WORK begins tomorrow on a #1.5m project to bring steam trains back into Aviemore Station and, eventually, to allow them to run all the way to Grantown on Spey on a line closed more than 30 years ago.
It is the latest stage in the renaissance of a resort determined to reinvent itself as a place of quality, with new emphasis on its local history.
It is appropriate that the railway will play a central role in that process. There was nothing at Aviemore, apart from an old coaching inn, until the first station was built in 1863.
At that time, the route to Inverness took trains up by Grantown to Forres where they joined the Inverness to Aberdeen line. It was only in 1898 that the direct line through Carrbridge opened, and Aviemore became an important railway junction.
Dr Beeching's rail cuts in the 1960s saw an end to the Grantown line as a working railway. In 1971, however, the Strathspey Steam Railway Company was formed by enthusiasts who restored the line between Boat of Garten and Dalfaber, some 500 yards from Aviemore station. In 1978 they began running passengers on the stretch. Now, around 50,000 people a year travel the five miles, many to sea the world famous ospreys on Loch Garten.
Work is already underway on the next four miles to the north east between Boat of Garten and Broomhill, which is expected to be finished in 1999. The remaining three and half miles to Grantown should be complete some time next century.
Already there has been commercial interest in running timber trains when the line is completely restored.
But yesterday it was the short distance between Dalfaber and Aviemore Station which was on the agenda. The station's main buildings and island platform, all Category B listed, are to be restored to their former Victorian glory, and the lines and points adapted to allow the steam trains into the station proper from next spring.
Funding has been secured from Moray, Badenoch and Strathspey Enterprise; the Railway Heritage Trust; the Highlands and Islands Objective One Partnership Programme; and Historic Scotland. The project is part of a #50m raft of initiatives which the Aviemore Partnership has designed to make the area a year-round holiday destination.
The chairman of the partnership, which brings together all the village's private and public bodies, is Highland councillor Dr Iain Glen. Yesterday he said: ''Aviemore grew up around the railway junction so it is fitting that this project should be one of the first to be instigated under the regeneration programme.
''A major investment in the village's railway heritage, the project will both benefit the local community, some of whom will remember the last steam trains leaving the village in the mid 1960s, and encourage tourists to the area throughout the year.''
Mr Richard Tinker, company secretary of the Railway Heritage Trust, meanwhile said: ''Not only are these Category B Listed buildings but they are also the focal part of the town and in addition, the project will bring historic unused buildings back into use, a key reason for our support.''
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