A journey which has lasted 150 years: Fascinating pictures  celebrating landmark anniversary of the Highland Main Line relive bygone era of  the wonder of steam trains

• Highland Main Line, one of Britain’s great   railways, is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year
• Was built to provide access through Grampian   Mountains from Highlands to rest of Britain for Scotland’s rich lairds   
• The line – built for £919,204  – has   since weathered war, rise of road travel, and nationalisation of   railways

At the time, the notion of a train  line running through the rough and desolate Scottish Highlands was dismissed as  fancy – a dangerous pipe dream.

But thanks to the persistence of one  man, the Highland Main Line, one of Britain’s great railways, is celebrating its  150th anniversary this year.

The brain child of Joseph Mitchell of  Inverness, the link was built to provide direct access through the Grampian  Mountains from the Highlands to the rest of Britain for Scotland’s rich lairds  and landowners.

The line – built for a total cost of  just £919,204  – has since weathered war, the rise of road travel, and the  nationalisation of the railways, and now the Strathspey Railway operates part of  the original route over Dava Moor.

A series of celebratory events have  been taking place over the course of the year to mark the anniversary – with the  latest held at Strathspey Steam Railway in Aviemore,Scotland.

Families were invited to step back in  time aboard a 1952 British Rail Ivatt locomotive number 46512, which run along  part of the original track and watch as engineers prepared a steam engine in one  of the last remaining former Highland Railway Company sheds.

Originally, it was local landowners  who promoted the construction of a railway from Perth to Inverness, via  Aviemore, Grantown and Forres.

Refusing to listening to worried  naysayers, who were convinced that a railway could not be made across the high  and desolate Druimuachdar Pass, Joseph Mitchell persisted.

Local communities were already seeing  the advantages that railways could bring. In 1855 a line of 15 miles had been  made as the Inverness & Nairn Railway, and soon links eastward to Forres,  Elgin and Keith gave access to Aberdeen.

Then, on 22 July 1861 an Act of  Parliament for the Inverness & Perth Junction Railway was obtained and on 17  October that year the first sod was ceremoniously cut at Forres.

Within just two years and at a total  cost of a mere £919,204, the 104 mile long line was completed.

The Inverness & Perth Junction  Railway became part of the  Highland Railway in 1865, which was in existence for almost 60  years.

Then in 1923 it was absorbed into the  London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS), and in 1948 British Railways took  over at nationalisation.

Queen Victoria was one of the first  people from England to use the Inverness and Perth Line, to visit her fatally  ill husband.

On 15 September 1863 she travelled  from Perth to Blair Atholl and back again, breaking her journey to Balmoral from  Windsor.