Original subtitles

Journey with us on a magnificent coast-to-coast train

adventure across Scotland,

a place of poetry, legend and perfect panoramas.

Travelling from the dramatic west to the sedate and beautiful east.

As our train climbs into the austere beauty of the Highlands...

We say this is the station with the best view in Scotland.

..and on through the stunning landscape of Aberdeenshire.

We'll visit the most magnificent of lochs.

There's no place in all the world.

A beautiful place. I love it.

And descend through picturesque glens.

This railway line is the most beautiful railway line in Scotland.

We'll meet the people who live and work along this very special train line.

It's lovely. It's dry, sunny.

There's snow on top of the mountains.

What more could you ask for?

This is no ordinary railway journey.

This is one of the most scenic railway journeys in the world -

Scotland, coast to coast.

It's early morning in Kyle of Lochalsh,

a picturesque village on Scotland's northwest coast.

As well as being the gateway to the beautiful Isle of Skye

just ten minutes away,

this is also where we begin our coast to coast journey

across Scotland at this harbourside station.

Our trip will take us through some of Scotland's most magnificent

countryside from the coastal village of Kyle, up into the Highlands

and on through Inverness, the glens of Aberdeenshire and whisky country,

until we hit the east coast city of Aberdeen and the North Sea,

a journey of 185 miles.

Our train is a ScotRail two-car class 158 Express Sprinter diesel

unit, designed and built for regional express services.

The 158 has an aluminium body shell

and a maximum speed of 90mph.

This very ordinary train is about to take us

on an extraordinary journey.

Our driver today is Gareth.

You feel like you've won the lottery driving along this line, especially

on a day like today. It's unreal.

There's so much to take in. So much to see.

Our five hour coast to coast trip across Scotland starts in Kyle

of Lochalsh and heads north to the charming township of Duirinish.

From here the train takes us to the picture postcard village

of Plockton and our train then starts its climb

into the Highlands to Attadale,

and on past the Mossford Power Station at Lochluichart,

until we reach the capital of the Highlands, Inverness,

where we will change trains.

From here we'll travel east to Nairn, then through some

spectacular scenery until we reach Keith.

Here we take a diversion through whisky country to Dufftown.

Once back on the main line,

we continue until we arrive at our east coast destination of Aberdeen.

On board today, taking care of all passenger needs

is conductor Yvonne Smith.

Today is fantastic, weather's great.

It's lovely. It's dry, sunny.

There's snow on top of the mountains.

What more could you ask for?

Kyle of Lochalsh to Aberdeen.

A single track line carries mostly day-trippers, tourists

and of course locals.

So far so expected.

However, there is one thing that lifts this train

out of the ordinary.

We have request stops on this line, and that is

if we have a passenger on board that requests to stop there,

we inform the driver to stop the train.

The driving force behind this railway line was local landowner

Sir Alexander Matheson.

He'd made his fortune from trading opium before his attention turned

to constructing railways.

Built with admirable Highland frugality,

there are 29 bridges, but no viaducts and no tunnels.

The Victorian engineers just cut through the unforgiving terrain.

This section of our journey up to Inverness was built

in two phases...

..one opening in 1870 and the second in 1897.

Although a beautiful and scenic route, its original use had nothing

to do with the glories seen from its windows.

With us today on the train is John Yellowlees, train enthusiast

and all round rail expert.

When it was first built,

this was a wild land of clans,

and the clan chieftains turned

into landlords and wished to develop their property.

So the railway was built to carry cattle and sheep.

But people realised early on the great scenic delights

of the line. So today it's a railway for the tourists

and for the local community.

Three and a half miles and just ten minutes

after leaving Kyle of Lochalsh, we're about to arrive

at our first stop, Duirinish.

This small crofting township presents a typical Highland scene,

a cluster of whitewashed and local stone cottages wrapped

around a village green.

A croft, for those not in the know, is an agricultural smallholding,

particular to the Scottish Highlands that is used for small scale food

production or for grazing livestock.

Following in a long line of Duirinish crofters

is Morag MacKenzie and her daughter Mary.

Although the list of the other inhabitants of their croft reads

like the register of the local girls school.

Well, what have we got?

Who have we got?

We've got Margo, Hannah, Morag.

We've got Lily.

Where's Hermione gone? Hermione must be round with the other ones.

That's Latte. Cappuccino's not here.

This is a village where the traditional Highland cattle

almost outnumber the humans.

We've got 34 residents in this village and we've got 22

cows and calves. So the cows have it.

Morag has been breeding these Titian-haired beauties since 1994.

Look at them. Aren't they beautiful?

They've got three layers of hair.

They've got a short layer, a medium layer and a long layer,

and that keeps them warm.

In the wintertime, they can have icicles hanging to them.

The land around Duirinish is owned by the National Trust and Morag and

her neighbours are tenants.

It's a system that resists change and the crofters are fiercely

protective of their rights.

We haven't changed any in generations, and we don't intend

to change either.

It's our way of life and there's no changing for anybody.

You have rules and regulations that you have to abide

by and you can't abuse your ground.

You've got to keep it in a workable state.

And when you've got the cattle here, the grass gets cut.

One of the benefits of being a crofter here is having the right

to graze your livestock on common land so these beauties wander

wherever they so choose.

It's good that they've got the right to roam.

And why not?

It's our tradition.

Although sometimes it doesn't always run smoothly.

The cars usually have to give way to the cows because the cows

will stand in the way, and they'll not move.

I sometimes get scared that they will get hit.

Cars go through the village far too fast.

But all summer they're out.

The visitors definitely slow down for the cattle.

Locals aren't so good at slowing down.

We don't need speed bumps here.

Now you're seeing traffic calming at its best.

The railway line has always been important to these small

communities for the transportation of livestock, but also

for connecting them to other communities.

In the 1960s, when the then chairman of British Rail, Dr Beeching, made

huge cost-saving cuts and closed many of these small lines down,

it meant the death of many of the villages that depended on them.

Although Duirinish escaped many of the cuts, Morag's father

was stationmaster here, and it's a time she remembers well.

The station when I was young was a beautiful building.

Beeching shut down a lot of stations in the late 1970s

that would have been knocked down.

And then we got this concrete box.

That's what they've given us as a station now.

I suppose it serves a purpose, but it's not like what it used to be.

All that's left of the old station is that step that's there.

Yes, it is sad because it used to be a lovely place to come and visit.

Beautiful inside, all like all these railway buildings were.

I remember being down here as a child and there'd be a fire

in the waiting room and a fire in the office where my dad worked.

The station may be long gone, but there are some things

that haven't changed.

Duirinish is a request stop.

You have to put your hand out to stop the train.

And there's one coming now.

This railway line is the most beautiful railway line in Scotland.

You certainly won't be disappointed if you take a trip on this line.

Absolutely beautiful.

As we leave the beautiful village of Duirinish, it's time to put our

hand out and request that the train stops here as our journey

across Scotland continues.

We're now heading on to one of the most beautiful villages

on the West Coast,

Loch Carron and the jewel of the Highlands,

the village of Plockton.

We're travelling from coast to coast on one of the world's most

scenic railway journeys.

Through the Highlands of Scotland, from Kyle of Lochalsh

to Aberdeen via Inverness.

I mean, you can't beat this, can you?

Sometimes you'll see otters.

You'll see a lot of herons, crows, all sorts of birds.

Yeah, it's really, really nice.

Our train journey now continues northeast.

As it hugs the coast, our next stop comes into view...

..Plockton.

Known as the jewel of the Highlands,

this picturesque village sits in a magnificent, sheltered bay

overlooking Loch Carron.

With breathtaking scenery, secluded bays and coral beaches,

Plockton once thrived on fishing for herring.

With that trade now gone, these days, it's the tourist that throngs

the harbour, not the herring boats.

Skipper Calum Mackenzie has lived in this village his whole life.

Well, let's go underneath a wee bridge.

Nothing like the Skye Bridge. But a wee bridge.

ENGINE CUTS OUT Oh, that was a good start.

Calum takes visitors out onto the loch to search

for a creature common to these parts.

The grey seal.

And so sure is he of spotting these sleek little beasties

that he offers his customers a deal that is hard to refuse.

After I started trips, I suddenly realised we're on a good thing here.

So I started guaranteeing people would see the seals.

And I was investigated by the Office of Fair Trading because they thought

I had plastic seals planted somewhere. And just on cue,

they appear.

I think I can actually see them from here.

So there's Ronseal, and there's Lucille.

Well, OK, sometimes that raises a wee bit of a laugh,

but maybe not today.

Calum is also a local historian and knows a great deal

about the railway he lives alongside.

One of the reasons this section of the railway lane was so expensive

is because they had to build 29 bridges.

So in a wee minute we'll go underneath this bridge.

That's the railway line there.

When this lane was opened, it was costing £20,000 just to build

one mile of lane.

And all the rock cuttings had to be drilled by hand, a man

holding a chisel and somebody whacking it with a big hammer.

Although one of the most scenic railway journeys in the world,

as we've seen, this line was eyeballed by the infamous

Dr Beeching and was a prime candidate for closure in 1963,

when it was reprieved, and again in the early 1970s.

And it's easy to see why.

In 1971, it was reported that the costs of operating the line

were £318,000 per annum, with a revenue of only 51,000.

The Secretary of State for Transport agreed that the line should close.

However, the railway lived to fight another day and was saved

by its sudden usefulness when transporting building material

for the Ninian Central oil rig, constructed here

at Kishorn Dry Dock, and where Calum worked as a joiner

for almost three years.

This is where 3,500 people worked at in 1976, and it was

one of the biggest construction jobs in Britain at the time.

People came from all over the world to work here.

If it wasn't for the rush to get North Sea oil out, it

might have been a different story with the railway line.

The workforce was so large that they even had their own song.

# We never joined the Navy

# We never joined the RAF

# We never joined the Army

# We're not so bloody daft

# We rather go to Kishorn

# And get paid for skiving off

# Remember we're the Kishorn commandos. #

There's no place in all the world.

Beautiful place.

I love it.

It is now time for us to leave the quiet beauty of Plockton.

Back on the train,

we are now 35 minutes into our journey and approaching

our next stop, Attadale.

This station was built especially for local landowner

Alexander Matheson, when he owned the nearby Attadale Lodge,

now home to Joanna Macpherson.

We say this is the station with the best view in Scotland.

Those are the Applecross hills in the distance,

with a little bit of snow on.

That's the metropolis of Lochcarron.

That way you're going to Kyle and the Isle of Skye, and that way

you're going to Inverness.

Covering almost 10,000 square miles,

for many centuries, the Highlands were an area of rugged and unspoiled

beauty, rarely seen by outsiders.

However, the arrival of the train changed all that.

Suddenly, all this beauty was accessible.

When Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, first arrived

at Balmoral Castle in 1848,

Scotland suddenly became fashionable and people flocked

here to buy their own fairy-tale castle.

Attadale Lodge started life in the 18th century,

but was extended into a grand sporting estate in the 19th.

This is the oldest part of the house, the bit in the middle,

and then they built that one on, and then put on the turret

and they built the smartest part of the house

with the highest ceilings.

So in the end, it looks a bit more impressive than

perhaps it did in the old days.

The grand Victorian estates of 150 years ago were also famous

for their herds of red deer.

And today, the modern estate is no exception.

Tom Watson is head stalker on Joanna's 30,000-acre estate.

It turns out red deer love raw potatoes.

Come on, boys.

Who knew?

Come on.

Thomas just started this for fun with two old stags back in the day,

but now they're all rather keen on being fed by Thomas.

So he comes up here and gives them a few old tatties in the evening

and it's quite impressive to see them running up the hill after him.

What do you say, George? Are you a good boy today?

I call this one George. An old stag.

He's probably about nine or ten-year-old.

The one next to him, I call him Norman.

He's one of the tamest ones I've got.

Four or five year old. And then the one back again is One Horn.

He's a half hummel.

He only ever had one horn.

It's just a genetic thing.

I mean, they're totally wild animals,

but they do get a little bit tame,

especially when you feed them potatoes. They like that.

It's not enough to sustain them.

It's just a wee treat for them.

This is an area of austere yet outstanding natural beauty,

and it is a place that Tom loves.

You never get bored of it.

It's a great part of the world.

You can't beat it.

The only thing that destroys it for us is the midges and the rain.

But skin's waterproof.

The Kyle of Lochalsh to Aberdeen line may have arrived in the 1870s,

but it took another 80 years for that other great moderniser

to make an appearance in the Glens.

Electricity.

We now pass Mossford Power Station on the way to Lochluichart.

This is the newest section of our railway line.

Newest, because in the 1950s Lochluichart was dammed,

raising its level by 20 feet, which meant the shoreline railway

line had to be rebuilt higher and out of harm's way.

This whole area was then flooded in order to create the Mossford

hydroelectric plant, something that finally brought the light bulb

to the Highlands.

Peter MacInnes is the operations manager here.

We've walked up 300 metres here to the portal valve house

above Mossford Power Station, and this is what the power

of the glens is all about.

We're taking the water that's natural here, and we're creating

electricity from it.

Even on an overcast day like this today,

it's absolutely stunning up here.

We can also see the railway line here snaking its way

around the loch.

Built in 1957, Mossford Power Station is fed from two lochs higher

up the glen, where the water is funnelled into this surge tower.

So at the moment, behind us this pipe,

there's 15 cubic metres of water a second are passing us by.

That's enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool

in about two minutes.

From this upper level, a five-mile long pipe carries the roiling water

down to Mossford, which is where the magic happens.

The water comes from the hill behind us here and then disappears

under the road and into the power station, which then spins

the turbine, which is about 30 feet below us here.

The turbine spins the shaft

and into the generator that I'm standing beside here just now.

The part you can see here is the stator.

This is the bit that remains stationary, and the centre,

the rotor spins round, creates an electromagnetic force, and makes

electricity. Between the two machines here

we've got 18 and a half megawatts of power.

That's enough to power 4,500 homes for a day.

Once the water has done its job and passed through the turbines,

it empties into Lochluichart.

The water you can see here just now, running underneath the railway

bridge, carries on its journey down the Conon Valley

to Lochluichart Power Station and then onwards to Torr Achilty.

So it's going to be used to make power twice more before it hits

the Cromarty Firth.

I feel that it's also very fitting that we're powering the glens

using power from the glens.

Back on the train,

we have now been travelling for an hour and a half

and have covered 43 miles.

Now it is full steam ahead as we rush towards the capital

of the highlands, Inverness.

Our train is continuing its coast to coast journey

from Kyle of Lochalsh to Aberdeen.

We are now approaching Inverness - the capital of the Highlands -

and have completed the first leg of our journey from Scotland's

Atlantic coast to the shores of the Moray Firth.

Here, we must disembark.

Although we are changing trains, it is exactly the same model

that will carry us on to our destination, Aberdeen

and the North Sea.

However, this is no time to tarry.

We have a schedule to keep.

After leaving Inverness, we travel 15 miles to one of the longest

railway stations in the UK, Nairn.

Then we hit some seriously spectacular scenery before we reach

the tiny station at Keith.

Here we take a slight diversion and change trains for whisky country

before arriving in Dufftown, a place so steeped in the stuff

you can smell it on the air.

Then we are on the last leg of our journey.

After five hours and 185 miles,

we arrive at our destination,

Aberdeen.

The Highlands simply can't be beaten.

It's just wonderful,

particularly today - the scenery we've got, the white tops,

the blue seas. It's just stunning.

We are now arriving at Nairn.

This lovely set of buildings date from 1886, and until as recently

as the year 2000 the signalman was given a bicycle

so he could shuttle between the signal boxes at each end.

Today, the parcels office, left luggage, porters' room

and waiting rooms have all gone.

The rooms themselves, however, have recently been given

a new lease of life.

John Rushforth is the chairman and founder of the Nairn Men's Shed,

a community project set up to support people who live alone

and have little social interaction with others.

We started five, six years ago now and we were very fortunate to get

a couple of buildings on the actual station.

With over 30 members ranging from their late '60s up to 92,

the group has turned these rooms - until quite recently used

for storage - into workshops and craft spaces.

This is our workshop.

The guys over here are working on the collection box

for the Rotary Club.

One of the small little jobs we were doing,

their collection box had been broken into.

We're now in the process of just a simple repair on a box

to make it look good again.

So we do all sorts of things.

There is also a cafe here which gives the members a place

to gather and eat cake.

A great bunch of guys, and ladies as well.

Everyone's welcome.

Everybody has been so welcoming.

And I get a lot of cheek, as you might imagine.

And I have to give as good as I get.

But it's been really good.

For retired taxi driver Derek especially,

this group has been an important lifeline.

I had two Shetland ponies, which used to take up a lot of my time,

but when I retired the expense of keeping the ponies was too much.

Then I lost my dog.

So then I lost my sense of being, shall we say?

It's been quite hard.

The Men's Shed movement helps enormously.

It gives me a sense of purpose.

The joy of Nairn Men's Shed for me is it's a very uplifting place,

full of people that are having fun and then enjoying

one another's company.

So, yeah, it's an uplifting story, I hope.

It's time for us to climb back on board and to leave Nairn

behind as we continue our coast-to-coast journey

across country to Aberdeen.

We are three hours and 40 minutes into our Scottish adventure.

We are now crossing the River Spey.

At 107 miles long it may be the second longest river in Scotland,

but with a mean flow of 3,000 feet per minute it is the fastest.

And it is this water that gives Scotland its biggest export.

We are now in whisky country.

And as our train weaves its way through this most majestic

of landscapes, we arrive at Keith.

There are over 130 active whisky distilleries in Scotland,

with around half of those, such as Glenrothes, Macallan

and Strathmill, nestled into the countryside around Keith.

If we want to investigate this most welcome part of the country,

we must make a small diversion and change trains onto something

a little smaller.

And it is here that we come across yet more evidence of community

involvement, in the Keith and Dufftown Heritage Railway.

Known as the Whisky Line,

this was originally part of the Great North of Scotland Railway.

Michael Langford now runs it as a charity.

Back in the '90s it was used as a long siding

for the Glenfiddich distillery.

When the traffic to the distillery stopped and the line was closed

by British Rail in 1993, a team of people decided they would

try and keep the line open as a heritage railway.

Now this British Rail Derby Class 108 Diesel Multiple Unit from 1958

takes tourists, day trippers and whisky tipplers on an 11-mile trip

through the Scottish Glens to Dufftown.

There's even a station dog.

This is Peggy, our station dog.

She's my dog.

But she's been coming to the railway for the last 17 years.

She's getting on a bit now.

Peggy's going to join us on the train.

Our train will be travelling at a stately 18mph

and Lorna Sheriff is the on board volunteer for today.

She also knows quite a lot about whisky.

Nearly half the distilleries in Scotland are here in Speyside.

Many reasons for that.

Here we've got excellent pure, clear, soft water.

That's what you want for whisky production.

We also had lots of peat to heat the stills and to malt to barley.

You've got a big barley growing area called the Laich o' Moray.

So you had all the three things you needed for whisky making.

As well as taking in the lush scenery, there is another

altogether more alcoholic reason to travel on this train.

The whisky tasting.

So we have this morning, ladies and gentlemen, Strathisla,

12-year-old, quite light.

Unpeated, of course.

We choose these two for our whisky tastings because

Glenfiddich of course is one end of the line

and Strathisla, at the other end.

LAUGHTER

Would you like a wee dram, sir?

There we go.

You're not old enough, are you?

No, I don't think so.

I know you're 18. LORNA LAUGHS

Thank you.

Thank you, my dear. Thank you very much. Thank you.

And you're crew so you don't get,

but you're a passenger so you get.

OK. Thank you.

I think that's it.

And if whiskey wasn't enough, this train also serves up

another taste of Scotland.

Would you like a wee piece of shortbread to go with your...

Oh, I would! LAUGHTER

It's a lovely day out.

Autumn is particularly pretty on the line, and again

when the rhododendrons are out it's a lovely time.

It's always nice when you see the naughty sheep

or the naughty deer on the line.

And with the rest of the journey happening in the gentlest

of hazes...

..our train arrives at Dufftown.

This vibrant and thriving Highland village is the malt whisky capital

of the world.

We are three quarters of the way through our coast-to-coast journey

across the Highlands of Scotland, and we have now arrived in Dufftown.

With 135 million bottles made here each year,

Dufftown can rightly proclaim itself the malt whisky capital

of the world.

Whisky making is the lifeblood of this town.

For it to be officially classed as Scotch Whisky, this spirit

must be produced in Scotland and matured in oak casks

for a minimum of three years.

When new and fresh from the still, the spirit is clear and raw.

It is the cask that gives it the colour and flavour

we all know and love.

The longer in the cask, the deeper the colour and flavour.

Just three miles outside the village is Speyside Cooperage, the largest

independent barrel maker in the UK.

John Richard has been a cooper here for the past 20 years.

The majority of the work that we do here is refurbishment of older

barrels, but we do have the ability to make brand-new ones,

which we do from time to time.

Although new oak casks are not rare,

most whisky casks have previously held another alcohol

before they are bought by the distillery.

Whether it's a sherry cask from Spain or one that held

American bourbon, it's the spirit of the old spirit that gives

Scotch Whisky its taste.

And preparing the old casks for the new spirit is quite a skill.

So this is the start of the process, where I'm going to check the cask

for any defects.

I'm looking for the end.

It should be nice and flat, no splits in it.

The hoops all nice and solid.

And I'm going to brush round the cask to look for

broken staves.

With a damaged stave found, John must remove it and replace it

with a sound one from a donor cask.

Often they need to be cut to fit.

I'm jointing the edge of the stave to make sure that we've got

a good seal.

With the new stave in place, the hoops secure it.

Then the top and bottom of the cask are removed to

prepare it for the next part of the process.

Charring.

This opens the pores of the oak and allows the whisky to penetrate

deep into the wood, picking up colour and flavour as it goes.

At the moment, we're gradually building up heat

to the point that the wood will actually catch fire.

We're going to burn this one for 200 seconds.

With the cask then steamed to expand the wood,

the ends are put back on and sealed.

Then the hoops are tightened.

Just put a bung in the bunghole...

HE KNOCKS ON CASK

..and this cask is good to go.

Back on our main line,

we are speeding towards the North Sea coast and our final destination.

Over the past 150 years, this railway

has had a rather chequered past.

So, what does the future hold for this most picturesque of lines?

Scotland's Railways has a decarbonisation plan to do away

with diesel traction by 2035.

That would involve electrifying the main lines while introducing

alternative technologies such as battery and hydrogen

on the rural routes.

So, the Inverness-to-Aberdeen line is a candidate

for a future electrification.

Next stop is Aberdeen.

We have now arrived at Aberdeen.

Our journey is at an end, and all passengers must disembark.

Aberdeen is a city of big skies and wide horizons,

where ships dock right up against the city streets

and dolphins leap in the North Sea harbour.

Today, because of North Sea oil,

it's known as the offshore oil capital of Europe.

But 150 years ago, it was a humble fish that oiled the local economy,

the herring.

At the peak of the herring industry, Britain exported a quarter

of a million tonnes of herring a year,

much of it from the waters around Aberdeen.

The herring may be long gone.

However, there is one thing around here that hasn't changed,

and that is the coastline and the North Sea.

With a new harbour extension about to open,

this is one of the busiest ports in the UK, and it's been protected

by this impressive building for the past 200 years.

Casting its shadow across the city and its light across the harbour

is Girdle Ness Lighthouse.

The keeper of this majestic erection is 78-year-old Gordon Stewart.

He has been the keeper of the flame

- well, the electric lamp - for the past 40 years.

This is a middle balcony.

A lot of the funnels around the outside used to be glass,

but because of the wartime, they were all covered up.

In case a bulb goes or there is a problem seagull,

he's on call 24 hours a day.

Sometimes there's bird's nests further up,

and they drop wire and everything on here just to see

if everything secures.

There've been a lot of changes since I've started here,

I'll tell you.

There's a brand-new harbour for Aberdeen

been made here for the last two years.

It's a wee bit behind schedule, but I think

it'll be finished next year.

A big attraction for public are dolphins.

They see that the dolphins start leaping just off here.

Designed by Robert Stevenson, the grandfather of the famous author

Robert Louis Stevenson,

at 121 feet, with a beam range of 22 miles and 182 steps, this tower

was completed in 1833 in response to a maritime disaster

that had happened here 20 years earlier.

So, this is a dangerous part of the sea around this coast,

this corner here.

I think it was a shipwreck just off here long before my time.

On the 1st of April 1813, a local whaling ship, the Oscar,

went aground on the rocks.

43 men out of a crew of 45 were lost.

It seems the disaster had nothing to do with the lack of light.

After returning from shore leave, reports say the crew

were all so drunk they were incapable of saving themselves

when a squall hit.

Tales of shipwrecks and drunken sailors aside, Gordon's job

here is to maintain the light and change the bulbs when needed.

Just up into the main lamp room.

That's where everything happens.

There are things with dates here.

This is where I get lamp failures at times,

so I have to check there's no fused bulbs sometimes.

Here's the main light on.

I hope they're all going.

So, that's OK.

Girdle Ness is just one of six lighthouses that Gordon cares

for on this dramatic stretch of coast.

As the last lighthouse-keeper in Aberdeenshire, Gordon is unsure

of the future of his job.

This is an old-fashioned lamp.

New lights now are LED things,

and they're simple compared to this thing here.

So, whether this thing will be replaced

when they need a refurbishing, I don't know.

Aye, it could well be.

So, it keeps me occupied.

It keeps me occupied.

Our train has travelled from the glories of the West Coast

and its dramatic views over the Atlantic Ocean.

We have soared over stunning mountains, powered

on through the most beautiful of glens and gloried in the beauty

and simplicity of nature.

This is a railway line that provides a vital link between the excitement

of the West Coast and the gentle charm of the East.

It is one of the most scenic railway journeys in the world.