First-time visit to Wick for special weedkiller train last night – clearing a route on the Caithness tracks

A local rail enthusiast snapped some pictures yesterday evening of a first-time visitor to Wick railway station in the shape of a special weedkilling train.

Leon Gray snapped pictures of the Class 66 GB Railfreight (GBRf) locomotives as they sat at the station with their wagons. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in London, GBRf is the third largest rail freight operator in the United Kingdom and this was the first time their Class 66s had travelled beyond Georgemas Junction to Wick.

Leon said: "It's been doing all the Scottish lines – it started from Inverness, went to Kyle of Lochalsh and then the Far North Line.

"We thought it was only going to Georgemas Junction and south again as it couldn't do the Thurso and Wick sections – those locos have never been on these lines before. Only Class 37s are allowed as they did ScotRail services many years ago but they did Thurso in the early hours the other morning and parked up in the sidings at Georgemas as the driver needed his rest hours."

Speaking this afternoon, Leon added: "Last night it came to Wick before it headed back to Inverness to carry on doing the rest of the Scottish lines. It was the first time, and most probably last time, as they were not passed due to the weight of the locos crossing bridges."

The diesel locomotives, 66797 and 66735 at front and rear, carried wagons of weedkiller to spray along the tracks and keep the routes clear of plants such as buddleia – an invasive species which can cause major issues on rail lines if not controlled.

Another rail enthusiast called Jamie has a YouTube channel called The Jamster and his latest video shows the same weedkiller train at Dingwall and Muir of Ord as it heads north.

Jamie said: "The wagons are fairly recent additions to the UK and certainly rare in the north of Scotland. The train visited Kyle of Lochalsh on the 24th, Thurso on the 25th and Wick on the 26th of April 2022.

"Class 66s are not normally able to run between Georgemas Junction, Thurso and Wick. History was made on this occasion with a special dispensation being granted for this train to run to both Thurso and Wick making it the first time a class 66 had been to either."

Leon was delighted to have witnessed this unique visitor to Caithness and said he thought he would "never see the day" when the Class 66s visited. "Last year, they had a different machine doing it that wasn't so amazing – just a lorry with cabs. But this one last night was much bigger and looked to be brand new kit. For safety reasons they did it slowly to get to Wick, so it probably won't happen in my lifetime again."

Leon's YouTube channel featuring other train related videos is called Caithness Rail Rambler and can be found at: www.youtube.com/channel/UCuxQBjdmUSMqEx-wBmXut4g/videos

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