Strathspey Railway (preserved)

Aviemore Speyside is no longer in regular use, although its platform has been retained as a fallback in case of problems with access to the Network Rail station.

Coaling of the steam locomotives is carried out at a facility constructed in 2014 on the site of the former Aviemore Speyside station building.

New features are gradually being brought into service at the Aviemore site controlled using traditional British Railways mechanical semaphore signalling.

On the opposite side of the line is a three road carriage storage shed erected and opened in 2011; this allows the coaches to be stored under cover and protected from the weather.

This building was erected by the LMS during the Second World War to provide railway crews with a safe and cheap option for accommodation whilst rostered to work locally.

Spey Lodge now fulfils its original role again, providing hostel accommodation for engine crews and other volunteers working on the railway.

This heather moor affords views of Cairngorm Mountain and the line runs parallel to the Speyside Way, a popular walking and cycling route.

[5] The modest station building houses a booking hall and ticket office/shop plus toilets and the waiting room which still has its open fire.

Leaving Boat of Garten, trains cross the road on the new single-track box-girder bridge and pass the site of the original, long-demolished GNSR engine shed, where a permanent way depot now stands.

The railway now passes through mainly farmland following the River Spey on the re-laid track, which was mostly recovered from Kincardine power station in Fife in the 1990s.

It is not now intended to reconstruct the former Grantown-on-Spey West railway station, now in an industrial estate; instead it is proposed to construct a new three-platform terminus on a greenfield site about 3/4 track-mile further north.

Former Strathspey MP, Danny Alexander, speculated that the proposed rail link between Aviemore and Grantown would be good for tourism.

In October 2008, it was announced that the steelwork of the former Merry Street Bridge in Motherwell had been donated to the railway by Network Rail.

Because the entire extension lies within the Cairngorm National Park, the formal application has had to be delayed so that additional wildlife and environmental studies can be undertaken.

[8] In June 2016, the entire project, including the re-aligned A95 and new bridge at Gaich, track and new station, was estimated at £13.5 million.