(gentle music) (narrator) Beneath towering mountains and through deep glens, across open moorland and Highland heaths, and along shimmering lochs, Scotland's railways travel a landscape like no other.

From coastal towns and remote villages to historic cities at the heart of the nation, trains bring passengers to some of Britain's most iconic landmarks.

♪ For the teams maintaining the stations... (man) You got blue sky, you're up, getting a suntan.

Tourists would pay a lot of money for a view of this.

(narrator) ...for the engineers safeguarding the track...

I just have to look out the window ahead of me.

And it's just a beautiful part of the world.

(narrator) ...and for the volunteers preserving our steam heritage.

(man) Well, it's a privilege to get paid to do something you enjoy.

Not many people can say that.

(narrator) The dramatic landscape and spectacular views are part of the joy of working on Scotland's scenic railways.

♪ (train chuffing) ♪ (screeching) ♪ (chuffing) (uplifting music) (rattling) From busy cities to rural communities, 2,300 trains criss-cross Scotland every day, connecting passengers to 359 stations around the country.

They travel some 2,800 kilometers, but the network is continually growing as new track is laid and old sections of the line are brought back to life.

♪ (guitar music) At Leven in Fife, preparations are underway for the latest edition to Scotland's rail network.

(John Collins) As you can see, this huge railway line over the years has had massive regrowth of trees and the woodland has just overtaken the existing railway line.

(narrator) A 5.5-mile section of the line is to be reopened, so the old railway is being cleared before the track is relaid.

(John Collins) We're clearing over 2,000-meters squared each day and upwards of almost 400 trees a day getting processed on-site.

♪ (narrator) Trains haven't run along this line since it was closed more than 50 years ago.

But, now, the Levenmouth Rail scheme will reinstate a small part of the old East Fife Line.

♪ (John Collins) When you look at the size of this and the height and the proximity to the track, it's quite evident that should that fall over an open line, an open line situation, that it's going to cause serious damage to any train should it strike.

So, for trees like this in this proximity, they would definitely need to go for the safety of the train.

(saw whirring) (soft piano music) (narrator) The Levenmouth project will reopen the old East Fife branch line from Thornton Junction to Leven.

But the railway continued on to the pretty coastal communities of Lundin Links, Largo, and Kilconquhar.

It followed the Firth of Forth to the fishing villages of St. Monans, Pittenweem, and Anstruther which marked the terminus for most rail services.

But the line did extend around the entire East Neuk of Fife through Crail and on to the home of golf at St. Andrews before joining the main line at Leuchars.

Eugene Clarke is chair of the Levenmouth Campaign group which has played a key role in resurrecting the 5.5-mile section to Cameron Bridge and Leven.

♪ I'm checking for trains.

(narrator) Eugene grew up in the area and, today, he's returned to a part of the line he last traveled a long time ago.

(Eugene) This is Cameron Bridge.

It was a significant station at one time.

Had the longest platform in Scotland, allegedly.

And I think probably the last time I was here was in the early '60s passing through on a train on my way to Edinburgh to my brother's graduation ceremony.

And, uh, it's great to think that, hey, this is gonna be getting back into use again, you know?

Good.

(piano music) (narrator) In the golden age of the railway, Leven marked the gateway to the coastal villages of East Fife, which were popular holiday destinations.

(Eugene) Trains passing through would've been jammed to the guttles.

People going to Leven for their holiday, to Largo for their holidays.

The young local lads in the village making their extra pocket money by carrying suitcases down.

They would meet the train at Leven with a wheelbarrow or something and take the holidaymakers' suitcases out.

It's great, and I suspect it might not quite work like that when the line is open again, but the same sort of resurgence and joy will be there.

And this railway line is much more than just 5.5 miles of rail track.

It's about getting us and getting the community better on the tick, back on its feet again to start feeling confident about the future.

The fact that we're seeing tree cutting and vegetation removal now is the first tangible sign of the line coming back, and big gratification and the satisfaction will be when the first trains start running in a wee while.

(uplifting music) (narrator) The last steam train to run on the old East Fife Railway was the A4 Pacific locomotive Union of South Africa.

Acquired in 1966 by Fife native John Cameron, this iconic steam train is known as Number Nine to steam fans.

The last of the A4 class of streamlined locomotives, Number Nine has spent much of the past 50 years out on the main line, with John riding the footplate until his retirement in 2019.

But after the closure of the East Fife Railway in the late '60s, Number Nine was the only train still running on the line.

And with steam services banned entirely from the main line, it was the only steam locomotive still running in the whole of Scotland.

(rapid chuffing) (violin and piano music) A farmer by trade, three miles of the old East Fife branch line fell within John's land at Lochty.

And, so, the Lochty Private Railway was born, operating a Sunday service for steam enthusiasts along the short section of track.

♪ But John's dedication to steam and his knowledge of the East Fife Railway began years before.

He would often be spotted helping out on the footplate of the weekend steam services.

(John Cameron) Oh, on a Saturday night, nothing doing, so I used to go and join the last train at Thornton and bring it down the coastline, which, you know, I'd acquired a root knowledge for it.

So I used to enjoy bringing it down to Crail and then back down (indistinct).

And the crew were always glad to have a third hand on a Saturday night.

Helped to get finished a bit quicker.

(narrator) It was the start of a lifelong love of the railways which would include a spell as chairman of ScotRail in the '80s as John became a respected industry figure.

♪ The signal box he's built at his farmhouse in Fife contains equipment that charts the development of the railways.

It includes items that were salvaged from Anstruther Station on the East Fife Line when it closed in 1965.

(John Cameron) There, in fact, is the diagram from the signal box in Anstruther.

Every signal box had its diagram and it was displayed usually above the frame.

There's signal number four which is the starting signal on that line going to St. Monans.

And, so, when the signalman wanted to clear that, he would pull number four.

And that would release that signal, and off the train would go to St. Monans.

(piano music) Most of these diagrams were when the particular boxes concerned were demolished, they ended up in the skip.

But in this case, Anstruther, it was given a new life.

(narrator) John's personal connection with the East Fife Railway means he's been able to preserve some enduring mementos of its closure all those years ago.

(John Cameron) This is a train register book from Anstruther cabin, and back in September 1965, this was the last day of the full service.

The signalman that was on duty, you might remember actually, a chap called Alec Hogg, when he signed off duty, he had quite a sense of humor, Alec, and he wrote after the signature "off duty 9:00 for the last time."

And that was quite significant.

It was the end of an era.

I mean, this line had been operating for a hundred years or so.

And that's what makes this particular page and this register quite--quite special.

♪ (birds chirping) (uplifting music) ♪ (narrator) Waverley Station, Edinburgh.

For the past 150 years, Waverley has stood at the heart of this historic city, bridging the gap between Edinburgh's old medieval site and the New Town.

Each day, 70,000 travelers pass through this station.

(chiming tones) Operating the 250 rush hour services is an army of station staff and train crew.

(piano music) Over 700 conductors currently work on ScotRail services, but there's a lot more to the job than just checking tickets.

Trainee conductor Melanie has just departed Waverley with her instructor, Rebekah.

(Melanie) So you get given this every morning, and this is your duty for the day.

Right, so next stop is Eskbank, and we're departing at 9:43.

I think we're running about a minute late already.

(Rebekah) What side are we on at Eskbank?

(Melanie) Eskbank, we're gonna be on the left side, -and there's no signal.

-No signal.

(Melanie) No signal, right.

Perfect.

(chuckling) (narrator) Conductor training takes up to six months.

As well as an encyclopedic knowledge of the network, conductors must be well-versed in safety procedures.

♪ (Melanie) So once the train stops, activate, the doors open.

(whirring) Step off.

So what I'm doing now is I'm just checking that everybody's alighted from the train and joined the train ca-- you know, safely and carefully, that I'm not gonna trap anybody in the door.

There's no signal, so I don't need to worry about that.

Blow my whistle to let everybody know we're about to dispatch.

(whistle blowing) We're ready to go.

Jump back on, close this door.

(beeping) I'm gonna let the driver know that we're ready to go.

♪ I like being out and about and meeting people.

In previous jobs, I never really got to speak to many people and interact, so this is why I wanted to come and do--work for ScotRail and--and interact more with people.

♪ (narrator) At Tweedbank, it's all change before the return journey to Waverley... Make sure that everything is clear.

(blows whistle) (narrator) ...which means it's Melanie's moment in the spotlight.

(beep) (Melanie) Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard the 10:29 service to Edinburgh Waverley, arriving Edinburgh at 10:24.

Could all passengers please take a few minutes of their time to read over the safety notes that are located throughout this train?

Once again, this is the 10:29 service to Edinburgh Waverley.

Next stop, Galashiels.

Do you want to know what your only thing was that you messed up there?

-Oh, did I?

-You said you would get into Waverley at 10:29, but it's not 10:24, but it's 11:24.

-But other than that... -Well, to be fair, you know, that was only six minutes ago.

(laughing) I'm already saying to her don't look at me!

(Rebekah) She makes me not look at her, and if I look, she's like, "I made a mistake, that's your fault.

You looked at me."

(narrator) Even with all the stresses of her training, there's still time to enjoy one of the perks of the job.

(Melanie) It's nice to get out and see a bit of scenery.

You know, I must admit, I really do quite like the Tweedbank Line, it's absolutely lovely.

And just if you do get a couple of minutes, which is not all the time, it's good just to have a wee look out and see all the lambs, especially at this time of year, and stuff it is lovely.

♪ (narrator) Melanie's training is coming to an end.

(Melanie) ...signal.

Newcraighall, signal.

-Brunstane... -In a week, she'll be examined as part of her final assessment.

(indistinct chatter) (gentle music) (narrator) Next, steamy memories at Largo viaduct... (Robert) The train, when it came through, made such a racket.

All you could hear was the sea until the train came and, then, suddenly, you were aware of the train shaking the village.

(narrator) ...and beavering away to avoid a flood on the tracks.

(James) This is fantastic habitat.

If I was a beaver, I would live here.

(train whooshing) ♪ (soft music) (narrator) Scotland's railway cuts and climbs through some of Britain's most awe-inspiring locations as it travels through breathtaking landscapes on its journey north.

But the sheer slopes and mountainous terrain of the Highlands holds the constant threat of rockfall or flooding on the track below.

♪ The Highland Main Line runs between Perth and Inverness, and along two kilometers of the line at Slochd, work is nearing completion to protect this stretch of the line.

♪ (man) So we've got a section of drainage here which is cess drainage, (indistinct) drainage and less silt traveling, traveling south.

-Yeah.

-Network Rail Head of Civil Engineering Alastair MacFarlane has come to check the three million pound flood prevention project in the area.

(Alastair) It's a big project that covers quite a long stretch of line.

Slochd has long been a point on the railway where we've had issues in the past.

This location, um, it's in a stunning part of the world, but the topography around it means that we've got acres and acres of line all shedding water towards the railway, and we've got to capture all that water and take it away.

That's some catchment area.

When you look at how it's run about, it's a lot we've got to catch.

(man) Nine separate catchments needed for this.

(Alastair) It's massive.

♪ So you can see roundabout that the line is much higher than the railway.

The railway travels through what we know as a cutting, and that makes the railway a natural drain.

It is a low point that the water sheds to and it's an accumulation point for water.

(man) There were some days when it was wet and I thought we'll not get anything done, and we would maybe get four or five bits in.

And, honestly, that was just soup.

(narrator) Each hundred meters of new drainage channels have been covered with a concrete impregnated fabric that is hardwearing and has half the carbon footprint of cast concrete.

(Alastair) This is where the water gets onto the track.

It floods and it degrades the signaling system, so we can't run trains safely through this section.

That's really good, that's a really neat job on there.

I'm really, really impressed.

(narrator) These channels won't just improve the track drainage.

By removing water from the surrounding hillsides, it will also reduce the risk of landslips in the earthworks that support the railway.

♪ (Alastair) There's definite aspects to this project all the way through, so we've got combinations of water causing flooding on the track, on the railway, which means you can't run trains through it, and then we've got water which causes problems to the earthworks adjacent to the railway, so all the drainage that we've seen further up has been to protect the railway from movement down onto it.

The stuff up there is absolutely vital because it can stop bigger issues.

This stuff here is absolutely vital because it stops the track flooding, so there's no one point more important than another.

It all needs to come together.

(narrator) It's not just the mountainous terrain of the Highlands that pose a threat to the railway.

(guitar music) (James) This isn't too bad an office, is it?

(Tom) No, it's really nice how the weather has cleared up.

(narrator) At Gleneagles in Perthshire, Network Rail engineer Tom Podger and ecologist James Morrison are responding to a very different type of flood risk.

♪ A drainage tunnel, or culvert, that channels water under the track has been blocked.

(Tom) So, compared to our last visit, the water level has come down about 300 mil.

(narrator) The surrounding area is now flooded, which is a threat to the line above.

♪ (Tom) So the culvert here is essentially a small tunnel designed to take the water from this side of the embankment to the other underneath the track.

So the railway is up here, and so the railway runs along the top here.

And the culvert is designed to take the water underneath the railway safely out to the other side where it would naturally flow.

(narrator) Clearing the blocked culvert isn't as straightforward as it seems.

The obstruction inside is not a natural buildup of material.

It was put there deliberately by some local residents.

(James) So this is classic beaver foraging.

This was a corpus of trees and they have worked their way through all of them.

They've taken the semi-mature growth off of these, and you can see these kind of pencil-like stumps.

(narrator) Beavers live wild in Scotland, and following their reintroduction in 2005, they're now a protected species found in pockets across the country.

A recent sighting has confirmed a pair of beavers have set up home along this stretch of the railway.

(James) Now that they're protected, their numbers are just going to escalate, so it's no surprise that this has happened.

It's no surprise they would choose an area like this because it connects in from the Tay where we have large numbers of them.

And this is fantastic habitat.

If I was a beaver, I would live here.

(soft music) (Tom) What the beavers have done is they have built a dam on the--in the inside of our culvert, so it's very similar to the lodge.

So the lodge is where they live.

So they'd live in here.

But the dam that they've built inside the culvert is a very similar construction, and you can see it's-- you can see it's all mud and it's all twigs and branches.

The challenge that creates for us is they've done that in order to back up all the water into here, and in doing so, they flooded the area so that they can live happily.

(narrator) Before the beavers' dam can be removed and the culvert unblocked, the water level must drop, so pumps have been installed.

(James) Beavers are nature's engineers.

They're fantastic at what they do, their dams.

They're very successful.

You just have to look at the amount of water we have here.

There is a berm that naturally feeds through here, and that is all that there normally is.

It's barely a meter wide.

Um, but we know how this extensive embankment into this wet woodland scrub habitat here.

(Tom) What that does for us is it means that the water is not going through the culvert, and it means that all the water is backing up on our embankment, and that causes an issue because a saturated embankment is liable to cause an issue with the track.

♪ (narrator) Track safety is paramount, so Tom and James will work together to find a solution that will safeguard the railway but also protect the interests of the beavers.

♪ (spirited music) ♪ The Cairngorms National Park is home to Britain's highest mountain range.

♪ Cutting through these granite peaks is the Highland Main Line... ♪ ...a rail network linking the small towns and villages between Inverness and Perth.

♪ (Sally) The scenery is amazing.

Trees and forests, river gorges, mountains, waterfalls.

What else could you wish for?

♪ It's absolutely stunning.

♪ (dinging) -Next stop is... -Regular travelers are Sally Spaven and Kate Howie.

♪ Kate and Sally live in Pitlochry, a Victorian town at the southern end of the line with a station dating back to 1863.

♪ -Isn't it beautiful today?

-So glorious.

That's our highest hill, Ben Vrackie, the sparkling Ben of Pitlochry.

(guitar music) (Sally) The hanging baskets are lovely.

(Kate) They are.

I hope they're being watered.

(narrator) Together, Kate and Sally run the local community rail partnership, a group devoted to preserving the heritage of their local stations and making them a destination for visitors.

(Kate) All those towns on the line depend on tourism for their main income, so it's really important that those stations look good and are welcoming.

♪ (honking) ♪ (Sally) One of the things that we first wanted to achieve at Pitlochry Station was the refurbishment of the buildings and the bridge for the 150th anniversary.

And we were quite successful.

(Kate) It's one of the best bridges on the line now, which makes such a difference.

(indistinct chatter) (narrator) This year, Kate and Sally's hard work has been rewarded with a chance to promote the line at King's Cross Station.

They're determined to show off the best of the Highlands and have commissioned a local dressmaker to make sure that they look the part.

(Kate) Lovely.

Feel very gracious in it.

(Janet) It's very nice.

-Are you happy, Janet?

-Yes, it's nice, it's nice.

The nice thing about this tartan, of course, it was chosen by the community.

We made up six tartans and we put them up at the co-op, and everybody voted, and this one got more votes than all the other tartans put together.

(Kate) Isn't it great that we have our own tartan in our own town?

Not many towns can say that.

(uplifting music) (Sally) 150,000 passengers go through King's Cross every day, so that's an amazing opportunity to market our area to those folk.

-Good.

-Right.

-Take care.

-Bye-bye, take care.

Bye!

♪ (narrator) Kate and Sally are hoping that their Pitlochry tartan and their passion for the local line will help them attract visitors at the King's Cross event, which they've dubbed The Highland Fling.

♪ (guitar music) For a hundred years, the Fife Coast Railway carried coal, fish, and holidaymakers along the coastline on the Firth of Forth.

♪ Closed in the mid-'60s, a 5.5-mile stretch of track is being relaid to Leven which marked the gateway to the pretty coastal communities and fishing villages along the East Fife Line.

♪ At Largo, a 60-foot viaduct became a familiar landmark for the tourists who flocked here every year, and among them was Robert Drysdale who spent childhood family holidays on the Scottish coast.

♪ (Robert) The village in those days was-- I mean, there were buckets and spades shops, there was candy floss shops and ice cream shops, and there was a real buzz about the place.

(narrator) In the shadow of Largo viaduct, Robert is meeting John Cameron, who has his own memories of driving a steam locomotive along the Fife Coast Railway.

(John Cameron) I well remember being on the footplate crossing the viaduct, remembering the great view that you got of all the people you're talking about -down on the beach.

-The beaches could be packed, and the train, when it came through, made such a racket.

You know, the village might be-- All you could hear was the sea until the train came and, then, suddenly, you were aware of the train shaking the village.

(narrator) It's been 54 years since a steam train last chugged across the viaduct.

But John was lucky enough to be on the footplate that day when his beloved locomotive Number Nine made the journey to its temporary home on the Lochty branch of the East Fife Railway.

(John Cameron) Once the line was closed and we came down with Number Nine on its way to Lochty, and just as we approached the viaduct, the guard stopped us and came to me and said, "Has Number Nine been across this before?"

And I said, "No, of course it hasn't."

He said, "I'm just wondering about the weight."

So my decision then was either to tell him the truth or tell him what he wanted to hear, so I did a bit of both.

And we moved very slowly across the viaduct.

I think he was believing that it was a lot less weight than it actually was.

So I was very relieved to get across quite safely.

(Robert) And yours was the last train over the viaduct.

(John Cameron) That's right, and the line was firmly closed by the time Number Nine came down.

(Robert) You must have had to have done a bit of talking to persuade them to let you use the line when it had been rusting away for that length of time.

There are ways and means, yes.

(narrator) The track at Largo was lifted in 1967, and the viaduct now stands as a reminder of a golden age in rail travel when passengers and freight made this a busy part of Scotland's rail network.

(Robert) I've got so many memories of this site, but we would come up from the village, up the little path, up onto the station platform, and then there was a footbridge which was open to non-passengers, so you could climb up on the footbridge and watch the trains in either direction.

And I particularly love this picture which shows the footbridge very clearly against the skyline there with a fantastic view in either direction, and then the train pulling out of the viaduct, -and of course... -Is it a steam locomotive too?

A B1?

B1460?

(Robert) And then there's the children waving at the train as it crosses the viaduct, and that would've been me if I was down there at the time and heard the train coming.

I would be waving, trying to get a wave back from the engine driver.

(John Cameron) That's still quite common today, actually.

If you're on a steam locomotive, you get a wave from many people outside of the line.

I remember, also, particularly the holiday season coming into the east coast villages, the number of people on the platform.

You know, you'd wonder how you were going to get them all on the train.

And, then, if it was the end of the weekend going back, again, you wondered if they would all get on, but they always did.

Leaving Largo to go towards Leven, it was flat across the viaduct and then it was downhill all the way to Lundin Links.

It was just a little touch of the regulator to get you out of the station at Largo, and then level across the viaduct, and then it dropped down all the way to Lundin Links.

And if you weren't stopping at Lundin Links, you dropped all the way down to Leven.

(Robert) And of course, crossing the golf course at Lundin Links, you'd be disturbing all the golfers trying to concentrate on their next stroke.

(John Cameron) That was what we enjoyed doing.

The whistle went quite often if we thought we could put a golfer off.

(Robert) I can imagine the golfers were quite glad when the line closed and they were able to concentrate on their game.

-Smiling.

-Next is a tartan takeover at London's King's Cross... (Kate) A lot of people, they don't know about lovely Scotland.

(narrator) ...and trying to keep up with some busy beavers.

(James) It's not that we underestimate the beavers.

It's just that they're very good.

They don't need method statements and risk assessments.

They get on with it.

(soft music) (jazz music) ♪ -Are those Scot bottoms in?

-No.

♪ (Kate) You're doing a grand job.

(laughing) (narrator) In London, Kate and Sally, from the Highland Line Community Rail Partnership, are packing goody bags for their Highland Fling promotional event at King's Cross Station.

(Kate) When I was in the army, I had staff who did this.

(woman) I'm not one of your soldiers.

(bagpipe music) (narrator) Keen to draw attention to their Highland Main Line, Sally and Kate have brought a unique slice of local life from Blair Atholl.

♪ (exploding) ♪ The Atholl Highlanders are Europe's last surviving private army and are inspected each May during a Highland gathering at the Duke of Atholl's fairy tale castle.

(spirited music) (indistinct announcement) ♪ (Graham) We were raised in 1777 to fight in the American War of Independence.

Today, we are purely ceremonial.

And come to Blair Castle, and you'll see us, and you'll see us parade, you'll see the men parade, and you'll see a hundred of us dressed like this.

(soft music) (narrator) Graham and his men are happy to help spread the word about their Highland home.

(Kate) A lot of people, they don't know about lovely Scotland, they don't know that you can get on one train... (Graham) On your left shoulder.

(Kate) ...and go all the way up to Inverness.

No changes, no traffic jams.

Just up that lovely rail line.

(Graham) This is now the cross belt.

(Kate) The Highland Main Line Rail Line.

(Graham) About a poundful of ornaments you put on.

(chuckling) ♪ (bagpipe music) ♪ (indistinct chatter) (Kate) All right, nice to meet you.

Have a nice day.

♪ (Sally) I think we've had an amazing start to the morning.

They're quite small, rural communities up in the Cairngorms and they're very, very dependent on tourism, so what we wanted to do was to come down to London today and let people see what a fantastic part of the country our community rail partnership covers.

♪ (Kate) They were terrific!

And look at that saltire.

In my heart, I'm just so proud to be Scottish.

♪ (Sally) Fantastic crowd.

Beautiful weather.

And the saltire.

What more could I want?

So, I think there will be a few drams tonight.

♪ (cheering) (applause) (soft music) ♪ (narrator) It's lunchtime at Edinburgh Waverley.

But for trainee conductor Melanie, food is the last thing on her mind.

(Melanie) So, today, I'm doing a traction assessment on the 170, which is behind us, and, also, I have my written and oral rules questions today, so this should be, if all gone well, my last day in training.

(narrator) The route they're traveling is along the Fife Circle, a 56-minute journey from Waverley to Glenrothes.

(whistle blowing) ♪ Her examiner today, Andrew, spent five years as a conductor before rising through the ranks to ScotRail's conductor team manager at Waverley.

(Andrew) You need to be a people person.

You need to have a calm nature.

And people to be authoritative just in case you are in any sort of emergency situation or a difficult situation where you need to take control.

(Melanie) Right, so we just left Downing, so we've got North Queensferry.

So it's the second stop, so if you jump off there.

-Okay, you're absolutely fine.

-Thank you so much!

I suppose when you're out doing an assessment and you're on a live train, so you never know what you can come up against.

(clanking) -Good morning.

-Good morning.

(Melanie) That's lovely, thank you very much.

This is the 11:29 from Kirkcaldy to Edinburgh Waverley, and the next stop is Kinghorn.

Thank you.

(clicking) -Good.

-Telephone voice, see?

(Andrew) (indistinct).

-Definitely.

-Yeah, well done.

Good, clean announcement.

Doing an announcement like that will become second nature once you've been doing the job for a couple of weeks.

(mellow music) (Melanie) It is going well, and I'm getting there, but I was awake really early this morning thinking about all the different things that I need to remember.

Hopefully, everything goes all well today.

It'll be a good night's sleep tonight.

(narrator) Melanie is coping well under the pressure of her final assessment, and there's some welcome respite as the train crosses a familiar landmark.

(Melanie) You never tire of coming across the bridges, especially on a day like this.

We picked an absolute perfect day and it's lovely.

♪ (narrator) As the train pulls into Waverley, all that remains is Melanie's written assessment.

The paper features 200 questions on the railway rules.

Fortunately, Andrew can deliver the results almost immediately.

(Andrew) Well done, there.

So you've passed your railway rules exam.

(Melanie) Oh, thank goodness.

Phew!

(soft music) (narrator) A pair of beavers have moved in alongside the railway at Gleneagles in Perthshire.

They have built a dam inside a drainage culvert which has flooded the surrounding area, creating a threat to the track.

♪ Engineer Tom and ecologist James must find a solution that works for both the railway and the beavers who have been busy beavering away.

(James) This is the ongoing problem we're going to have.

They're also engineers, so if you do something, they do something.

And it's not that we underestimate the beavers.

It's just that they're very good.

(Tom) And they work a lot quicker and a lot faster than perhaps we sometimes think.

(James) We don't need method statements and risk assessments.

They get on with it.

They won't go quietly, basically.

The beavers want to be in here.

They have everything they need in here.

So when we take actions to safeguard our assets, they will take actions to safeguard theirs.

So, we just need to meet in the middle somewhere where they're not really causing any issue for the railway.

(narrator) At the blocked culvert, the water is still backing up, so the first job is to reduce the flood levels which requires a short-term drainage plan.

(Tom) So we're now on the opposite side of the railway, on the outlet side of our culvert.

So that is where the water is flowing through or should be flowing through.

And you can see here we've got the pumps, the bagging from the pumps taking all the water from the ponded area, and we've put that over this side of the embankment through a pipe, and that now goes out to the natural watercourse.

(narrator) James has installed cameras at the site to monitor any activity, and they have revealed a variety of local wildlife.

(James) These animals, you can't really get that close to, so the camera trap footage is the best that you have, really.

So I do look forward to checking the camera traps, seeing what's there.

This is later in the evening and it's properly dark now.

As I go through these videos, I'm specifically looking at videos around dusk through the night and at dawn because that's when the beavers are more active.

Don't really see them out much during daylight.

And sure enough, in this video we have a beaver.

And she is dragging a stick towards our culvert, no doubt making sure that that dam is working as it should.

Very good.

This is at 2:46 in the morning, and there's a stoat running about the embankment.

Oh.

We've got a pine marten in this one, which we haven't picked up in any of the footage before.

Um... Can see its nice yellow bib and its big, bushy tail.

That's like a stoat on steroids.

(uplifting music) (narrator) The camera trap has captured snapshots of how the local wildlife coexist along this stretch of the railway.

The challenge is to unblock and protect the flooded culvert while conserving the ecology in this unique situation.

(Tom) Being an engineer and a member of the Institution of Engineers, it's apt that the beaver is on the crest of the institution because it shows what engineers these animals are.

And being able to work with them and in and around their environment is a real pleasure for me.

It's really exciting to see what they do, and it's very different from the day to day and something that I never thought I'd deal with personally.

(narrator) For James, it's just another perk of the job, protecting and preserving the ecology along Scotland's railways.

(James) It really adds something to the job when you get to go to somewhere a bit more remote and somewhere that you've never been before and take in the scenery that's around there.

And Scotland has a beautiful countryside, and the railway covers quite a lot of it.

♪ (gentle music) (narrator) Next, close encounters of a steam kind... (Robert) The train is only a few feet away.

It's huge and it's noisy and it's very exciting.

(John Cameron) You weren't one of the ones that ran across in front of us, were you?

(narrator) ...and the beaver-size challenge in Gleneagles.

(Tom) Handballing ten ton of material is gonna be quite a challenge.

-Unless you're a beaver.

-Unless you're a beaver.

(indistinct chatter) (guitar music) (narrator) At Gleneagles, a drainage culvert under the railway had become blocked after beavers built a dam deep inside.

(James) It's no surprise that this has happened.

This is fantastic habitat.

If I was a beaver, I would live here.

(narrator) Today, engineer Tom and ecologist James have returned with a team to attempt to remove the blockage.

But this stretch of line runs alongside a protected area of woodland and meadow.

This means access for machinery is restricted, so the beavers' dam must be removed by hand.

The scale of the task facing the team is becoming clear.

(James) This would've been a lot easier to fix if we could just have brought some machinery down the fence line here, got an arm in and just drag the stuff out.

So, yeah, pressure is on a wee bit with this one because we're down to people with hand tools to get rid of this.

And it shouldn't be that hard.

I mean, the beaver doesn't have any machinery either, but it's better at dam-making than us, that's for sure.

(narrator) The full extent of the beavers' dam-building skills is soon revealed.

(man) So there's a beaver dam, it's in about a meter from the entrance of this culvert, and it's approximately three to four meters thick made up of branches, grass, mud, and various other elements.

(narrator) The dam is bigger than they were expecting, so Tom shares the news with James.

(Tom) The challenge is it looks like it's slightly bigger than we first thought.

So we've had almost a pitchfork trying to rake it out, so we've moved the material, but it's not really chipping away at it as much as we'd like.

There's approximately ten ton in the culvert, and we're reckoning by the volume and type of materials so that's, yeah, ten ton is quite a-- quite a lot.

You can see by James's reaction, handballing ten ton of material is gonna be quite a challenge.

-Unless you're a beaver.

-Unless you're a beaver.

It would be great if we could find the plughole in the dam and pull the chain and drain all the water.

Unfortunately, it's quite well-constructed.

The beavers have made quite an incredible effort where they've built up the dam with lots of sticks and mud and leaves and all sorts of things from the environment around here.

We've been able to remove some of the material from the top, so we're gonna put a pipe in between the dam and the culvert, and that's gonna manage the water levels.

(James) This is only the first step of the works that we need to do here.

We need to get the dam removed, and we need this berm to become a berm again and flow properly.

Then, mesh over the entrance to the culvert temporarily so that our hard work here isn't undone and they will do that tonight, um, if we don't do that.

They work very quickly.

(soft piano music) A key outcome at the end of this is that we can secure the asset and the beavers still have access to this beautiful bit of wet scrub and fen meadow behind.

There's lots of good habitat for them here.

We want them to be able to follow this watercourse and move freely.

It's not just beavers here, there's otters also present and pine marten et cetera that were caught on the camera trap footage.

It's a nice biodiverse little bit of country here.

(narrator) A temporary covering of mesh will keep the beavers out, and the new pipe will allow water to flow through the culvert once again.

It's a good outcome for the team, and the beavers will continue to thrive in this pretty pocket of Perthshire.

♪ (indistinct chatter) John Cameron and Robert Drysdale are walking the route of the old East Fife Coastal Railway which ran above Largo village.

John rode the footplate during the days of steam along this line, which Robert remembers from his childhood holidays.

(Robert) The train is just gathering speed out of Largo now.

The long straight stretch along to Kilonquhar ahead of it.

(John Cameron) That's where we could make up a minute or two.

(Robert) Yeah.

And a great view across Largo Bay for all the passengers.

(narrator) Running three services a day and up to four on busy summer weekends, the passing steam trains became part of everyday life for the residents of Largo.

(Robert) We're running right behind the cottages now.

I mean, one of these cottages is where we used to stay on holiday when we came as a family.

So you really felt the train go by when you were in the cottage and the train rumbled along the embankment above it.

That's what captured my imagination as a young boy.

(John Cameron) We couldn't do much quietly with a steam loco.

(narrator) This stretch of the railway is now part of the East Fife Coastal Path which follows the old line behind the houses on its way out of Largo.

(Robert) Oh, and here, this is--this is a childhood memory of mine because you could run up this little path.

There was a little crossing gate here and a footpath across the track, which was very exciting to be able to actually walk across the track.

And obviously, standing here by the gate watching the train go by, the train is only a few feet away.

It's huge, it's noisy, and it's very exciting.

(John Cameron) You weren't one of the ones that ran across -in front of us, were you?

-Certainly not.

I wouldn't have dreamt of it.

(chuckling) (narrator) From Largo, the railway followed the East Fife coastline, taking holidaymakers on to destinations along the line, to Anstruther and beyond to Crail.

(piano music) (Robert) And then you've got a lovely view of the bay there.

And the net factory, which it's great that they managed to preserve that actually and convert it for modern use as a holiday house.

(John Cameron) The old net factory, it looks like a locomotive shed.

(Robert) Yes, it's got a real railway echo about it, hasn't it?

Yes, and of course, once you get past Cardy House, heading east, you've got this fantastic view of Largo Bay, and particularly when the sun is out, you can see people on the beach.

If you're on your way to Ilio, Anstruther, or Crail on your holidays, you immediately at this point begin to get the flavor of going on holiday and what it's going to be like.

If the window is open, you get the salt air coming in the carriage as well.

It's the real start of your holiday when you get here.

And then the view really opens out here, doesn't it?

(John Cameron) It does.

It's straight from here up to Kilconquhar west.

It's what we called the "racing stretch."

It was three or four miles dead straight and the track was usually in good fettle.

I think the engineers knew that we used it to make up time.

And so we could go sailing along here and we did make up a bit of time.

It was a 50-mile-an-hour stretch, but we used to do 60 going up here.

(Robert) Oh, good, I'm glad to hear it.

And the holidaymakers would think, "We're nearly there now.

We're really getting a roll on."

(John Cameron) I think the holidaymakers wondered -if we were gonna stop.

-Yeah.

(narrator) While plans are underway to reopen a small stretch of this line to Leven, the best way to travel the old East Fife Railway these days is on foot.

The line might have closed and the track been lifted, but the beauty of the Fife coast still endures.

♪ (gentle music) ♪ (bright music)