Great Rail Journeys 1907

This North British Railway Tourist Programme of arrangements gives a fascinating insight into the range of integrated journeys on offer to potential tourists in 1907.

And the NB didn’t hide their light under the proverbial bushel. Their railway abounds in Picturesque Scenery some of which is without rival in this country –in every district will be found Beauteous Lochs, Loftiest Bens Silvery Rivers, Romantic Glens.

This 96 page programme gives details of over 86 rail –ship –coach inclusive tours of many scenic parts of Scotland including:

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond FE Jamieson. Oil on canvas

Loch Katrine

Loch Katrine. Oil on canvas. 1913. John Lavery

Clyde Coast

Low Tide- Clyde Coast. Hepburn fine art. This Scottish coastal scene looking south from Langbank, depicts the Clyde coast set against the backdrop of Dumbarton Rock

Forth Bridge

Forth Bridge and Fife Coast Scotland by EW Haslehust, watercolour 1922

And on the East coast evening cruises from North Leith , Elie and Burntisland to view the Forth Bridge , May Island and the Bass Rock. Two pages of an anglers guide to the best fishing streams and lochs is followed by a list of the chief sea bathing resorts on the North British. Montrose advertised a pavilion where refreshments of a temperance description were available. Weekend rail and hotel tickets beginning with dinner on Friday and finishing with breakfast on Monday were also on offer at Fort William from Edinburgh for 40 shillings –the average railwaymans weekly wage in 1907.

Longer distance journeys were advertised and a 10 day return from Edinburgh to the Dublin International Festival appeared to be attractively priced at 10 shillings. The excursion third class fare from Aberdeen to London was 56 shillings and that level also applied from Montrose, Arbroath and Dundee. So market pricing flourished on the NB in 1907.

Frank Paterson

Frank joined the railways straight from school as a junior clerk and ended up in charge of a third of them. He ran the network stretching over 18 counties from the Thames to the Tweed from his York headquarters. The two most significant accomplishments during Frank's time in charge were the:

East Coast main line, approved in 1984

and the Introduction of the 125

​Frank is the President of Friends of the National Railway Museum.

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