Читать книгу The Speyside Way. A Scottish Great Trail, includes the Dava Way and Moray Coast trails онлайн

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During the Highland railway-building boom of the mid-1800s several small railway companies were involved in building sections of railway to link Perth to Inverness. The original line followed a long route around the Moray coast, as the shorter cross-country route was deemed too difficult to construct economically. However, such a route was eventually opened up by the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway. The first turf was cut in 1861 for the 103-mile section from Dunkeld to Forres, and after less than two years the 36 miles from Forres to Aviemore opened. It had required 8 viaducts, 126 bridges and 119 road bridges!

Ticket office at the former cromdale station (Speyside Way)

The railway allowed local farmers much easier access to their markets. Cattle and sheep that had taken six weeks to reach the south could make the journey now in one or two days. Dunphail Sidings (now on the Dava Way) reputedly had the longest platform in the country, so that sheep could be loaded speedily into awaiting railway trucks. The whisky industry on the River Spey benefited both from large quantities of coal being delivered by rail and by its finished product being moved to distributors by the railways. Cragganmore on Speyside was the first distillery to be built to take advantage of the adjacent railway. The railways brought tourists into the Speyside and Moray regions in ever greater numbers. Large Victorian hotels in towns such as Aviemore bear witness to the facilities that were developed to service these new visitors.