YouTube Train Videos: Thurso to Inverness

A few months ago, I accidentally discovered that there are people who will ride the trains in Scotland, point a camcorder out the window, and then post the entire thing on YouTube... Sometimes years later. The first one I discovered is included below, and was recorded in April of 2002 - that's actually almost three years before YouTube was even founded.


One of my favorite memories of all time took place on the 10th of September, 2004. I'd just completed my first visit to Orkney, and was en route to Glasgow to fetch a resupply package that I'd sent myself at the office of a professional contact. I sat on the left side of the train, looking rearward, and spent part of the journey reading Nineteen Eighty-Four. I saw a stag out the window. (Not the one in the linked post, obviously.) In 2013, I wanted to take the train back down from Thurso to Inverness, but owing to time constraints (generally speaking, the imperative to get to Aberdeen in a timely manner), I always ended up taking the bus from Scrabster to Inverness, then charging from the bus depot to the train station to make my rail connection with mere seconds to spare. I went the other direction twice: once when I commenced Operation Bold Brigand, and again after graduation. In the latter case, inclement weather prevented the MV Hamnavoe from making its scheduled trip from Scrabster to Stromness, so I enjoyed the opportunity to get a great night of sleep and a lovely Scottish breakfast at the Weigh Inn - thanks entirely to the kind coordination of the train's refreshment cart sales lass and her taxi driver boyfriend.

Ahhhhhhh... Memories...