McKenzie & Holland signal

 The shunt signal controlling the Yard Exit at Boat of Garten South SB  (no.27) has been replaced by a refurbished ex Highland Railway  McKenzie & Holland rotating  disc type signal. This signal has been in our store for some time awaiting restoration. I am happy to report that this has now been completed and the signal has been put into use as the yard exit signal No27. The signal can be viewed from the  south end of platform 1 or 2. It is suggested that the signal came to the railway many years ago from Pitlochry yard. The photographic evidence we do have does suggest this to be true.

McKenzie & Holland rotating disc fitted at Boat of Garten South Box. Fitted with electric LED lamp.

McKenzie & Holland rotating disc showing a proceed aspect. 

As found in the storage area in need of a lot of work to restore it to working condition.

From the railway archives, a picture of what we believe is the same signal fitted as the exit to Pitlochry yard. 

There is lots of other small restoration jobs like this that we would like to do. If you would like to get involved please get in touch.

Telegraph Pole Route Work

 With the help from Permanent Way colleagues, we have finally got round to changing two telegraph poles at Kinchurdy which had rotted at ground level. This was not a particularly difficult job but was quite time consuming.  The new poles are two feet taller returning the line wires back to their original height, reducing the strain and taking them back out of our passenger’s view from the carriage window when travelling on the train. We are very fortunate that the railway has accumulated healthy stock of telegraph pole components such as cross arms, porcelain insulator pots & spindles which should allow us to maintain our pole route for years to come. The Strathspey Railway is now one of a very few heritage railways which has a fully operational telegraph pole route in the UK.

Preparation works at Boat of Garten before heading to site.

On site the pole is notched to take the cross member, a hat is installed to protect the top of the pole from the weather and reduce the rate of decay.

The end result, new pole up. 1.5m into the ground for stability and 0.6m taller than the old pole making the wires level to the other poles and reducing the tension in the lines.

We still have a few more poles that are in need of replacement, if you would like to get involved with these renewals please get in touch.