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A century ago, Britain's rail
network was the envy of the world.

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You could get a train from
almost anywhere...

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..to almost anywhere else.

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But many of these lines were
considered unprofitable,

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and in the 1960s, Dr Beeching was
recruited by the government
to come up

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with a plan that would stop the
railways from haemorrhaging money.

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He famously brought the axe down
on over 4,000 miles of track

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and 2,000 stations.

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Almost overnight,
30% of the network was closed down.

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50 years on, I'm going on a journey
to discover just a few of

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those lost lines.

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Feels like a lost world.

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Over the series, I'm going to meet
colourful characters that

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remember the railways...

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"Dead body here," he said to me.

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Good Lord, the chaps had collapsed
and died in the train.

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Visit the places that are lost,
but not forgotten...

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This is old railway
archaeology through here.

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Oh, wow, look at this.

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It is truly impressive.

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And experience what Britain was
like at the height of the

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biggest transport revolution
this country has ever known.

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I've come north of the border.

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I'm walking the Morayshire Railway,
from Elgin, to Portsoy.

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It's not often that a lost
railway begins with something so

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solid and intact as this.

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It's Elgin railway station.

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It's not the original.

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That was built back in 1852,
when the line first opened.

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This replacement is a
much grander creation,

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built in Scottish Baronial
style in 1902,

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and by then, the railways
were at their height.

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They were invincible.

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It must have seemed like
they'd last for all time.

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But less than 70 years later,

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the Morayshire Railway
would be lost forever.

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Oh, wow, look at this.

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Elgin Station is used as offices
nowadays, which is a blessing,

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as it means the building has been
remarkably well-preserved.

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It feels like the last train
has only just left.

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That's lovely.

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But that's just the start.

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This was your entrance onto
what you came here for.

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This rusty old railway track is
the last remains of the

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Morayshire Railway,
a line that began here in Elgin.

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I'm going to follow the trackbed
first to the port and fishing

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town of Lossiemouth,

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then I'll double back and trace the
route along the once thriving

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fishing villages along the
Moray and Aberdeenshire coast

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to Portsoy.

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Where tractors now roam,
steam engines once chuffed.

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I'm on the lost railway track
from Elgin to Lossiemouth.

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It's as straight as any Roman road,
which reflects the single-minded

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ambition its investors had to make
as much profit from it as possible.

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Back in the late 1800s,
Elgin was a prosperous,

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landlocked town and it considered
Lossiemouth as its own private port.

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This railway offered a fast,
direct link to the coast for the

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fresh fish from local waters,

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as well as a more foreign commodity.

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Elgin is in the heart of whisky
territory and for many years,

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a crucial ingredient for the
production of whisky here

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was sherry barrels from Spain.

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Lossiemouth is a very
pleasant surprise,

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known locally as the
"Riviera of the North"

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due to the warm gulf stream and
exceptionally mild climate.

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It also has a fabulous beach.

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Rumour has it that the sand dunes
were made by burying old

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railway carriages in the sand.

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Talking of railways,
I'm looking for the end of the line,

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which I'm guessing will be
where the land meets the sea.

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I'm sandwiched here between the
mouth of the River Lossie on

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this side, hence Lossiemouth,

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and the road just here.

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So, the line came all the way
up into the station,

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which would have been just up here,
but as far as I can tell,

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there's absolutely no sign
of the railway track,

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or the station here any more.

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But what interests me is that
there's a very short section

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of track that extends just beyond
the station and I'm wondering

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if that goes all the way
to the dockside.

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More than 300 years ago, the wealthy
businessmen of Elgin financed the

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building of a substantial harbour,
with a proper deep water dock.

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As a result, Lossiemouth was
transformed into a busy seaport.

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Well, this is pretty much a straight
line from the old station back

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there and I reckon this old rusty
bit of iron here is also a clue.

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This, I'm pretty sure, is a
bit of old railway track.

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So, how far does it go?

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It does, it continues
right up there.

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Sherry barrels from Spain would have
been off-loaded all along the

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dockside here.

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I've arranged to meet
Dennis Malcolm,

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from the Glen Grant
Whisky distillery.

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Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho!

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Lovely. These are beautiful.

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Yeah, sherry casks.

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Straight from Spain,
hold 250 litres of whisky,

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and how else can they
come but by boat?

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Absolutely. Excellent place here

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to off-load them onto the train and
straight up to the distillery.

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Elgin's right at the heart
of whisky territory,

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but how dependant is the success
of some of the Scotch and the

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distilleries in the area on
the railway being here?

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I would have said it was vitally
important for the majority of

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them because it would've cut
the costs down considerably.

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Because the big seaports are down in
the south of Scotland and they would

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have to come up by horse and cart,
or steam engines in these days.

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Yeah. So, the railway line was very,
very innovative for this area.

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Talk me through the process
of how these sherry casks

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are used in making Scotch whisky?

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Scotch, when it's made,
is crystal clear.

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It's like vodka.

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So, when we fill it into sherry
casks, it's been filled with

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sherry before, we get this lovely
colour from the sherry wood.

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You get different flavours and
you get better aromas,

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so really it enhances the product.
It's lovely.

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And so, with the length of time
that a whisky is left to...

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What is it doing? What do you call
that when it's left in there?

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It's sleeping,
waiting for the right moment.

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And so... OK.

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During its slumber then, however
long that hibernation might be,

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does that determine the flavour,
how long it's left in the cask?

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Yes, it does. It's an interaction
between the wood and the sherry

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that's been in it before
and the single malt.

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Sadly, these barrels are empty,

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but with 50 distilleries on Speyside
alone, I'm sure I'll get my

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chance to sample some of the
hard stuff later on.

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Before whisky, the industry this
coast was best known for was

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fishing and the fishing boats
operated from the beach.

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Kathleen Witham and two volunteers
from the local museum have

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agreed to talk to me about the
unusual way in which fishing

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was conducted here and how the
railway changed everything.

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I've heard it was fishermen's wives
who'd actually carry their

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husbands out to their fishing boat,

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carry them out into the water.

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I mean, is that really true?
It is true.

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Fisher women who would have looked
very much like you do here?

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Yes. Yes. Yeah, yeah.

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Well, I would say that's their
Sunday best, if they had old clothes
on. It was their Sunday best.

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She's got on piggy back.

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Look, he's on her back, coming out
to sea. Oh, does she?

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Yeah. That's the woman
underneath. He is.

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And there's her, look.

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Are they holding up their
skirts there as well?

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Yeah, they're holding up
their skirts.

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They tuck them into their bloomers,
that's what they did.

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No self-respecting woman would let
her man go to sea with wet feet.

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If their clothes were wet, it's
going to be wet for the whole trip.

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They couldn't take them off and
walk in, could they? No, no, no.

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I think half of them enjoyed it.
Well, that's what I'm thinking.

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The hard, arduous life that was
very laborious, I would say.

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It would have been.

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So, carrying their husbands out
to sea, loading up, and what,

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they'd take the fish off to
then be sold would they?

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No, they would gut the fish and
take them off to be sold, right?

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But, I mean, they had a lot
more tasks than that.

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When the boat come in at night, had
to drag the boat up on the beach.

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He's sitting there like
Jock, in the boat,

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and she's dragging the boat up.

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So, how did the railways impact
this quite heavy role of the
fisherman's wife?

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Well, they used to walk
ten miles, right?

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To go and sell the...
To go and sell the fish,

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and then she would walk back.

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When the railways came,

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they could get the railway from
Buckie Station, up to Keith.

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So the railway, actually,
had quite a large impact on the

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communities and the lives of
those fishing families. Yeah.

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All along the Moray Coast.
Yeah, that's right.

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You only need to scratch
the surface

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to discover countless ways in
which the railways changed

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communities up and down the
country forever.

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I'm going to discover how the
railways helped bring one of

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Scotland's most lucrative exports
to market and learn about an

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entirely new kind of
railway passenger.

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Pigeons as well.
Pigeons, pigeons, pigeons.

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I'm walking the Morayshire Railway,

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from Elgin to Lossiemouth,

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and along the coast,
to Portsoy.

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The line was built to service the
local whisky and fishing industries.

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I've come back almost all
the way to Elgin.

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I'm trying to find this
point on my map here,

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where the Morayshire Railway

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branches off from that
straight section of track,

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all the way up to Lossiemouth,

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and heads out east, along the coast.

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Now, it's not actually that easy to
find. I mean, look at this.

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You've got to remember,

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this disused railway hasn't
been here for decades.

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Nature has truly taken over.

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But finding this junction isn't
necessarily going to be easy.

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So, I've enlisted the help of a
couple of railway ramblers.

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Now, these guys walk and retrace
disused railways as a hobby,

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and let me tell you,
they are the elite.

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Being a railway rambler takes
Tony Jervis and Mike Ellison all

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over the country.

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They've walked hundreds of miles
in their attempts to track down

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every last twist and turn of
Britain's lost railways.

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Are you trying to find the
spot here, are you?

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This junction here?

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Yes, trying to work out exactly
where the junction was actually,
that's right.

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There's very little left
of the railway. This is...

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Through here's the line to
Lossiemouth. Absolutely, and that's
straight as a die, is it?

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It's straight as a die and that
was the original and roughly where
we think the actual junction is,

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probably just about where
the big tree is,

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and then the Moray Coast Railway's
dropping down

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and goes through these woods.

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That's what I'm trying to find
and it's not easy, is it?

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I'm glad you chaps are here,
to give me a hand on this one.

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LAUGHTER

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Thank goodness for the
railway ramblers.

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It's like the army calling in the
SAS when things get a bit sticky.

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And who would've thought this forest
in the making would've been the

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route of the railway?

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We're on the line now, aren't we?

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Somewhere it's up the
line here, yes.

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It's got to be here somewhere.

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When the railway came through,

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you might have had a row of trees
on either side growing. Yeah.

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And occasionally, you would get
people throwing apple cores,

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or things out of the train carriage
window and then you would get

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random apple trees growing.

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Oh, what, you do now, on
disused railway lines?

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On disused railway lines.
So, you get fruit for free.

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HE LAUGHS

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I'm reluctant to say goodbye to
Tony and Mike just yet.

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They're so good at this.

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I persuade them to stay and
help me with my next challenge.

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So, you think there might be a site
of a railway along here somewhere,

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cos we're not actually on the track
here now, are we? We're not, no.
Just likely off it onhere.

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Trying to get a view of it.
We might see something coming
through these fields.

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Whoa, there's a bridge.
Did you spot? Yeah.

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Cos I thought I caught something
out the corner of my eye.

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So, what's that doing there?

233
00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:17,720
That's taking...

234
00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:19,200
The railway's going over the top.

235
00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:22,240
Yeah, that's east that way,
isn't it?

236
00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:23,920
East's that way, yes.
That's right, yes.

237
00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:26,480
So, the railway was heading
that way. That way, yes.

238
00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:30,880
And it's coming across through
those fields, over that bridge,

239
00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:33,560
and then squeezing between that
hill and those buildings.

240
00:13:33,560 --> 00:13:36,440
It does and then it pops round...
And then popping around those trees.

241
00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:39,240
It just curves round to the
right after that. You can
see that on there.

242
00:13:39,240 --> 00:13:42,200
It just curves round slightly.
Just a gentle curve, yes.

243
00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:47,240
Basically, this bridge would've
actually been approached by
an embankment on both sides.

244
00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:49,760
Quite good condition still.
But it's in very good condition.

245
00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:52,800
Yes, well, in Victorian times,
they built to last. Yes, they did.

246
00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:55,920
You know, today we might build
something and expect to

247
00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:58,200
replace it entirely in
25 years. Yeah.

248
00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:01,240
Then, as far as they were concerned,
they were building for ever,

249
00:14:01,240 --> 00:14:03,240
you know, they had foresight,

250
00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:06,320
but not to the extent of seeing
railways would become unnecessary,

251
00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:08,680
that would be replaced by motorways
and things like that.

252
00:14:08,680 --> 00:14:11,760
Gents, thank you very much for
your help here today.

253
00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:16,440
I would not have found this without
you, so thank you for that.

254
00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:18,080
I might of easily walked past that.

255
00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:20,640
I feel like I am better
equipped now to...

256
00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:22,840
To know what to look for
and where to look for it.

257
00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:25,760
To know what to look for and where
to look and just to keep my eyes

258
00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:28,920
really wide open the whole time.
Well, that's right, exactly.

259
00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,240
Yes. Gents, thank you
very much indeed.

260
00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:35,040
Really fun. It's lovely to meet
you both. No problem at all.

261
00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:41,360
I'm about to cross the River Spey,

262
00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:44,200
one of the most revered
rivers in Scotland.

263
00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:46,560
Famous, not only for its
salmon fishing,

264
00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:51,720
but also for the purity of the water
it provides the local whisky
distilleries.

265
00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:54,360
And this is Spey Viaduct -

266
00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:58,920
Finished in 1886 and built to
carry the Morayshire railway.

267
00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:02,720
Imagine the excitement of crossing
this for the first time,

268
00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:05,040
pulled along by a
massive steam engine,

269
00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:07,920
pumping out billows of white steam.

270
00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:28,960
The Spey is Scotland's fastest
flowing river and the exact

271
00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:34,080
route the water takes, through this
wide river mouth here, depends

272
00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:37,920
upon the time of year and the flows
that are coming down the river.

273
00:15:37,920 --> 00:15:42,120
For me, that makes this bridge much
more impressive than just its

274
00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:44,680
beautiful visual impact.

275
00:15:44,680 --> 00:15:47,640
Construction on this
started in 1883,

276
00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:49,720
and the engineers had to sink

277
00:15:49,720 --> 00:15:54,360
the foundations for the piers
using vast iron cylinders,

278
00:15:54,360 --> 00:15:58,040
called caissons, up to 50 feet
down into the riverbed,

279
00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:02,360
to ensure they were solid enough,
so heavy trains passing across

280
00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:06,080
the strong currents weren't
washed away down the river.

281
00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:11,000
Multiple floods and unpredictable
flows were a constant

282
00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,800
challenge here and often
delayed progress.

283
00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:18,560
But the bridge eventually opened
in 1886 and was a crucial part

284
00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,480
of the line until it
closed in 1968.

285
00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:28,480
For me, the huge central arch span
across the middle there is

286
00:16:28,480 --> 00:16:30,240
its crowning glory.

287
00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:31,880
At the time it was built,

288
00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:36,840
it was the longest in Scotland and
one of the longest in Britain.

289
00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,440
That makes this bridge one of
the unsung heroes of the

290
00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:41,760
Morayshire Railway.

291
00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:48,880
To see for myself why this railway
was routed to cross the river

292
00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:53,560
so close to the estuary, I'm going
to take a detour downstream.

293
00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:57,400
The River Spey has a reputation for
being one of the best salmon

294
00:16:57,400 --> 00:16:58,960
fishing rivers in the world.

295
00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:02,720
By the 1950s and '60s,

296
00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:06,280
salmon fishing was conducted
on an industrial scale.

297
00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:09,840
It wasn't uncommon to land anything
up to 2,000 fish a day.

298
00:17:11,120 --> 00:17:13,040
I'd be happy just to land one.

299
00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:18,080
Local Steve Johnston has been
fishing this river for years.

300
00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:20,880
Try and start low. Start low.

301
00:17:20,880 --> 00:17:23,360
Keep the rod tip down low,

302
00:17:23,360 --> 00:17:27,680
let the tension in the line build
and then, in one motion, come up.

303
00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:29,000
Yeah. So, come up.

304
00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:34,720
Right. Up there? Right, and then
lower the rod in a sweeping action.

305
00:17:34,720 --> 00:17:36,040
OK.

306
00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:40,440
Steve knows every inch of this river
and he's an expert on Spey casting,

307
00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:43,760
which is apparently essential
for fishing in wide, fast-moving

308
00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:45,040
rivers like this.

309
00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:48,440
On the far end. Every fisherman's
dream is to have the nice tension in

310
00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:52,120
the line, cast it out far and then
fly land perfect and then come

311
00:17:52,120 --> 00:17:54,040
round and then zip-zip,
you catch the salmon.

312
00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:57,640
And in it comes. Salmon takes off
and your legs turn to jelly.

313
00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:01,240
That's what everybody wants, like,

314
00:18:01,240 --> 00:18:03,360
that's the good thing
about the fishing.

315
00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:08,520
That was good. Ohh!

316
00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:11,400
That was good. That felt great.

317
00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:14,560
There is something very tranquil
about being out here as well
isn't it? Yeah.

318
00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:18,040
I mean, maybe not with me getting
the line all tangled up,

319
00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:21,080
but other than that,
it's very peaceful.

320
00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:26,320
Ooh!

321
00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:28,080
All he needs is a fish now.

322
00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:29,920
That felt good.

323
00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:32,560
Truth is, I never caught a fish,

324
00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:35,120
but I could easily be tempted
back to try again.

325
00:18:38,400 --> 00:18:41,760
At one point, the scale of the
freshwater fishing industry

326
00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:44,000
here was phenomenal,

327
00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:50,400
and with that scale came the need
for a vast fish processing industry.

328
00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:55,560
Now, most of that's gone now and
it's very quiet and tranquil here,

329
00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:59,200
but a crucial part of
it still remains -

330
00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:02,280
disused and frozen in time.

331
00:19:05,960 --> 00:19:10,560
This is the Tugnet Ice House -
three turf-roofed vaulted chambers,

332
00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:14,240
sunk deep into the ground,
to store hundreds of tonnes of ice,

333
00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:17,040
that would keep the salmon catch
fresh until it could be taken

334
00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:18,760
to the nearest railway station.

335
00:19:18,760 --> 00:19:20,760
How are you? Absolutely.

336
00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:24,200
The entrance to the ice house
is below ground level.

337
00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:27,920
The minute you get in here,
you can feel the temperature drop.

338
00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:30,880
Showing me around is Jim Gordon.

339
00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:33,480
It's a lovely summer's day
outside today,

340
00:19:33,480 --> 00:19:35,640
but you walk in here and
straight away it gets chilly.

341
00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:37,240
It's cold in here. It is.

342
00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:39,440
This is what it's designed for,

343
00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:42,880
to keep the ice, obviously, for the
duration of the season.

344
00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:46,720
How much ice would you have here,
at the peak of the winter?

345
00:19:46,720 --> 00:19:48,360
Oh, a lot of tonnes of ice.

346
00:19:48,360 --> 00:19:49,960
Kind of up, up and a bit?

347
00:19:49,960 --> 00:19:53,080
Oh, it would've been well up the
walls, but near right top.

348
00:19:53,080 --> 00:19:56,240
This amazes me, because this...
There's no refrigeration in here?

349
00:19:56,240 --> 00:20:00,560
No, just the turfs on the top,
insulated and deep into the ground.

350
00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:01,680
When you said the turf...

351
00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:04,640
Oh, the turf that's laid across
the top of the roof? Yeah, yeah.

352
00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:07,040
Over this arched roof.
That's insulation, yeah.

353
00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:09,440
I guess the walls are pretty
thick for themselves as well?

354
00:20:09,440 --> 00:20:13,480
Oh, they're very thick, and then
they're down in the bowels of earth.
Down in the earth. Yeah.

355
00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:17,040
So, what happened with the fish
when they were packaged and iced

356
00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:18,480
and boxed up here?

357
00:20:18,480 --> 00:20:21,360
Well, the farmer had stayed
up in the village,

358
00:20:21,360 --> 00:20:24,760
which is about a mile away,
had a loft and he went up the stair.

359
00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:28,720
There's a flagpole up here and the
man in the fish house put up

360
00:20:28,720 --> 00:20:31,280
the flag so the farmer could see it.

361
00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:36,080
The fish were ready to go to the
railway station and he would know to
come down and pick 'em up.

362
00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:40,760
The railways meant that fish could
be processed, packaged and

363
00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:44,520
sent out much quicker, meaning that
they arrived much fresher.

364
00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:46,520
Within a few hours. Wow.

365
00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:48,960
If you caught the trains at the
right time, it was perfect.

366
00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:51,840
So, the value that the railway
brought to the fisheries

367
00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:53,440
industry was huge. Oh, tremendous.

368
00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:54,760
All along the coast.

369
00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:56,320
It is chilly down here.

370
00:20:56,320 --> 00:21:01,080
I'm going to suggest we get back
outside and warm up a little bit.

371
00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:04,440
This is lovely and I know where to
come when it's really, really hot.

372
00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:11,360
It's time to wend my way back
upstream and rejoin the lost

373
00:21:11,360 --> 00:21:15,640
railway line to find where all
that freshly-iced fish was taken.

374
00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:20,760
I've just come down the
pathway here,

375
00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:22,960
from the Spey Bridge,

376
00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:27,000
and it's a very, very straight bit
of old track along there.

377
00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:28,760
I was right on the track.

378
00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:32,400
The map here shows me that it
crosses a roadway and then the

379
00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:33,960
station is immediately after that.

380
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:35,640
Well, here's the road.

381
00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:38,800
I wonder if I can actually get
alongside and see if I can

382
00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:41,640
find the station, or,
what's left of it anyway.

383
00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:50,320
It's hard to see if there's anything
there, behind all these brambles
and hedgerow here.

384
00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:53,760
Oh, I say that - it suddenly clears.

385
00:21:55,240 --> 00:21:58,280
Spey Bay sign on the side of the
building and that looks very,

386
00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,280
very much like the edge of
a platform to me.

387
00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:02,400
This has got to be it.

388
00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:04,560
Wonder if I can go and have
a little closer look.

389
00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:05,560
I should try at least.

390
00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:11,360
So this is where the salmon that was
preserved by ice was brought,

391
00:22:11,360 --> 00:22:15,160
to be transferred to the
express train to London.

392
00:22:15,160 --> 00:22:19,160
I bump into the current owner of
the station, John Thompson.

393
00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:21,320
I'm sorry, do you mind me coming
in and saying hello?

394
00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:22,840
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

395
00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:25,480
I get a few folk coming here,
you know.

396
00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:28,680
Do you mind me asking, how long
you've owned this, the old station?

397
00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:30,000
I've lived in the house...

398
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:37,120
Bought the house in 1970 and
bought the station in 1975.

399
00:22:37,120 --> 00:22:39,360
You've kept it in really
good condition, John.

400
00:22:39,360 --> 00:22:43,120
Well, it wasn't always like this,
it was pretty neglected.

401
00:22:43,120 --> 00:22:44,920
So, this is the platform
edge here, isn't it?

402
00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:46,320
This is the platform, yeah.

403
00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:49,160
So, you'd a had your line coming
straight through here.

404
00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:51,200
Yeah, there's actually
two lines, you know.

405
00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:54,240
You'd have had two lines
at this point, yeah.

406
00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:56,200
Basically a passing place, you know.

407
00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:57,480
Yeah.

408
00:22:57,480 --> 00:22:58,600
Wow.

409
00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:02,640
I see you've got a few little bits
of railway paraphernalia as well.

410
00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:04,560
Yeah, yeah. These are nice.

411
00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:05,920
Oh, booking office, look.

412
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:07,840
And the pigeons.

413
00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:10,000
The pigeons, what in the basket?

414
00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:11,440
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

415
00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:14,560
They're racing pigeons.
Racing pigeons, oh, OK. Yeah.

416
00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:16,080
And have you actually...

417
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:19,560
Do you... These aren't just with the
station here, these aren't just
paraphernalia?

418
00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:22,320
No, no, no, there's a couple
of pigeons in here.

419
00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:24,600
Have you got pigeons in there?
Yeah, yeah.

420
00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:25,600
Oh, hello.

421
00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:29,440
LAUGHTER

422
00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:31,000
These are your pigeons John?

423
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,440
These are two pigeons that's
going to race at the weekend.

424
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:38,160
So, what, these used to be
on the trains then?

425
00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:40,520
These would go on the
train every week.

426
00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:44,000
A label on here to the
Station Master. Yeah.

427
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:47,720
Please liberate, weather permitting,
you know, and they would go,

428
00:23:47,720 --> 00:23:49,400
you know, right to the South Coast.

429
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:51,600
The idea is that, they'd all set off

430
00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:53,960
and the first one back was the
winner. They would all set off.

431
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:57,480
I was very aware of the
salmon and the whisky trade

432
00:23:57,480 --> 00:23:59,520
that would have passed through here.

433
00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:00,960
Yeah. But pigeons as well.

434
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:03,080
Pigeons, pigeons, yes.
Marvellous.

435
00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:13,880
I'm going to exchange railway
trackbed for the ocean waves

436
00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:16,640
in order to get up close to
one of the biggest tourist

437
00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:18,160
spectacles in the area.

438
00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:19,480
Can we shoot through?

439
00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,160
Can we shoot the boat
through the rock?

440
00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:24,400
Oh, this is absolutely beautiful.

441
00:24:32,520 --> 00:24:36,160
I'm walking the Morayshire Railway,
from Elgin to Lossiemouth

442
00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:38,240
and along the coast to Portsoy,

443
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:41,240
and I'm now more than
halfway into my journey.

444
00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:44,120
I'm on the trail of the whisky
and fishing industries this

445
00:24:44,120 --> 00:24:45,880
railway was built to serve.

446
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:51,640
So, I've been heading east along
the old trackbed and I'm just

447
00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,160
arriving here in the town of Buckie,

448
00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:58,800
and I'm pretty sure that this...

449
00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:05,600
..space here is where the old
station at Buckie was.

450
00:25:05,600 --> 00:25:07,000
Got a photo of it here.

451
00:25:08,840 --> 00:25:10,240
Yeah.

452
00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:13,320
There's not much at all of that
that remains here today.

453
00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:20,320
In fact, I think the only thing that
does remain is the abutment

454
00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:24,280
behind me here, from this footbridge
that went across the tracks there.

455
00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:30,320
What you don't see in this photo
is just how close the station

456
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:34,760
was to the harbour and this was a
hugely important factor for

457
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:38,400
both the railway and the
fishing industry.

458
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:41,920
Minimising the time and cost of
putting fish onto trains to

459
00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:47,000
be sent off around the country -
crucially, making money.

460
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,480
But between being caught on the
boat and packed on the trains,

461
00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:53,960
the fish needed preparing and
much of that happened in

462
00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:55,840
a place like this.

463
00:25:57,280 --> 00:25:59,880
You only need to cast your
eyes around the harbour

464
00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:04,720
to see that fishing has suffered a
steady decline along this coast.

465
00:26:04,720 --> 00:26:08,360
But, luckily, there's still one
fish processor here I'm hoping

466
00:26:08,360 --> 00:26:14,240
will be able to tell me what it was
like before they'd closed the
railway down.

467
00:26:14,240 --> 00:26:16,960
Hello. Is it Jeanette? Yes, it is.
Hi, Jeanette, I'm Rob.

468
00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:19,160
Hi. Nice to meet you.
Yeah, pleased to meet you.

469
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:22,160
This is lovely. Come through the
back. Lovely, thank you.

470
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:25,520
All right.

471
00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:27,720
Oh, we're into the heart of
the business here. Yes.

472
00:26:31,440 --> 00:26:35,800
These days, fish are finessed for
the table by a highly-killed team,

473
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:38,320
but back in the days
of the railway,

474
00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:40,960
the quicker the fish could be
iced and packed, the better.

475
00:26:40,960 --> 00:26:43,040
It had a train to catch.

476
00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:47,320
This is what the fish packing
would have been like long ago.

477
00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:52,640
Whole fish would have been
packed in old whisky crates.

478
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:55,200
Literally like this? They wouldn't
of had tops on the boxes?

479
00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:58,960
No, no. Basically, pack your
fish in, ice at the bottom,

480
00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:03,360
cover it completely with ice
at the top and stack them
off and off it goes.

481
00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:05,720
Were there many trains a
day that left then,

482
00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:07,040
that were packed full of fish?

483
00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:10,680
I think your fish mainly had to be
on the three o'clock train for

484
00:27:10,680 --> 00:27:13,760
going south every day, so,
Monday to Friday,

485
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:15,840
fish market five days a week.

486
00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,880
And on that train, we're talking
about the old railway line,

487
00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:20,680
the old Morayshire Railway?
Yes, yes. Yeah.

488
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:22,120
Just behind here.

489
00:27:22,120 --> 00:27:24,040
Just behind here, yeah,
I mean, convenient.

490
00:27:24,040 --> 00:27:25,400
But, like I say, it had to be,

491
00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:27,600
cos time was critical with it,
wasn't it? Yes, yes.

492
00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:30,200
Eat Mair Fish still do
their own smoking.

493
00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:33,920
It's a revelation to see that they
burn wood shavings from old whisky

494
00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:38,280
barrels to create the distinctive
flavour of Scottish-smoked salmon.

495
00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:39,280
Oh, here we go.

496
00:27:42,400 --> 00:27:45,400
This is where the magic's going
to happen, in not too long.

497
00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:53,480
You want to shut the door,
give that a minute.

498
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:55,720
And then it will build up?
The smoke will build up.

499
00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:00,320
Give it a minute, bit of time.
And they'll hopefully get...

500
00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:03,320
Do you normally smell,
in the smoke then,

501
00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:05,480
the sherry and the whisky
from the old cask?

502
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:07,080
Can you smell it in the smoke a bit?

503
00:28:07,080 --> 00:28:11,960
I think you do get a little aroma
fragrance of it and it gives it a

504
00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:15,040
nice sort of colour to it as well.

505
00:28:15,040 --> 00:28:16,160
Yes.

506
00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:21,040
Oh, that's lovely.
Yeah, there is a...

507
00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:23,520
Yeah, it's subtle, but it's there.

508
00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:26,000
You're getting a bit of a...
Just get the flavour.

509
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:28,560
..bit of a flavour off of
the shavings, yeah.

510
00:28:28,560 --> 00:28:30,240
Sort of the whisky,
or the sherry casks.

511
00:28:30,240 --> 00:28:33,360
And that's all going to go into
these lovely sides of salmon.

512
00:28:33,360 --> 00:28:38,600
The ultimate marriage of whisky
and fish - Buckie-smoked salmon.

513
00:28:38,600 --> 00:28:41,640
A product that would have attracted
premium prices once the

514
00:28:41,640 --> 00:28:44,280
railway had delivered them to
the London fish markets.

515
00:28:53,520 --> 00:28:57,440
Now, the Morayshire Railway had
stations dotted all along the coast,

516
00:28:57,440 --> 00:29:00,440
at small local fishing communities,

517
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,640
and another one of them
was here in Portknockie.

518
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:07,320
But the railway also brought
people here to come and witness a

519
00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:12,560
natural phenomena - a rock formation
just in the shallows off the coast

520
00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:14,280
called Bow Fiddle Rock.

521
00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:19,640
And it's called that because
of the shape it takes,

522
00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:23,600
which resembles the tip of a
bow used to play the fiddle.

523
00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:27,880
Now, this has been photographed,
sketched and painted probably

524
00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:30,560
thousands of times over
the centuries.

525
00:29:33,400 --> 00:29:35,840
A photo's not really good
enough for me.

526
00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:37,720
I want to get up close
and really see it.

527
00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:46,920
And that's why I've joined Alice
Banks on a kayak across Cullen Bay.

528
00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:50,560
Back in the '60s, the railway
brought Alice here on childhood

529
00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:54,880
holidays from her hometown
more than 50 miles away.

530
00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:58,320
People have been coming to see
Bow Fiddle Rock here, well,
for centuries.

531
00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:00,360
Well, one century at least.

532
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:01,600
One, gosh. Well, yeah.

533
00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:04,240
But, I mean, it's been a feature
here for millions of years. It has.

534
00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:05,480
I mean, people came...

535
00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:07,720
Well, the railways brought a
lot of people on holiday,

536
00:30:07,720 --> 00:30:09,640
especially up from Glasgow.

537
00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:13,240
Do you think it's something the
railway would have advertised?
"Come and see the coast...

538
00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:15,480
Oh, yes, yes. "..and see this
magnificent structure?"

539
00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:17,920
Yes, you've got this lovely
structure to walk to,

540
00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:19,520
nice healthy walks on the cliffs.

541
00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:22,800
Yeah. Beautiful sandy
beaches to walk on.

542
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:25,680
You remember the railways coming
through here then? Oh, yes, yes.

543
00:30:25,680 --> 00:30:29,040
Cos we used them to come on
holiday from Inverness.

544
00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:32,960
Watching the train from a skylight
window in a holiday cottage,

545
00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:34,800
when I was meant to be
asleep in bed.

546
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:36,720
When you were a young one?
When I was young.

547
00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:39,200
I would be, what, about seven or
eight years old, I suppose,

548
00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:42,480
at the time and there were
still steam trains then.

549
00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:45,040
I'm just thinking back then,
when the train allowed people to

550
00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:47,760
bring in, you didn't have the
internet, maybe you didn't

551
00:30:47,760 --> 00:30:52,920
have as many photos available, or as
many ways to see things like this.

552
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:55,200
The only way to see it was to
come and see it and the railway

553
00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:57,840
made that possible. Yes.

554
00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:01,000
Can we shoot through? Can we shoot
the boat through the rock?
Yeah, we can shoot.

555
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:02,120
You go first, then.

556
00:31:02,120 --> 00:31:04,760
I'm conscious of looking up, Alice,
cos there's a lot of sea birds

557
00:31:04,760 --> 00:31:06,920
in here and I can see
what they're doing.

558
00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:08,840
If I look up, they're going to drop.

559
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:14,400
Well, there's some in a nest just up
to your right. I can see them here.

560
00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:15,400
Yeah.

561
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:18,920
Not concerned by us at all,

562
00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:21,200
cos we're not sort of
getting too close to them.

563
00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:26,400
Oh, this is absolutely beautiful.

564
00:31:29,080 --> 00:31:32,760
It's everything - it's the
sensation, it's the noise,

565
00:31:32,760 --> 00:31:35,960
it's the feeling of the water,
it's the sound of the waves,

566
00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:38,280
it's the sound of the birds.
And the echo that you get.

567
00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:41,000
It's everything about this
that makes it unique. Yep.

568
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:49,680
Paddling through the arch of
Bow Fiddle Rock was an

569
00:31:49,680 --> 00:31:52,200
unforgettable experience.

570
00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:55,280
But, as always, the lost
railway calls me back.

571
00:31:56,320 --> 00:31:59,880
The trackbed's going to take me to
one of the most spectacular

572
00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:01,560
sections of the Morayshire line.

573
00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:10,080
Back in the days of the steam train,
one can only imagine the

574
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:13,920
heady anticipation of arriving here
for one's summer holiday.

575
00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:27,560
After the steelwork of the
Spey Viaduct further west,

576
00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:31,200
stone was very much the
material used when it came to

577
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:34,240
constructing the railway
through here.

578
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:38,440
I've arrived in the small coastal
town of Cullen and it has

579
00:32:38,440 --> 00:32:40,640
four stone viaducts.

580
00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,560
The longest of them is this one,
that I've just come over.

581
00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:46,960
It has eight arches across
its length,

582
00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:52,360
followed by a single-arched bridge
and then two four arch viaducts,

583
00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:55,840
as the railway headed further east.

584
00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:59,200
Now, it's alleged that, the reason
all these viaducts and crossings

585
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:03,720
were needed to get through the
undulating land near the coast,

586
00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:08,080
is that the landowners further
inland wouldn't allow the railway

587
00:33:08,080 --> 00:33:10,640
to build on their much
flatter estate.

588
00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:14,880
In fact, a century or so beforehand,
they moved the whole town of

589
00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:18,080
Cullen nearer the coast,
for the same reason.

590
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:22,000
Now, that might have given the Great
North of Scotland Railway a bit

591
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:24,560
of a headache and a hefty bill,

592
00:33:24,560 --> 00:33:27,520
but personally,
I'm quite happy with the outcome,

593
00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:32,240
cos it leaves us with these
beautiful Victorian structures

594
00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:37,040
that I think perfectly frame the
picturesque town and landscape.

595
00:33:50,120 --> 00:33:53,040
I'm already familiar with
Scotch whisky's demand for

596
00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:56,440
sherry barrels from Spain,
but frankly,

597
00:33:56,440 --> 00:34:00,320
I'd like to get a bit closer to the
spirit inside those barrels.

598
00:34:00,320 --> 00:34:02,320
It's strong. Feel no pain.

599
00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:04,160
I'm getting... That's warm.

600
00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:05,640
Yes. Oh, that's warm.

601
00:34:22,160 --> 00:34:24,360
I'm walking the Morayshire Railway,

602
00:34:24,360 --> 00:34:28,120
from Elgin to Lossiemouth
and along to Portsoy.

603
00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:32,680
A coastline known for its fishing
and its whisky distilleries.

604
00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:36,400
I've arrived at the site of the
old Glassaugh Station.

605
00:34:36,400 --> 00:34:39,120
I mean, I'm in the middle of
a field, but look here.

606
00:34:40,480 --> 00:34:45,600
This is the platform edge that
runs all along here and what

607
00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:48,800
strikes me about this station
is just how isolated it is.

608
00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:53,120
There are a few properties
dotted about,

609
00:34:53,120 --> 00:34:56,600
very few, but even then,
some of those, I reckon,

610
00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:00,240
have been built after 1968,
when this line shut down for good.

611
00:35:02,440 --> 00:35:03,920
Let's just have a little look.

612
00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:09,080
See if there's anything else
to take note of.

613
00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:13,000
I mean, there's no station
building up here now, whatsoever.

614
00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,120
You can see how overgrown it is.

615
00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:17,760
Ah, let's have a look here though.

616
00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:23,120
Well, that's definitely the main
platform that runs all the

617
00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:24,520
way along there. It's quite long.

618
00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:26,080
But on this side,

619
00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:30,160
there's what looks like a
small goods siding in here.

620
00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:33,480
I reckon that would've been used to
load goods on and off of the train.

621
00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:37,880
So, not just passengers on
this side, but, yeah, freight,

622
00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:40,240
and along this line, that's going
to be one of two things -

623
00:35:40,240 --> 00:35:41,840
fishing or whisky.

624
00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:45,800
Now, Glassaugh was never known as
a prominent fishing port,

625
00:35:45,800 --> 00:35:47,200
so that leaves whisky.

626
00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:49,040
That's convenient because,

627
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:52,600
just here is the Glenglassaugh
Whisky Distillery.

628
00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:55,840
Now, how to get to it?

629
00:35:55,840 --> 00:35:57,520
Follow the railway out the field.

630
00:35:57,520 --> 00:35:58,520
Must be.

631
00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:05,880
Glenglassaugh was first
established back in 1875.

632
00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:09,840
The site was chosen for the pure
water supply nearby and easy

633
00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:12,120
access to local barley fields,

634
00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:15,720
but also because this was the
site of an illegal still,

635
00:36:15,720 --> 00:36:20,560
that was reputed to have made some
of the best whisky for miles.

636
00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:24,360
I've come to meet distillery
manager Alan McConnochie.

637
00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:29,600
How important was the railway
to the establishment of the

638
00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:30,840
distillery here?

639
00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:34,320
Because, well, the station's just
at the end of your entrance here.

640
00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:36,920
Well, it was important to
the whole area.

641
00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:38,640
You know, many years ago,

642
00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:41,400
people talk about peaty
whisky and so forth. Yeah.

643
00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:45,800
Until the railways opened up
the whole of Scotland, well,

644
00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:48,040
peat was the only source of fuel.
Yeah.

645
00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:50,480
So, all whiskys would've
had a peaty character...

646
00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:51,680
That peaty smokiness.

647
00:36:51,680 --> 00:36:52,720
..back in the day.

648
00:36:52,720 --> 00:36:54,920
So, when the railways opened up,

649
00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:59,880
they allowed coal to come north,
a much more efficient source of heat

650
00:36:59,880 --> 00:37:04,760
and, again, played with the flavours
of the whisky that's produced.

651
00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:07,440
The railways opened up everything,

652
00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:11,280
as regards to whisky
production in Scotland.

653
00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:16,080
Glenglassaugh is capable of
distilling one million litres

654
00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:17,960
of whisky a year.

655
00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:21,680
I'm keen to get into the
distillery myself and see how the

656
00:37:21,680 --> 00:37:23,520
spirit's made.

657
00:37:23,520 --> 00:37:26,600
Coarsely ground barley is
mixed together with hot water,

658
00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:28,880
to create the mash, as it's called.

659
00:37:28,880 --> 00:37:32,960
Once this is fermented,
it's distilled twice in giant copper

660
00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:37,480
pot stills and the resulting liquid
gushes forth in the spirit safe.

661
00:37:39,000 --> 00:37:41,920
Oh, the heat off that.

662
00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:43,000
Yeah.

663
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:46,720
So, here we have a sample of
unique whisky that we produced

664
00:37:46,720 --> 00:37:49,960
earlier and we can have a
little nose and taste.

665
00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:52,520
It's about 68, 69% alcohol.

666
00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:54,400
Am I all right drinking that?

667
00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:57,840
I mean, I won't do the whole
lot obviously, but...

668
00:37:57,840 --> 00:37:59,480
You'll be OK. Yeah.

669
00:38:00,520 --> 00:38:03,480
So, I think whisky, even though it
doesn't look like whisky.

670
00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:12,160
I mean, it's strong.

671
00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:14,720
Feel no pain. I'm getting...
That's warm.

672
00:38:14,720 --> 00:38:16,400
Yes. Oh, that's warm.

673
00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:20,560
This is a quality control.

674
00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:23,880
Quality control on the look,
the smell and the taste?

675
00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:24,880
Yes.

676
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:28,680
I won't taste anything for
weeks after that.

677
00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:32,200
It's nice, though. I mean, that is
the feeling you get from Scotch,

678
00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:34,280
just maybe tenfold.

679
00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:39,280
It's a bit sharper at the moment,
but the cereal nose is in there and

680
00:38:39,280 --> 00:38:43,200
then the maturation in the cask will
bring all those characters together.

681
00:38:43,200 --> 00:38:44,840
All the notes, the characters.

682
00:38:44,840 --> 00:38:47,240
Listen, Alan, than you so much.
It's lovely to see all this.

683
00:38:47,240 --> 00:38:50,040
No problem. Being in this area,
it's iconic for its whisky.

684
00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:52,680
To come and see how all of that
is made, it's lovely.

685
00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:55,360
No problem. Thank you very much
indeed. It's a pleasure. Thank you.

686
00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:56,520
Would you like some more?

687
00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:57,520
LAUGHTER

688
00:38:59,400 --> 00:39:01,960
I'm approaching the end
of my journey -

689
00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:05,520
Portsoy, the jewel in the
crown of the fishing hamlets

690
00:39:05,520 --> 00:39:06,720
along this coast.

691
00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:17,000
This is Portsoy railway station.

692
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:18,000
TRAIN HORN BLOWS

693
00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:22,400
It's the local scout hut now.

694
00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:24,320
I've come to meet Roger Goodyear.

695
00:39:24,320 --> 00:39:27,640
Hi, Roger, it's very nice to
meet you. This station was in
operation until the '60s,

696
00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:33,360
when dear Dr Beeching joined the
organisation, closed this, and this,

697
00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:37,040
I have to say, was one of the lines
where the rumour is that the
figures were cheated,

698
00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:38,680
because it was a busy line,

699
00:39:38,680 --> 00:39:41,680
particularly for the
fish industry and whisky.

700
00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:44,640
Am I right in thinking there was
also a bit of track that went

701
00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:46,000
all the way down to the harbour?

702
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:49,000
Can we go and have a look?
Let's go and have a look.

703
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:53,320
Although the line continued on
south and then east from Portsoy,

704
00:39:53,320 --> 00:39:56,400
an earlier line ventured down what
for a train must have been a

705
00:39:56,400 --> 00:40:00,240
very steep hill to serve the
harbour a few hundred yards away.

706
00:40:00,240 --> 00:40:01,520
Do you feel the slope now?

707
00:40:01,520 --> 00:40:02,600
HE LAUGHS

708
00:40:02,600 --> 00:40:05,640
It is... It's dropping away
under my feet, Roger. Yes, yes.

709
00:40:05,640 --> 00:40:07,840
This is quite some slope, yeah.

710
00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:09,160
It is, it is.

711
00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:12,520
Reputably, if not the steepest,

712
00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:15,600
certainly one of the steepest
lines ever laid in Britain.

713
00:40:15,600 --> 00:40:16,640
Wow.

714
00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:18,840
And, of course, it was too steep.

715
00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:23,240
They could only ever run an
engine up or down with one wagon.

716
00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:26,760
Really? Well, that must have
been quite prohibitive,

717
00:40:26,760 --> 00:40:29,400
to getting goods up and
down from the harbour.

718
00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:32,440
Cos, I imagine, that was the
purpose of this line,

719
00:40:32,440 --> 00:40:35,320
to feed and to extract fish.
Oh, yes.

720
00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:39,680
For fish and other goods that were
being transported up and down.

721
00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:41,440
So, was it a problem then?

722
00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:42,520
Was this too...

723
00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:45,400
It was too steep.
It was too steep, yeah.

724
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:48,600
The Portsoy harbour train must
have been an astonishing but

725
00:40:48,600 --> 00:40:50,400
terrifying sight.

726
00:40:50,400 --> 00:40:52,600
It ran for just 25 years,

727
00:40:52,600 --> 00:40:57,120
only to be closed in 1884,
and probably just as well.

728
00:40:57,120 --> 00:41:00,080
The restored trackbed takes you
right down to the harbour,

729
00:41:00,080 --> 00:41:01,880
just as the train once did.

730
00:41:01,880 --> 00:41:04,160
It's all happening down here.

731
00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:08,400
Yes, well, this is the annual
Scottish Traditional Boat Festival.

732
00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:12,080
In 1993, Portsoy celebrated
its tercentenary,

733
00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:14,880
and ever since, there's been
an annual boat festival.

734
00:41:14,880 --> 00:41:19,840
Anything up to 16,000 people
descend on this tiny village.

735
00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:23,320
In a way, it celebrates the heritage
of what Portsoy's always been about.
Absolutely.

736
00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:25,880
Yes, yes and the whole of the
northeast of Scotland.

737
00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:31,080
Fascinating heritage and a great
opportunity to bring together

738
00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:34,640
people to see what the history
meant and what it means today.

739
00:41:35,960 --> 00:41:37,680
CHEERING

740
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:40,160
HORN BLOWS

741
00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:48,080
For centuries, the people of the
small communities all along the

742
00:41:48,080 --> 00:41:52,960
Morayshire Coast have worked hard
to live off the land and the sea.

743
00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:57,360
Their economy driven by the whisky
distilleries and fishing ports,

744
00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:01,440
and for 80 years,
both industries enjoyed a huge

745
00:42:01,440 --> 00:42:06,960
boost and convenience brought
about by the Morayshire Railway.

746
00:42:06,960 --> 00:42:10,080
Now, times have inevitably moved on,

747
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:13,800
but if walking this lost railway
has taught me one thing,

748
00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:17,960
it's that the community spirit
here is as strong as ever.

749
00:42:25,920 --> 00:42:30,200
Next time, I walk the lost Woodhead
railway line in Yorkshire...

750
00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:34,600
Here starts one of the most heroic
railway routes ever conceived.

751
00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:37,600
I'm told horror stories about
its construction...

752
00:42:37,600 --> 00:42:41,560
These people were exposed to a
level of danger that we cannot

753
00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:42,600
imagine today.

754
00:42:44,320 --> 00:42:47,560
..and I get a miniature taste of
the joy this line brought.

755
00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:48,560
Woohoo!

756
00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:17,520
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