‘You need the knowledge and young people, too’
Operators of one of Scotland’s most popular heritage railways are hoping to get more young people involved as they look to the future to help preserve the past.
The Strathspey Railway, which runs steam locomotives between Aviemore, Boat of Garten and Broomhill, hopes to keep the 10-mile line in safe hands for generations to come by offering apprenticeships to budding engineers.
At the Aviemore Engine Shed,
apprentices such as Seonagh Macdonald, 19, and Matthew Murphie, 18, have taken their first steps into the world of mechanics alongside engineers who have worked on the railway for decades.
From maintenance to signalling and driving the locomotives, skills are being passed down.
Graham Sutherland from Strathspey Railway said: “We have to attract more young people to survive because, if you think of it as a seesaw, there’s more at one end than there are at the other.
“The problem is addressing the balance, because you need the knowledge, but you need the young people coming through as well.”
The Aviemore Engine Shed, built in 1898 as part of the Highland Railway, is the last building of its kind in Scotland fulfilling its original purpose.
Seonagh Macdonald has been fascinated by the steam railway that has been central to her hometown of Aviemore since long before she was born. The 19-yearold, an engineering apprentice, pursued a career in mechanics fuelled by a curiosity about how everything worked.
“I originally wanted to go into the RAF as an engineer,” she said. “I thought it would be a good idea to learn a bit more so I volunteered at the railway and I ended up getting an apprenticeship and working here, it’s a lot more fun.
“All the guys I work with are brilliant. They explain everything in a way you understand and you can have a few laughs with them along the way.”
Matthew Murphie has been working on the railway since he was 11, graduating from polishing the trains to his current role as a commercial operations apprentice.
The 18-year-old’s duties in the office include working on marketing and events, but he loves nothing more than being able to spend his summer days out with the engines.
“I enjoy the physical labour,” he said. “I’m not stuck inside, I’m up at funny o’clock in the morning and don’t stop till funny o’clock in the evening.
“I really like the fact that nothing’s electrical with the engines, they’re all mechanical, one part helps another and that helps the rest work.
“The things they teach you can’t learn anywhere else,” he said. “John Greig, one of the drivers, said he’d teach me everything he knows – but that there are four things I’d have to do myself because he figured them out himself when he started out. I don’t know what they are. I think I’ve nailed two of them, but he’ll tell me when I’ve done it!”
One mentor, Doug Scott, 68, has been driving steam engines on the Strathspey Railway for 26 years.
“The idea is that the old guys like me assure the future of the railway by making sure the rising generation know how to look after locomotives and how to operate them,” he said.
“We’re showing them how to keep them clean, and then how to fire them, which is a particular skill you can only develop with practice. We want them to progress from cleaner to fireman and, finally, driver.”
Scott has enjoyed working alongside the apprentices in the engine shed where the work is tough but the camaraderie and sense of community thrives.
“They’re awkward, difficult, dirty things to work on, but seeing them out on the railway pulling a train full of happy people makes it all worthwhile.”