Train Holidays

Last Sunday I had a very pleasant surprise when cpo173 turned up at my door and very generously told me of a forthcoming event. So it was that this morning I rushed through the chores and set off to park under the Culloden Viaduct which carries the Inverness - Perth line south over the valley of the Nairn river. 2 cars already in place so huffed and puffed my way to track level. The train is a "holiday train" - the "Great Britain V" (I think this is its fifth year) which takes passengers on a tour of Scotland. A bit like the old Pullman trains as experienced by Hercule Poirot in Agatha Christie stories. The locomotive was 46115 Scots Guardsman. When I got to the top George (cpo173) was already in place and also David who describes himself as a bit of a train nut. Weather pretty dismal and I noticed we all had plastic bags to help keep rain off the cameras. A few hundred yards further down we could see a group of about 15 people assembling in a field with a good view of the track. Hard to choose from several shots but this one shows the locomotive as it leaves the bridge. A few other shots here on Flickr