Keith and Dufftown Railway – A Train Ride and Lunch
A few hours.
The route
The Keith and Dufftown Railway runs old diesel trains along eleven miles of line through Speyside's woods and fields, and a morning ride to Keith and back suits young children.
The carriages rattle past forests, farms and distilleries, and there's lunch at the end in a café made from two old railway carriages on the platform.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book the Keith & Dufftown Railway
Book two singles each on the railway's website, for the 10.30am from Dufftown and the 11.30am back from Keith Town, or buy them at the Dufftown booking office: trains run from Easter to late September, at weekends in April and May and Friday to Sunday from June, with an adult single £8 and a child's £4 at the time of writing.
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The day
Dufftown
An early start for the 10.30 train. Ride the line through the woods to Keith and straight back again, then have lunch on the platform.
About three hours
The Keith & Dufftown Railway
An attraction
Dufftown station stands about a mile north of the town on the A941; park at the station. The Keith and Dufftown Railway runs its old diesel trains through the whisky country to Keith Town, past forests, fields and distilleries. Catch the 10.30am from Dufftown: it reaches Keith Town at 11.10 and leaves again at 11.30, back in Dufftown at 12.10. Tickets are sold as singles, so you need one each way: at the time of writing an adult single is £8, a child's £4 and a family's £18, and under-5s and dogs travel free. Trains run from Easter to late September, at weekends in April and May and from Friday to Sunday from June to September. From October only special trains run, such as the Halloween ghost train and Santa trains in December.
Sidings Cafe
Lunch
Lunch is where the ride ends, at the Sidings Café on the platform at Dufftown station, in two old maroon railway carriages with picnic tables outside. It serves soup, sandwiches, quiche, other light lunches, home baking and cream teas, and it opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10am to 4pm, in the railway's season. You needn't book, though cream teas on the train must be ordered 48 hours ahead. It's step-free and children are fine, and only assistance dogs may come inside.
If it rains
The ride and the lunch are both under a roof, so a wet morning is no trouble at all: only the platform is open to the weather.
Sidings Cafe, a restaurant in Dufftown.