Last days of the Dalwhinnie semaphores

ScotRail Inter7City HST set powered by 43145/035 passes Dalwhinnie Signal Box on 28 October 2026 with 1H09 from Edinburgh Waverley (08.38) to Inverness

Another piece of our precious railway heritage is about to be swept away in the name of progress, with the imminent (November 2026) replacement of the handful of semaphore signals controlled by Dalwhinnie Signal Box on the Highland Main Line.

An £8 million project, due to be commissioned after closures of the route for the first two weekends in November will see renewal of around 400 yards of track and installation of a new south crossover, enabling northbound trains to use up platform 1 for step-free access, along with installation of new colour light signals.

Continue reading “Last days of the Dalwhinnie semaphores”

Autumn 2026 in the Rhodope Mountains

Snow on the mountains as 75006 approaches Belitsa on 14 October with the southbound Rodopi

The more I travel on the railways of Britain and across Continental Europe the more I am drawn back to places I have become familiar with, that are welcoming, scenic, have considerable railway history or interest, and hopefully offer  relatively cheap fares, food and accommodation.

One place that ticks all those boxes is Velingrad in Bulgaria, “Spa Capital of the Balkans” and principal intermediate station on a 78-mile (125km) long 760mm (2’ 6”) gauge route that is Bulgaria’s only narrow gauge railway and runs south from a junction (Septemvri) on the main Sofia-Plovdiv route to the ski resort of Bansko, before terminating at nearby Dobrinishte.

Continue reading “Autumn 2026 in the Rhodope Mountains”