Scotland plans to maximise tourist traffic on its long rural routes, reports JAMES ABBOTT
‘Considered journey in the world, the West Highland line leaves Glasgow behind and delves deep into the wild west coast’ the TripAdvisor website tells us. ‘Take the line to Mallaig to travel the Glenfinnan viaduct – used in the Harry Potter films for the Hogwarts Express.’
Sound advice. But while the Hogwarts Express is undoubtedly a draw, it is not universally welcomed in the area. So many tourists now want to film the ‘Jacobite’ steam
excursion on the viaduct in the summer that the attraction has spawned a huge traffic problem. Two years ago, 100 extra spaces were created in the car park that serves both the 1815 monument at Glenfinnan (commemorating the raising of the Jacobite standard by Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745) and the nearby viaduct.
But this is proving insufficient, and last summer the police mounted extra patrols to try to combat antisocial parking on the busy A830 Arisaig to Corpach road.
The situation presents an opportunity for rail. At present, inconvenient timings for the diesel service train on the Mallaig extension militates against using this to take pictures of the steam train at Glenfin…
