Book review

摘要

Very much to its credit, this is not a railway book in isolation but a rare account where a relatively small, and largely overlooked, element of railway interest ties together a number of sites and opens up as an expansive look at the landowning families that gained private stations, platforms, halts and exclusive waiting rooms on the Highland Railway network, largely after aiding the railway by allowing the crossing of its land. In doing so, large parts of Scotland were opened up to the huge social and economic benefits of the railway.The author, Anne-Mary Paterson, the great grandniece of Murdoch Paterson (engineer in chief of the Highland Railway) will be recalled by many for her Steam Days article on Murdoch Paterson in the October 2016 issue, and it comes as no surprise to see her bringing a wide brush of social history to this intriguing story, and indeed offering an overview of the families and the clans that can pre-date the coming of the railway by hundreds of years. That so often is the backdrop and includes how they came about their wealth, thankfully welcoming the coming of the railway and, of course, many (though not all) opting for private facilities for when they wished to catch a train, or had incoming visitors.From the outset, a map and timeline aids a clear path ahead, the main ten chapters delivered in a chronological order of route openings, from the 18 August 1858 opening of Orbliston waiting room (and later Fochabers Town waiting room) on the Elgin to Keith line for the Duke of Richmond & Gordon, through to the Duncraig private station opening for the Matheson family with the Stromeferry to Kyle of Lochalsh route on 2 November 1897 - and in between we learn of private facilities at Beauly (Inverness-Dingwall), Kildary and Alness (both Dingwall-Invergordon), Castle Grant (Aviemore-Forres), Blair Atholl (Aviemore-Pitlochry), Dunrobin Castle station (Golspie-Helmsdale), Rosehaugh private platform (Muir of Ord-Fortrose) and Moy (Carr Bridge-Daviot).