TRANSPORT secretary Philip Hammond reckons the railways are "a rich man’s toy" and are used by the better off which is why some fares are, in his words, "eye-wateringly expensive." He is also indicating that more ticket offices will close over the next couple of years, forcing people to book online instead.
Mr Hammond obviously does not take cognisance of the essential service that rail connections offer to and from places like the Highlands and its great value to jobs, business and tourism as well as its important social dimension such as visiting friends and relatives. As a user of the trains from Inverness it is not my observation that they are a rich man’s toy. Indeed, on any given journey south there are backpackers, grannies, giggles of girls embarking on retail therapy, students, couples and an entire cross-section of the community.
Most use the train as a matter of convenience, others as a necessity. Think of the extra traffic on the A9 and A96 without railways. I use it as the least stressful way of reaching my destination, where I can read, have a coffee and a sandwich and not have to park at the other end. In winter, I never drive south if the train timetable allows.
Mr Hammond says that people who use the railways have significantly higher incomes than the population as a whole and I suspect that he is talking about commuters around the major cities rather than taking in to account those in rural areas. He points out that making it easier for people to book rail tickets from their mobile phones will lessen the need for ticket offices. Again, I use Inverness ticket office which I find invariably both busy and efficient. Losing the ability to pop in and book your ticket would, I believe, risk reduction in passengers.
The railways opened up the North of Scotland and played a major part in the growth of Inverness, pioneered by the great engineer Joseph Mitchell, about whom I could — and might yet — write several columns. Mitchell was born in Forres in 1803 but his family moved to Inverness when he was seven-years-old and he attended Inverness Royal Academy before training as an engineer in Aberdeen.
At the age of 17 he went to work on the making of the Caledonian Canal where he soon impressed its architect Thomas Telford, who took him under his wing. By the age of 21 the precocious Mitchell was appointed Inspector of Highland Roads and Bridges, a post he held for 43 years until his retirement. Dr John Inglis Nicol, Provost of Inverness from 1840 to 1843, was a friend of Mitchell’s and shared his vision for opening up the Highlands. Nicol was a leading surgeon in the area who showed great character and courage when a cholera epidemic struck Inverness. It cost him his life as while treating patients he caught the disease and died in 1849.
Provost Nicol, on discovering from Mitchell that the government had commissioned a survey of the potential main railway routes of Ireland, persuaded Inverness Town Council and the neighbouring burghs to write to the Treasury in 1841 asking for a similar survey for Scotland, but this fell on deaf ears. A year later the Edinburgh-Glasgow line opened and Scotland was in the rail business, but the opportunity for a coherent network ahead of its time was lost.
There was a great deal of politics involved in those early routes, with different companies competing with extremely different proposals while landlords squeezed them for cash and sometimes dictated the line of track. The Great North of Scotland Railway wanted to link Inverness with Perth via Aberdeen and all stations in between, but this did not appeal to Highlanders, who wanted the most direct route south.
A group of prominent businessmen, led by Joseph Mitchell, decided to go it alone but Parliament rejected their Bill for an Inverness-Perth line at that time. However, the group created an Inverness-Nairn railway which opened in November, 1855, and was first rail link in the Highlands. The same day, the Station Hotel, designed by Mitchell, opened in the new Station Square and became a favourite overnight stop with travellers in the late Victorian and Edwardian era. Nowadays called the Royal Highland, its splendid internal staircase remains its architectural highlight and, intriguingly, it impressed one visitor so much that it was the inspiration for the grand staircase on the doomed liner Titanic.
Within three years, the line had been extended through Forres and Elgin to Aberdeen. In September 1863 a new line was forged by Mitchell from Inverness via Forres southwards past Drumochter’s imposing summit to create the first links with the Central Belt. Many at the time had harboured severe doubts as to whether such an exposed route was possible, but it was a triumph and a key point in Highland history. In February 1865 two companies merged to form the Highland Railways, based in Inverness.
The Highland weather could make it difficult for trains and in December, 1880, a train was snowbound near Dava Moor station. Its passengers managed to trek to the station but searchers found no trace of the train. When the weather relented, it was discovered that 60 feet of snow lay on top of the carriages. Chilly times, indeed.
That’s like the train that broke down near the Slochd and a second engine had to be despatched. It resumed its journey, but stopped again on Drumochter. The guard said over the intercom: "Ladies and gentlemen, I have bad news and good news. The bad news is that two engines have now failed and we’ll be stuck here for some time. The good news is you took the train and didn’t fly."
The overnight sleeper from London, which I used this summer, remains a favourite link to Inverness. I recall the times when you had to share a sleeping compartment with whoever was allocated. This man and woman found themselves in the same compartment, introduced each other and opted to make the best of it. In the middle of the night, he leans down from the top bunk and says: "I’ve very sorry to disturb you, madam, but would you reach in to the closet and get me a second blanket?" The woman replies: "I have a better idea. Let’s pretend we’re married, just for tonight." Delighted, the man says: "That’s a great idea." And the woman says: "Good. Get your own damn blanket."
And what about the guy who gets on the sleeper at Euston and tells the attendant: "I’m a heavy sleeper. But I must get off at Perth. Put me off there, no matter what I say." The attendant assures him he’ll follow the instruction but next morning the guy wakes up in Inverness. Furious, he locates the attendant and gives him a verbal fusillade. He storms off, and another passenger asks the attendant; "How could you just stands there and take that dreadful abuse?" And the attendant says: "That’s nothing. You should have heard the guy I put off at Perth."
Northwards, new lines were built during the 1860s and on in to the next decade, connecting Inverness with Dingwall, Invergordon, Lairg, Golspie, Brora, Helmsdale, Wick and Thurso. Alongside these new routes there arose hotels to cater for passengers, the great and the good.
To reach Dingwall, there needed to be built a new bridge over the Ness plus a swing bridge over the canal at Clachnaharry and the creation of the Rose Street junction which remains the start of the line north to this day. There was a station at Clachnaharry until 1913.
Strange as it may seem nowadays, work began on a line from Inverness to Cromarty, connecting at Conon Bridge, but there were major problems in acquiring land from reluctant Black Isle estate owners and by the start of World War II, only six miles of track had been laid from Cromarty. Work was suspended due to the war and the track laid was lifted. When the conflict was over, there was no more talk of the project.
Some lines no longer exist. The Fort George branch line was closed in 1958 and the Fortrose line two years later. The Forres-Aviemore line, via Grantown, was shut down in 1965.
Joseph Mitchell died in London in 1883 but for much of his working life he had lived in Viewhill House, at the top of Castle Street, Inverness, a splendid building in which he entertained many important visitors. Viewhill later became a youth hostel then fell in to dereliction before being badly damaged in a suspicious blaze in October 2007, though the scaffolded outer frame still stands
Mitchell would be birling in his grave at the thought of his beloved railways being described as a rich man’s toy. The man who laid the tracks over dark Drumochter deserves more.
