The Lonely Island

The Strathspey Railway in Badenoch and Strathspey, Highland, Scotland, operates a 10 mile (16 km) preserved railway from Aviemore to Broomhill via Boat of Garten, part of the former Highland Railway line which linked Aviemore with Forres.

The Route

The Strathspey Railway (SR from herewith) does not originate from its first terminus in Aviemore. From 1998 onwards the railway started its services from the south from a the Railtrack (now Network Rail) station that was situated a good three hundred yards from the old terminus. The old terminus, was of course known as 'Aviemore Speyside'. Nowadays Aviemore Speyside no longer sees trains stopping at her platforms though the station has been kept as a fallback in case of problems with Network Rail.

From Aviemore the line passes through the aforementioned station and visitors can see one of the countries most impressive Victorian engine sheds left in regular use. The engine shed at Aviemore was constructed by the Highland Railway in 1898 and possess four roads. Originally the purpose of the shed was to provide engines for the Speyside line and for the roads to Perth and Inverness (via Carrbridge). It was common for original Highland Railway engines to be allocated to the shed and in LMS days it possessed a competent stud of Stanier Black 5s, Pickersgill Bogies (Caledonian Railway), Caley 439 tanks, Caley 812 classes, and Fairburn tanks. In British Railways days the shed was allocated the shed code '60B'. These days the engines that are in traffic proudly wear the 60B shedplate on their smokebox.

Apart from the engine shed there is also a carriage maintenance shed which was erected in 2005 and saw its first coach enter during that year. This shed allows the railways volunteers and staff a safe, warm and well-lit environment to work on the railways fleet of coaches. The spacious interior allows for most of the necessary work to be done inside. The benefits of this shed will really be felt in the next twenty years.

Another building of interest is the former enginemans' hostel called 'Spey Lodge'. This building has now been reverted to its original use for housing locomotive crews, though it also is used by many other volunteers who are not necessarily engaged in work on the railways steam locomotives. This building was erected by the LMS during the Second World War to allow railway crews a safe and cheap option for accommodation after they had finished working on their trains for the day. It was saved by the Strathspey Railway Company during the 1970s.

After passing Spey Lodge the railway comes across Dalfaber Level Crossing. This level crossing was not originally part of the railway but was installed after the development of the Dalfaber Estate in the 1980s. The crossing is a hotly disputed topic in the area because of its lack of crash-barriers. Because the crossing is 'ungated' it means that cars can still drive over the railway tracks even if a train is approaching. There are several near misses every year and occasionally a car is hit by a train. Fortunately there have been no deaths as of yet.

Boat of Garten

The extensive Boat of Garten station, unlike other stations on the line, features the original buildings dating from when the station became a parallel junction between the Highland Railway's main line from Perth to Forres and the Great North of Scotland Railway's branch to Craigellachie. (This was the original Strathspey Railway, the company being a subsidiary of the GNSR.) Today there are two passenger platforms and the yard stores the majority of the Strathspey Railway's Rolling Stock collection.

Up to this point all the track was original but from Boat of Garten northwards, the track had been lifted and structures demolished by BR in the 1960s. The tracks to Craigellachie and Granton had left the station extending in a Double track formation as far as Croftnahaven, where the GNSR line turned sharply South-East and crossed the Spey. This curious arrangement was adopted because a signal box for a junction here was deemed too expensive.

Leaving Boat of Garten, trains cross the road on the new single track box-girder bridge and pass the site of the original GNSR engine shed, long demolished it is now the site of a Permanent way depot. The railway passes though mainly farmland on the re-laid track, which was mostly recovered from Kincardine power station in Fife in the 1990s.

Boat of Garten also has the railway's only water column where the engines take water every time they head north through the station. Also the railway's engines are coaled (normally) during the morning on the south side of the station.

This is currently the only station with signalling in operation and has two signal boxes, Boat Of Garten North and Boat Of Garten South. Signalling is traditional British Railways mechanical signalling with semaphore signals.

Most of what visitors to the railway see today is original from the days of British Railways. The main layout of the station has not been altered in any major way with the exception of two new coal sidings which have been installed on the east side of the station and the creation of an extensive yard behind the signal box. One turnout was removed that would have allowed access to the yard without having to access the headshunt, there are no plans to re-install the turnout.

Broomhill

The line reaches its current terminus at Broomhill, in countryside roughly half-way between the villages of Nethy Bridge and Dulnain Bridge. The replica station building has been reconstructed on the foundations of the original. The run-round loop is beyond the station. It is anticipated that this will be removed when the extension to Grantown is complete. Broomhill, is used as the station for Glenbogle, in the BBC series "Monarch of the Glen".

Future Extension

• to be added

Strathspey Railway Association

The role of the Strathspey Railway Association is to provide funding and volunteers to run the Strathspey Railway. It is the biggest shareholder in the Strathspey Railway Company, the organisation which owns the actual light rail orders and does the actual running of the railway.

Most of the people you seen working on the railway are volunteers belonging to the Association and come from all backgrounds and walks of life.

Locomotives & Rolling Stock

• Steam Locomotives
  • LMS 2-6-0 Class 2MT no. 46512 "E. V. Cooper, Engineer" (out of service awaiting a heavy boiler overhaul and a general overhaul of the axleboxes/frames)
  • Wemyss Private Railway 0-6-0T no. 17 (in service after prolonged difficulties with the rear axlebox on the left-hand-side of the locomotive)
  • Caledonian Railway 0-6-0 812 Class no. 828 (17566, 57566) (undergoing overhaul)
  • LMS 4-6-0 Class 5MT no. 5025 (45025) (awaiting overhaul)
  • WD 0-6-0ST Austerity nos. 9 (boiler separated from the frames. Boiler has had all the tubes extracted and is now awaiting to be despatched to a boilersmith for extensive firebox repairs), 48 & 60 (major overhauls required)
  • Andrew Barclay & Son, Kilmarnock 0-6-0ST (works no. 1833) no. 6 "Niddrie" (currently residing at Aviemore Engine Shed)
  • Andrew Barclay & Son, Kilmarnock 0-4-0ST (works no. 2020) no. 2 "Balmenach" (restoration required)
  • Andrew Barclay & Son, Kilmarnock 0-4-0ST (works no. 2073) no. 1 "Dailuaine" (restoration required)

• Diesel Locomotives
  • BR 0-4-0 North British shunter no. D2767
  • BR 0-6-0 Class 08 no. D3605
  • BR Bo-Bo Class 26 nos. D5302 and D5325 (both needing repairs. D5302 is currently in the yard at Boat of Garten while D5325 is being kept in the engine shed at Aviemore)
  • BR Bo-Bo Class 27 no. D5394 (away for repairs)
  • BR A1A-A1A Class 31 no. 31327
  • Andrew Barclay & Son, Kilmarnock 0-4-0DM (works no. 517) "Power of Enterprise"

• Diesel Multiple Units
  • BR Class 107 unit 51990+52030
  • BR Class 107/114 hybrid unit 52008+56047
  • BR Class 117 unit 51367+51402

Stations

• Aviemore railway station
• Aviemore (Speyside) railway station (closed)
• Boat of Garten railway station
• Broomhill railway station

Special Events

External links

• Strathspey Railway website

發展史

SAS系統(Statistics Analysis System)，最早由北卡羅來納大學(The University of North Carolina)的兩位生物統計學的研究生編製，最早祗是一數學统计軟體，後於1976年由Jim Goodnight 博士及John Sall博士等人成立SAS公司，並正式推出SAS軟體。

用途

SAS公司不斷地與各行各業共同發展商業資料分析與預測技術，重要應用領域涵蓋政府的經濟決策與企業的決策支援應用等，並已成為全球第五大軟體公司。

SAS軟體是用於決策支援的大型集成資訊系統，但該軟體系統最早的功能限於統計分析；至今，統計分析功能也仍是它的重要模組和核心功能。目前SAS最新的版本為9.0版(2006)。

經過多年的發展，SAS已經遍佈全世界，使用的單位遍及金融、醫藥衛生、生產、運輸、通訊、科學研究、政府和教育等領域；在資料處理和統計分析領域，SAS系統被譽統計軟體界的巨無霸。

模組簡介

SAS系統是一個模組軟體系統，它由多個功能的模組組合而成，其相關軟體模組的說明如下：

BASE

為SAS系統的核心模組。提供檔案建立、資料擷取、管理、分析和展示的功能。

SAS/ASSIST

軟體為選單式的使用者介面模組。它能將SAS系統所提供的各種應用工具，以不用撰寫程式的方法，而是以選單的方式去執行各模組的功能。

SAS/CONNECT

為協同式及分散式處理模組。它提供將各種不同平台的SAS系統連結起來，使系統達到資料整合與資源共享的能力。

SAS/GRAPH

為製作高解析度彩色圖形模組。可用來產生多種顏色和多種型式的統計圖，如：柱形圖、圓餅圖、點狀圖、3D圖、等高線圖和地圖等等。

SAS/ETS

用來開發及維護主管資訊系統(Executive Information System)的應用系統開發工具。提供時間序列讀取、分析、預測和建立計量經濟模型等功能。

SAS/AF

應用系統開發工具。利用物件導向程式(Object-Oriented Programming)及圖形的使用者界面(Graphic User Interface)來開應用系統。以利使用者方便應用SAS內的各項功能。

SAS/FSP

為圖形使用者介面的資料交談式工具。以圖形介面作為資料登錄、編輯、擷取和查詢功能。

SAS/ACCESS

為和各資料庫軟體間的資料連結與轉換。提供連結的資料庫軟體為：ORACLE, DB2, MS ACCESS, DBASE, SYBASE, MS SQL SERVER等等。

SAS/STAT

為全面性統計分析方法的工具。提供如迴歸分析、變異數分析、類別分析、多變數分析、群集分析、存活率方法、PSYCHOMETRICANALYSIS和無母數分析，並有正規化、線型化與非線型化等變數轉換的功能。

SAS/LAB

以導引方式的進行資料分析的工具。提供統計的假設分析(Assumption)，如OUTLIER、NORMAL、SCALING轉換等功能，並可以協助作出結論，且可將執行過程全部儲存，以做為日後分析或報告的參考。

SAS/EIS

應用系統開發工具。與SAS/AF不同的是，此模組不需作介面開發，祗要對相關資料作定義即可。

SAS/IML

為交談式的高階矩陣語言工具。提供高階的科學、工程和統計上的應用，並具有圖形產生及資料展示的功能。

SAS/QC

為統計品管的工具。用於製程分析、實驗設計等功能，以選單介面方式，方便使用者快速的得到結果。

SAS/OR

為決策支援工具。用於計畫管理、線性及非線性規劃與資源最佳化分配等功能。

SAS/GIS

即為地理資料的圖形系統。

SAS/WebAF

如同SAS/AF般的圖形介面開發工具。主要使用於發展於Web上的使用者介面。

相關軟體

1. SPSS http://www.spss.com 2. Minitab http://www.minitab.com 3. MathCAD http://www.mathsoft.com/ 4. Mathematica http://www.wolfram.com/ 5. Maple http://www.maplesoft.com/

外部聯結

• 官方網站