Historic Perthshire railway station put in the spotlight at upcoming exhibition

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The story of Blair Atholl’s historic railway station is to be told at a new exhibition at the village hall.The station has had a central role in village life and the community has come together to curate the display which takes place next month.The free interactive exhibition – themed Past, Present and Future – features oral histories from village residents, including Mike Shanto who was born beside the station.

His mother and father (a forester from Canada) first met there during WW2. He recalls lively journeys by train to high school in Pitlochry.Blair Atholl had been one of the most important stops on the Highland mainline; at one point as it was where trains picked up an additional banking engine to help them make the climb over the Drumochter Pass.It was also where Queen Victoria stopped off to visit her close friend the Duke of Atholl in 1863.The Friends of Blair Atholl Station exhibition – from Friday, August 16 to Sunday, August 18 – is supported by funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.The community group formed last year and worked with ScotRail to adopt the station.Friends of Blair Atholl Station chairperson Dr Viviene Cree said: “We came up with the idea of the oral history project and exhibition so that we could bring together stories of the station from the older people to the children and young people in the village, and to generate new interest and excitement about our station.

And that is just what we have done.“We have recorded sixteen podcasts, which are now on our YouTube channel – we are the only station adopter group with its own YouTube channel.“They include a brilliant animated film by a new young animator from Perth, Steven Goodison, called ‘Mike’s Station’ based on the life of Mike