DUFFTOWN - Malt Whisky Capital of the World

DUFFTOWN STATION

Headquarters and western terminus of the Railway, Dufftown Station is located less than a mile from the town centre towards Elgin on the A941. The Station building has been restored by the Association from a near-ruined shell and now boasts a booking office, waiting room and information area. The Buffer Stop carriages provide excellent cafe facilities on the platform. Make sure you stop by for a hot snack, tea and coffee, and maybe even a slice of cake. Before we leave on our journey up the line, we will take a moment to discover Dufftown's many visitor attractions.

DUFFTOWN - Local Interest

With seven working distilleries to its name, Dufftown can argue that the title of "Malt Whisky Capital of the World" is justifiably earned! The town was founded in 1817 by the Earl of Fife to relieve unemployment and the quality of its local water sources saw it develop into a major centre for the distilling industry.

Perhaps the most famous of Dufftown's exports is the Glenfiddich which is the only Highland Single Malt to be distilled, matured and bottled on one site. The distillery, which is alongside the railway at Dufftown, has, for five generations, been run by the Grant family and is open to the public throughout the summer, where the entire process of Whisky making can be viewed - and, of course, tasted!

Overlooking the Glenfiddich Distillery are the ramparts of 13th Century Balvenie Castle, once a home to the Stewarts. It was last occupied in 1746, and has played host to King Edward I of England and Mary, Queen of Scots.

One of the oldest churches in Scotland can be found at Mortlach, just south of the town. The site is thought to have been in use as a place of Christian worship since 566 A.D. and was likely to have been of importance to the Picts long before that.

The town itself is dominated by its Clock Tower, built in 1839 and originally the town jail. A choice of overnight accommodation for visitors is available, and with the combination of spectacular scenery and the smell of fermenting barley on the air, Dufftown offers its own unique atmosphere!

For more railway-orientated visitors, the Speyside way is a 40+ mile, long-distance footpath linking Spey Bay to Tomintoul near Grantown-on-Spey (for the Strathspey Railway), with a branch to Dufftown from Craigellachie. Sounds familiar? Much of the path is on the trackbeds of the Great North of Scotland Railway.

More information on Dufftown and local attractions can be found at www.dufftown.co.uk.

ALL ABOARD

As we depart Dufftown Station, we pass the railway's yard on the right. This is currently used for the storage of materials and rolling stock.

The line curves round past the back of the Glenfiddich Distillery and under the walls of Balvenie Castle before striding out across the Fiddich Viaduct, a superb two arch crossing over the river. The line now begins a steep 1 in 60 climb, past the site of the junction with the branch to Mortlach (later the Parkmore Quarry sidings) and into the narrow valley below the wooded slopes of Scaut Hill.

The climb continues to the summit, at 590ft above sea level, which marks the watershed between the tributaries of the Fiddich, and the source of the River Isla. Dropping away from the summit, the valley opens out and we see, on our left, the waters of Loch Park.

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