Trains to Aberdeen

Today was the final day of our Grand Tour of Scotland by Rail. It was a fourteen day tour planned by McKinlay Kidd, a Glasgow travel company. They booked all our rail, ferry and taxi journeys, guided tours and accommodation, but we travelled independently as a small group, rather than as members of a larger tour group. One other group of four did the same journey on the same schedule. Their group was quite independent to our group, but we saw each other every day, and regularly shared transport, accommodation and activities with each other. We really enjoyed their company. We shared lots of experiences, conversations and laughs together. This morning, we had this group photo taken. It will hold good memories for all of us.

The other group are two couples from Key West in Florida who are next door neighbours. The couples are Patty and Butch, and Mary Ann and Rusty. From left: Patty, Rusty, Butch, Mary Ann, Neil, Janie, Garry and Marg.

We loaded all of our luggage into our host’s car and walked to the railway station. Once again, it was a warm sunny day with cloudless blue skies. It was good to walk through Pitlochry one last time, past the charming cottages and stately guest houses with their immaculately tended gardens. Our host dropped off our suitcases at the station at midday. We were already there waiting. Our train for Edinburgh was due at 12.30 pm. We sat and chatted with our American friends on the platform. Others arrived, some also with suitcases. This made us feel slightly anxious that we might have trouble finding seats together and somewhere to stow our luggage.

The electronic notice board, which had been listing our train and the time it was due began displaying a message that read ‘The train from Kingussie is full to capacity. Take the next train.’ Oh no! We checked with the station master, who was smoking a six inch Miami cigar (he told us his favourite Cubans were eight inches, but too expensive), and he said that there was a big football game on in Glasgow and it was likely that this was the reason for the packed train.

We waited patiently for our train, hoping that lots of people would get off so we could get on. It didn’t happen. We stood back to let a couple of Aussies on so they could catch a connection from Stirling and we knew our American friends also needed to be on this train. It wasn’t so urgent for us. The station master and the train’s ticket inspector were helpful, but there was no way we could squeeze on. All the seats were full and people’s luggage was spilling out into the doorways. We stayed on the station to wait for the next train just over two hours away. It was such a beautiful day, so we were pretty relaxed about it and just settled in to enjoy the sunshine.

Then I had a thought. I found the station master and asked him if there was a direct way to Aberdeen from Pitlochry, for that was to be our final destination for the day after first going to Edinburgh. He said that couldn’t happen, but suggested that we get on the next train and ride on it only as far as Perth, half an hour away. Then we could get off the train, change platforms, and catch another train to Aberdeen. So that became our new plan.

A little over two hours later the next Edinburgh train pulled in to Pitlochry. It was still pretty crowded, and there was no room for our luggage. We just left it in the doorway and I stood with it to make sure the cases didn’t slide and roll about and block passageways or doorways. The others found seats. Thankfully we could get off at the second stop and that was only thirty minutes away. While I was standing in the passageway minding the luggage, I was amused by the sign ScotRail had placed on a door that was not to be opened by the public. ‘Stay Out. Live Haggis Transport’, it read. That’s so typical of Scottish humour. Good on them for having the balls to take the piss out of train travellers.

We changed platforms in Perth and only had to wait about twenty minutes for the Inverness train, which was stopping at Aberdeen. There was plenty of room on this train for both passengers and luggage, so we safely stowed our suitcases away and found seats facing each other over a table. Heading to Dundee we passed through green farmland and crops growing under protective covering, presumably to minimise harm from frosts. The rail line followed the North Sea coastline as it headed north. There were golf links courses on both sides of the track.

The first photo in the next set is the famous Carnoustie links course. It’s right on the coast and was probably playing true today, but I imagine there would be days when the wind from the North Sea would test the very best golfers in the world. The rest of the journey took us through more agricultural land. We departed the train at Aberdeen after a journey of just over one and a half hours. It was about 5.15 pm. Had we gone through to Edinburgh on either of the two trains from Pitlochry and waited for our scheduled train to Aberdeen, we would not have arrived before 9.30 pm. By changing our plans we managed to get there over four hours earlier! This was great because it gave us plenty of time to find our accommodation, settle in, and then go and have dinner nearby. We finished up at an Indian restaurant less than a hundred metres from our front door, and the food was excellent.