There's no doubting that rail travel has its fervent fans. Artist Leo du Feu, for instance, whose passion for rail is even evident in the building in which his studio is housed, on platform one of Burntisland station.
For him, the rail journey itself is part of the adventure - even if it’s only taking him to a work meeting. He is one of a band of rail advocates actively choosing to travel by train. They do this partly because of its (mostly) lower carbon footprint by comparison with petrol car or aeroplane, and partly for the sheer pleasure of sitting at a table looking out the window and watching the world whoosh past.
On his trips, Mr Du Feu said, he has seen some remarkable things. “Once saw a porpoise from the train as I was going over the Forth rail bridge. I was just looking down and there was this porpoise fin and back coming up and going down. I can’t believe the number of people who go over the Forth rail bridge and they’re just looking at their phones! I just can’t go over it and not be looking out of the window.
“On the Burntisland to Kinghorn stretch, you are high up above the sea and looking down and I have several times as the train has just been pulling out of Kinghorn, seen bottlenose dolphins going past in the water. These things are out there to see.”
He added: “And while we’re talking about sea, I also think I once saw orcas on the stretch just approaching Montrose. It was around the time when orcas had been seen along the east coast and I thought I saw a very tall fin, but I can’t swear to it.”
Full disclosure, I’m a rail lover myself, and though I’ve never seen a dophin or orca from a train, I have done my own adventuring across Europe via trail: journeys down through France to Northern Spain, and a trip via Paris and Zurich to Milan.
I know what Mr Du Feu means when he raves about the joys of rail. And so do the other people I talked to for this piece, outdoor and sustainable travel writer Stuart Kenny and author Elise Downing.
Though these rail fans were concerned about the climate and emissions, but that was not their only reason to go by train. Mr Du Feu grew up, in Linlithgow, in a car-free family. His father, Dave Du Feu, was a cycling advocate, and founder of Spokes, the Lothian cycle campaign.
“My parents chose to live in Linlithgow,” the 40-year-old recalled, "because it was a place where we were still easily able to do everything that they wanted to do by public transport. There was a school nearby and shops and it was close to Edinburgh.”
“They were car-free primarily for climate reasons, though I don’t think that word climate was being used in that same way then. It was for environmental reasons and I guess health as well. Neither of them wanted to be car people.”
Among his fondest memories are the train trips they took as family holidays. “It was usually down in England somewhere like in Yorkshire or maybe down in Cornwall or in Wales. And it was an absolute highlight of the year looking forward to these lovely long train journeys in which Dad would read the paper and they would read stories to us and we would read our comics and all play cards or a board game."
Though Mr Du Feu has done some long train journeys, for example to a wedding in Germany, and to visit friends near Naples, what he waxed most lyrical about was his more local journeys, from Burntisland, where he lives, along the coast.
He summed up the pleasures of rail travel. “You have that time in which you can either read your book or look out the window and try to spot wildlife or just gaze into the backs of people’s gardens.”
A father of two sons, he and his wife, Jennifer, do own an electric car, but he can’t drive - though he did once take six lessons.
He said: “I have no inclination to drive and I guess that’s because of how I was brought up. I actually feel proud of the fact that I don’t drive. My wife Jennifer is from a very car-orientated family as many or most people do, and so for her, we have an electric car and she loves it for having the freedom that it gives to her.”
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And what about that railway station studio? It turns out the once-boarded up building is one of a number of artist studios clustered around the station, which were renovated by the Fife Historic Buildings Trust. It just so happens that Mr Du Feu got the one right on the platform.
What's striking, from talking with other rail advocates, is how much of Scotland can be reached by rail. Stuart Kenny, a writer about the outdoors and travel, described how he designs a great many of his trips around rail journeys.
“You can get to some absolutely sensational areas like big valleys, big mountains, glens, through the rail network. Obviously, it's about being sustainable, but also you don't have to worry about fuel or parking. You can have a pint after climbing a Munro. It’s partly sustainability for me and partly just that I really like trains. I think it’s a very nice way to travel."
In Scotland, he observed there are key gateway towns, served by train stations, to great walking landscapes: Aviemore for the Cairngorms. Fort William for Ben Nevis and Pitlochry for Perthshire.
“If I have a free weekend," he said, "what I will do is just load up the rail map from Scotrail, pick a station that I don’t know very well and try to plan a hike. It’s very doable and it’s very doable from the Central Belt.”
A day-trip he recommended was the journey south from his home city of Edinburgh to Tweedbank. "You can do a lovely loop through the Eildon hills which are down there. Lunch in Melrose, and then, since the station is right next to Tempest breweries, you can have a pint there and jump on the train.”
He also recommended taking the train to Fife and walking the coastal path, or jumping on the West Highland Line, and getting off at one of the stations on the West Highland Way.
Mr Kenny is not alone in combining rail travel with hiking. Elise Downing, author of a new book, Walk Britain, which offers “ninety car-free adventures”, is, similarly an advocate for outdoor escapes reached via public transport.
She said: “You can actually get to a huge range of wild places via bus and train, something people don't always realise. I think shouting about this is hugely important because it not only increases access to the outdoors (lots of people don't own cars!) but also allows us to tread more lightly on the remote places we love.”
Among her top tips for starting points in Scotland, is Corrour, the UK’s highest and most remote train station. “The nearest road,” she said, “is a thirty-kilometre walk away. There are several Munros you can tackle from Corrour but for a flatter option, I love doing a lap of Loch Ossian (15km total). Corrour Station House serves amazing meals and snacks to refuel afterwards or you can extend your trip with a night at Loch Ossian Youth Hostel, an eco-hostel perched on the water's shore.”
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