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Railway Crossing at Dalwhinnie

Re: Railway Crossing at Dalwhinnie

Postby mrssanta » Wed Aug 18, 2021 10:16 pm

Louise993 wrote:Hi folks


Can someone please give me a detailed description or a grid reference for the car park by the underpass, please? Or how you get there? I will be coming from Perth. From what I have read, do you take the road just before the service station? In my case a left?

Or should I be avoiding it and making a mad planning panic to try and find an alternative weekend destination?

Any guidance is much appreciated.

Louise 993 :-)

We were there last week
we parked at the service station. there is a parking area at each side of the service station. We paid for three days in the service station shop and the man there asked us if we would please park in a certain place. which was no bother as we had already parked in the very spot! He gave us a slip of paper to put in the window to say we had paid till Thursday. It was all very easy. We jumped on our bikes and rode off. The lane to the underpass is immediately south of the service station (ie on the Perth side)
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Re: Railway Crossing at Dalwhinnie

Postby davekeiller » Thu Aug 19, 2021 9:36 am

As you're coming in to the village from the south, there's a petrol station on the left hand side. Car park is next to the petrol station.
The road next to the petrol station leads to the underpass.

Alternatively, you can drive up to the railway station and use the walkers' car park for free. It's not a long detour.
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Re: Railway Crossing at Dalwhinnie

Postby gaffr » Thu Aug 19, 2021 6:34 pm

Your second option would be no bother for those with bikes and with the additional saving of no bread coming out of your pocket.:-)
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Re: Railway Crossing at Dalwhinnie

Postby Sunset tripper » Fri Aug 20, 2021 12:47 am

I was born in the city but brought up in the highlands and lived in the highlands practically all of my life but I have worked in the south and I realise it is a mindset.
You don't go out of your way to pay for parking in the highlands.
The mindset in the lowlands for many folk is you don't do anything for nothing and you don't get anything for nothing.

Everyone is welcome in the highlands but no need to try and turn it into the way it is in the south.

Parking is free in Dalwhinnie and no-one is going to trash your fancy car if you don't go out of your way to pay £3. :roll:
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Re: Railway Crossing at Dalwhinnie

Postby Moriarty » Fri Aug 20, 2021 7:17 am

Sunset tripper wrote:I was born in the city but brought up in the highlands and lived in the highlands practically all of my life but I have worked in the south and I realise it is a mindset.
You don't go out of your way to pay for parking in the highlands.
The mindset in the lowlands for many folk is you don't do anything for nothing and you don't get anything for nothing.

Everyone is welcome in the highlands but no need to try and turn it into the way it is in the south.

Parking is free in Dalwhinnie and no-one is going to trash your fancy car if you don't go out of your way to pay £3. :roll:


Oh dear, far too much generalisation using the rich/greedy Lowlanders vs poor/generous Highlanders cliché!

As for "everyone is welcome in the Highlands"..."no-one will trash your fancy car", it's less than a month since someone (presumed angry local) scattered nails across the entrance to the Ben Alder car park we're discussing!

Link to Strathspey Herald Article
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Re: Railway Crossing at Dalwhinnie

Postby Sunset tripper » Fri Aug 20, 2021 11:56 am

Moriarty wrote:
Oh dear, far too much generalisation using the rich/greedy Lowlanders vs poor/generous Highlanders cliché!

As for "everyone is welcome in the Highlands"..."no-one will trash your fancy car", it's less than a month since someone (presumed angry local) scattered nails across the entrance to the Ben Alder car park we're discussing!

Link to Strathspey Herald Article


Yes I guess it does come across like that a bit but not really what was intended as I'm sure you know.
But in my defence, there is a reason why Scotland and the highlands in particular have tremendous access rights and less parking profiteering

You just have to work out why that is.

Have you got an opinion on that and why it is slowly changing for the worse?

Of course you will get the odd incident at a car park but I think most folk realise that these are isolated incidents and very unlikely. Personally I haven't come to the conclusion that it was a deliberate act by an angry local but it is certainly a possibility.
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Re: Railway Crossing at Dalwhinnie

Postby al78 » Fri Aug 20, 2021 2:37 pm

Moriarty wrote:
Sunset tripper wrote:I was born in the city but brought up in the highlands and lived in the highlands practically all of my life but I have worked in the south and I realise it is a mindset.
You don't go out of your way to pay for parking in the highlands.
The mindset in the lowlands for many folk is you don't do anything for nothing and you don't get anything for nothing.

Everyone is welcome in the highlands but no need to try and turn it into the way it is in the south.

Parking is free in Dalwhinnie and no-one is going to trash your fancy car if you don't go out of your way to pay £3. :roll:


Oh dear, far too much generalisation using the rich/greedy Lowlanders vs poor/generous Highlanders cliché!

As for "everyone is welcome in the Highlands"..."no-one will trash your fancy car", it's less than a month since someone (presumed angry local) scattered nails across the entrance to the Ben Alder car park we're discussing!

Link to Strathspey Herald Article


Such actions are nothing new:

https://roadcyclinguk.com/news/rides-news/etape-caledonia-sabotaged.html

I've done that cycle event, and the vast majority seemed to be in support of the participants, so the criminal actions of an individual extremist bear no resemblance to the general feeling of the population.
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Re: Railway Crossing at Dalwhinnie

Postby Moriarty » Fri Aug 20, 2021 4:17 pm

al78 wrote:I've done that cycle event, and the vast majority seemed to be in support of the participants, so the criminal actions of an individual extremist bear no resemblance to the general feeling of the population.


Of course, just as I was saying - generalisations are unhelpful. All populations have a few bad 'uns mixed in amongst quite a lot of good 'uns.


SunsetTripper wrote:Yes I guess it does come across like that a bit but not really what was intended as I'm sure you know.
But in my defence, there is a reason why Scotland and the highlands in particular have tremendous access rights and less parking profiteering

You just have to work out why that is.

Have you got an opinion on that and why it is slowly changing for the worse?


Space and low population density.

Low density populations tend to mean people know more of their community. That means good deed/generosity is likely to have social profit to balance any fiscal loss. Bad deed/greed is likely to have social loss to counterbalance any fiscal gain.

High density population is anonymising, people don't know who you are, often even if you live <100m away. That means good deed/generosity is unlikely to have social profit to balance fiscal loss. Bad deed/greed is unlikely to have social loss to counterbalance fiscal gain.

It'll change as population density rises.

Highlanders and Islanders are just people, benefitting from lower population density. No better than other human beings in different places, just following a different profit/loss metric.
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Re: Railway Crossing at Dalwhinnie

Postby Sunset tripper » Sat Aug 21, 2021 11:42 am

Moriarty wrote:

SunsetTripper wrote:Yes I guess it does come across like that a bit but not really what was intended as I'm sure you know.
But in my defence, there is a reason why Scotland and the highlands in particular have tremendous access rights and less parking profiteering

You just have to work out why that is.

Have you got an opinion on that and why it is slowly changing for the worse?


Space and low population density.

Low density populations tend to mean people know more of their community. That means good deed/generosity is likely to have social profit to balance any fiscal loss. Bad deed/greed is likely to have social loss to counterbalance any fiscal gain.

High density population is anonymising, people don't know who you are, often even if you live <100m away. That means good deed/generosity is unlikely to have social profit to balance fiscal loss. Bad deed/greed is unlikely to have social loss to counterbalance fiscal gain.

It'll change as population density rises.

Highlanders and Islanders are just people, benefitting from lower population density. No better than other human beings in different places, just following a different profit/loss metric.



Very good - I thought you said generalisations were unhelpful. :?

Apart from that, at a glance your theory appears deeply flawed and doesn't address very much. Just for a quick example it costs a fortune to park at the popular routes for Snowdon compared to Ben Nevis which is probably a bigger population centre. It also doesn't really explain the access rights being far better in Scotland hill country than England and Wales.

No one is saying the people from the highlands are better, just that it is a different mindset where outrageous profiteering is not so acceptable. Its no surprise folk think parking for £2 or £3 is a bargain when they are used to paying a fortune and probably do feel they are getting a bargain in the highlands.

Just a shame it is changing virtually unopposed! Far better to turn up park your car with out worrying about how to pay for a few days or banned from parking overnight. I'm sure some folk just drive away in these cases instead of worrying about towing or clamping.
No change, or your card doesn't work or no phone signal are all unnecessary issues that hillwalkers are going to come across. I don't really see a great need for it and it was never needed before. :(
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Re: Railway Crossing at Dalwhinnie

Postby Moriarty » Sat Aug 21, 2021 4:10 pm

Sunset tripper wrote:No one is saying the people from the highlands are better, just that it is a different mindset where outrageous profiteering is not so acceptable. Its no surprise folk think parking for £2 or £3 is a bargain when they are used to paying a fortune and probably do feel they are getting a bargain in the highlands.

Just a shame it is changing virtually unopposed! Far better to turn up park your car with out worrying about how to pay for a few days or banned from parking overnight. I'm sure some folk just drive away in these cases instead of worrying about towing or clamping.
No change, or your card doesn't work or no phone signal are all unnecessary issues that hillwalkers are going to come across. I don't really see a great need for it and it was never needed before. :(


Sorry, I'll bow out of this bit.

Don't want to be part of a thread hijack from the issue of the Level Crossing at Dalwhinnie to your specialist topic/obsession of paid parking. Can't imagine you have anything to say on the topic that you haven't said many times before, so probably best to get back on topic before the hijack gets reported to Admin. Apologies to the OP.

I hear the petition has topped 6000 signatures (mine included)....Network Rail maintaining a solid Elf and Safety defensive posture so far.
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Re: Railway Crossing at Dalwhinnie

Postby gaffr » Sun Aug 22, 2021 8:28 pm

A few images of the area when passing on my stride extender.
1 DSC_0947.jpg
Chained up gates with spy cameras.
2DSC_0948.jpg
Plenty of free vacant parking spaces in the newly laid out area close to the crossing.
4 DSC_0953.jpg
Use the bike to get to the alterative approach.
5DSC_0952.JPG
Welcome to the Ben Alder approach walkers and bikers.
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Re: Railway Crossing at Dalwhinnie

Postby AJ01 » Mon Aug 23, 2021 9:31 am

If Network Rail succeed in closing the level crossing to the public as a Right of Way, then I think that they should make restitution to the local community of the cost of creating the new parking area by the crossing, and create at their expense a new parking area by the underpass.

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Re: Railway Crossing at Dalwhinnie

Postby gaffr » Tue Aug 24, 2021 8:31 am

As it is at the moment there are just two options....leave vehicle at the extended parking close to the locked crossing and cycle to the alternative at the underpass or pay the £3 per day for the filling station parking.
I would be sure that the folks living in the houses prior to the underpass would not appreciate vehicles left close to their front doors.
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Re: Railway Crossing at Dalwhinnie

Postby Giant Stoneater » Tue Aug 24, 2021 9:41 am

The railway crossing to the public in Carnoustie was shut about 1½ years ago and it's been a battle to get it reopened, still closed and still no further forward in negotiations.
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