said to have taken place between three clans in 1505. Rail buffs can even bed down in an old wooden signal box between Kyle and Plockton, which is now a holiday cottage.

 

NEXT STOP…JOHN O’GROATS

The Far North Line runs from Inverness to the train’s northernmost station, Thurso, and the old herring port of Wick – a four-hour journey. After rolling along the southern bank of the Beauly Firth, it meanders along the coast and into an area known as Flow Country – a remote expanse of peat bog that’s rich in birdlife. Along the way you can stop at magnificent French château-like Dunrobin Castle, the sandstone pilgrim town of  Tain, the RSPB reserve at Forsinard and the pretty old herring port of Helmsdale.  From Thurso, it’s a short bus ride to John O’Groats, or you can take a ferry to Orkney from nearby Scabster.