Welcome to our website! You'll find news about the Far North Line, and sometimes the other Highland railways.
We publish a magazine for our members three times a year. We also use this to keep FNL matters in the minds of top Scottish rail managers and other members of the rail industry, such as Scottish Rail Holdings and Transport Scotland by distributing around 150 complimentary copies to them and to politicians, both MSPs and councillors.
The site holds an archive of our magazines along with 'Companion Pages' for issues from May 2020 (No. 80). Many reports and strategy documents can be found in the reference section, accessible from the 'Reference' menu at the top of the page. These documents often provide a disappointing reminder of how little is ever done to improve railways in the Highlands, despite good intentions and even promises.
Some other important items can be found using the following menu.
[Please bear with us as we have undertaken the huge task of converting the site to be 'mobile friendly'. Our newsletter/magazine archive, which goes back to 1998, is being converted to .pdf format - this is a 'work in progress'! The newest issues will be converted first, meaning that older copies will be missing until converted.]
On Thursday 14 May we delivered a copy of our "Holyrood Election 2026" pamphlet to every MSP with a covering letter
We sincerely hope that at least some of them take the time to read it, and are then motivated to act.
The Scottish Association for Public Transport is holding its AGM & Conference on the afternoon of Friday 22 May in the Maldron Hotel, Glasgow.
Full details can be found on the poster.
The Conference is open to the public; if you are interesting in attending it would be helpful if you would contact SAPT via "chair at sapt.org.uk" to give them an idea of numbers.
Posted 07-05-26
Tuesday 28 April saw the first container train arrive at the new terminal at Dalcross, near Inverness Airport on the Inverness-Aberdeen line.
Our intrepid FoFNL Committee member, Ken Thomson was there to catch the scenes as they happened. Here's a small selection:
Ken wrote: Today (Tue 28th April) saw "The Cloud Factory" aka West Fraser plant (formerly Norbord) receive its first train. 4H48 (topped and tailed 66s) arrived from Inverness with 6 "twins" bang on time just after midday.
Following a short delay the 12 containers were offloaded within 35 mins and the train later returned empty to Inverness as 4D48 at 14:13.
As it is now 10 years since the publication of David Spaven's excellent history of the Far North Line, Highland Survivor, the author wishes to find good homes for the remaining copies. We are therefore able to sell them at £5.00 inc p+p .
The easiest way to pay is PayPal, but if you wish to pay by cheque, please email our admin@ address and we will send instructions, including a request to add 50p to the total to cover bank charges.
Highland Survivor: The Story of the Far North Line
£5.00 inc UK p+p
FoFNL was formed in 1994 as British Rail was being privatised and the line's future was a concern.
We have a committee, usually of eight members. Our President is the sitting MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross - currently Jamie Stone MP. We have two Vice Presidents who are MSPs for the area covered by the Far North Line.
As we are an apolitical organisation, we try to ensure that our three figureheads represent three different parties.
Our 1995 conference for rail interests was the precursor of the Highland Rail Partnership a collaborative body spanning the Council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, local Enterprise companies, rail operators, the Friends Groups and others.
Campaigning successes include the Easter Ross commuter train, Beauly and Conon Bridge stations, all-year Sunday trains, initiating the re-introduction of significant freight, the transporting of extremely long lengths of pipe to Wick, and the building of a footbridge alongside the Shin Viaduct. A substantial increase in freight is still needed and we will continue to persuade haulage contractors that there is an alternative to driving long distances over inadequate roads. Perhaps our most surprising, and gratifying, achievement was persuading the powers-that-be that retention toilets could be fitted to the Class 158 trains - having been assured it would be impossible!
In the mid 1980s there was a proposal to include railway in the A9 Dornoch Firth Crossing, thereby shortening the route of the line by around 25 miles. This did not come to fruition and FoFNL takes the view that the money needed for such a project now will not become available.
We continue to seek shortened journey times and hourly services between Inverness and Tain. We aim to work in partnerships, we publish a thrice yearly magazine, Far North Express, we are democratically governed through our AGM and a geographically representative committee.
If you would like to join The Friends of The Far North Line please either visit our joining page, where you can join instantly using PayPal, or download, print out and complete the application form. If you prefer, you can phone our Membership Secretary on +44 (0)1463 791714. Annual membership is only £18.00 (£15.00 if you set up a standing order or PayPal Automatic Payment).
