Caption:

After boarding the northbound Royal Highlander at Crewe as part

of a rail-roving week, consultation of the public rail timetable revealed that we would be effectively unable to return south for some time if we remained on that train to Inverness, so the hunt was on for how far north we could go before having to turn back. It turned out that Carrbridge, one station north of Aviemore would be the place to abandon ship. This we did on what would probably be termed a ‘soft’ morning in the highlands. It was early but not too early and with just over an hour to wait the Post Office in the town yielded milk if not much else. Back at the station the first, early, train from Perth to Inverness ground to a halt sporting a Southern Railway GUV at its head. The train was there for a while waiting to cross our arriving service which we could see for some time, descending towards the station and, to our delight, the consist included a Griddle Car, in which we sat, with breakfast, all the way to Perth. Note the tall signal post for sighting purposes.