Steam rail line appeal tops £100,000 in just six weeks

VOLUNTEERS hoping to raise £5 million to build the final stretch of a popular steam railway have passed the £100,000 milestone in only six weeks.

An appeal was launched in March to help complete the final three miles of the Strathspey Railway between Aviemore and Grantown on Spey.

The railway company was set up in 1972 to reverse Beeching cuts and bring passenger services and the age of steam back to the area.

The volunteers bought the line from British Railways and in 1978 the first passengers travelled six miles from Aviemore to Boat of Garten. In 2002, a four-and-a-half-mile section was completed to the re-opened Broomhill Station, known as Glenbogle to fans of the TV series Monarch of the Glen.

Six years later, track laying began on the three-mile extension to Grantown on Spey and so far nearly a mile has been put in place to the River Dulnain.

The appeal is organised by a separate company, the Strathspey Railway Charitable Trust which said yesterday financial support now totals 107,944.