Inverness station

158708 awaits departure from Platform 5 at Inverness with 2H87, the 17:54 to Kyle.

66171, stabled in Platform 5 between jobs, during the track relaying blockade between Inverness and Dingwall. Finding a loco in the North platforms is pretty rare these days. While loco-hauled specials are not that uncommon north of Inverness, the majority of these workings avoid the station, accessing the line to Dingwall via Rose Street Curve.

Like the sign says: Inverness Depot, or part of it. Parts of the old Lochgorm Works survive, mingling with new, far less substantial bits of today's TMD at Inverness.

Viewed from Platforms 1/2 at Inverness, part of the Lochgorm Works, originally built around 1855 by the Inverness and Nairn Rly. Inherited by the Highland in 1865, then the LMS, BR, and finally Scotrail, the remaining parts of this fine old complex still retain a lot of their original features. I doubt if the pre-1948 custodians would approve of the tree growing from the wriggly tin roof.

Viewed from Millburn Road, the former Blue Circle™ cement depot is still in regular use. Its new owners receive regular trains of cement from Oxwellmains, near Dunbar on the ECML. The frequency of these trains can vary a great deal, depending on the season and on what construction projects are afoot. There will be occasions when nothing is delivered for a couple of weeks, followed by four or five trainloads in a seven day period. Over a year, it probably averages out to about once a week. Until the end of 2015, this was a Freightliner job but, in January 2016, Colas Railfreight took over the cement traffic from Oxwellmains. The train usually runs as 6H51 on the way north, becoming 6B31 for the empties going south. Currently,(2017) Colas tend to use a class 60 for the trip. Loads can vary but a typical consist has one, or maybe two, IWA Ferrywagons at the front, followed by a rake of JPA tanks, anything from half a dozen to the mid-twenties, so a good sized train.

Viewed across the HML from Millburn Road, EWS were proud enough of their facility to erect a big sign. Sadly, the yard was kept as tidy and spruce as their locos. Even the "Three Beasties" seem to have turned their backs on the place. Currently, (2017) DB Cargo locos are, very much, in the minority in Inverness.