The historic railway station at Thrumster was linked to the electrical grid and power turned on at a community event on Sunday afternoon.

Islay Macleod from Yarrows Heritage Trust (YHT), the moving force behind the restoration, welcomed visitors to the event and told them about the work that had been done to develop the old building from its ruinous state.

"It all went extremely well and the weather held off so it was a great success all in all. We had Marjory [Scott] talking about her experiences on the railway along with poetry and tea and cakes," she said.

Trust chairman Jay Wilson, who also set up the John O'Groats Trail (JOGT) which passes by the station, said that YHT was established to preserve the heritage of the Thrumster area and that the connection of power to the station represents the "last step in restoring it to a usable public space" that will benefit the wider community.

"As a trustee of Yarrows Heritage I'm thrilled that we've finally got power to the station and we hope that it will usher in a new era of community involvement with it. A lot of people didn't even know this building was here and had driven by without realising. We're the farthest north heritage station in the UK."

Isabella Kalka was visiting from Inverness and said she is one of the volunteers that helps to maintain the JOGT along with Jay. "It's so good to see the community coming together and working together. It's a great example for everyone. I had seen the building from just passing but I'd never been inside it. I liked to see all the historical information."

Marjory Scott from Wick was invited to talk about her memories of travelling on the old Wick to Lybster train and had several stories about her life as a young girl living near Lybster such as when a locomotive driver threw out a huge lump of coal for her mother during WWII.

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The station was opened as part of the Wick and Lybster Railway on July 1, 1903. It was one of the five stations along the line. The railway was shown in schedule one of the Railway Act 1921 as being part of the North Western, Midland, and West Scottish Group. As with the other stations on the line, it was closed from April 3, 1944 and was used as a post office and shop for a number of years.

In 2011 YHT started work on restoring the old station and received a grant to provide electricity for the facility. The money came from the Scottish Hydro Electric Community Trust, an independent charitable trust set up in 1998 by Scottish Hydro Electric plc (now SSE plc).

Council leader and Highland councillor Raymond Bremner lives in Thrumster and did the honours of switching on the historic railway station. He said: "Growing up here, we could see where the line went and this building but beyond that there was little you could see that it had been a railway. What I can recall is that we respected this building. I later researched it and it's absolutely fascinating how this has all developed now. It's like the work they did to show how the Titanic looked.

"When you were walking past it looked really dark but with the lights on and all the work done it looks really alive. I feel very honoured as there's not much you get asked to do that's on your won doorstep."

Jenny Szyfelbain from Wick was invited to read a poem about the Wick to Lybster railway in the local vernacular and received a grand round of applause after along with a bouquet of flowers.

"I never knew the poem but it's a wonderful bit of old-fashioned Caithness dialect and it's proper poetry. It's a rare honour to read someone else's poem and enjoy it so much."

One visitor, Dan Mercer, said he had walked all the way from Wick to attend the event. "I like to do a lot of walking and have done some of the John O'Groats Trail too. I've never seen inside the place but it's very nice indeed. My dad would be interested in all this being a retired civil engineer."

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