On the 3rd of March 1987 I was in Inverness, having travelled all the way from Salisbury the previous day on a £12 British Rail offer that was running at the time. Captured on Kodachrome, here we have 47617 on a return express from Hogwarts Castle heading for platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross way down south in that there London.
On this service, by the mid 1980s former GWR steam engines painted in red with matching carriages had been replaced with class 47 locomotives which would haul a collection of mismatched livery rolling stock.
It’s rumoured that the young student magicians travelling south would perform all sorts of tricks, changing carriage and sometimes engine liveries with a few taps of the magic wand. It used to drive British Rail and crews mad with all the magical pranks. This train here looking like a victim of such childish behaviour.
Haggis, neeps and tatties fans will notice the Haggis pens in the foreground, which in the weeks leading up to the 25th of January would be literally full of freshly reared Haggis being fattened up whilst waiting to be slaughtered and cooked for the Burns Night supper.
This scene has changed quite a bit in the 37 years since I took this photograph. The semaphore signals are long gone, as is the locomotive, carriages and much of the infrastructure, but most noticeably the Haggis pen area is now a car park.
These days, former EU regulations dictate that freshly reared battery Haggis as well as wild Haggis must now be kept undercover for the lead up to Burns Night on the 25th of January.
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