Train buffs are making tracks to Pitlochry as the town’s world-famous Station Bookshop hosts a special sale of railway memorabilia.
Posters, maps, jigsaws, cigarette cards and books by the hundreds will be on offer in the old stationmaster’s office on platform one.
It’s a doubly special occasion for the volunteers who run the secondhand store.
Saturday’s sale will also mark Pitlochry Station Bookshop’s 20th anniversary.
Every penny raised there goes to charity.
And the crew are hoping to smash through the £500,000 takings barrier later this year.
Honorary president and former chairman Norman McCandlish says its success is down to all of the volunteers who have worked so hard to make it happen over the years.
“When we started I thought it might last a year,” he laughed.
Famous faces put Pitlochry Station Bookshop on map
Pitlochry is already Perthshire’s best-loved tourist town.
And local bookworms pop in and out to exchange bargains all the time.
But a string of TV appearances and repeats have helped to Pitlochry Station Bookshop on the map.
Volunteers regularly welcome visitors from all over the world who have seen it on shows like Michael Portillo’s Great British Railway Journeys or Bill Nighy’s The World’s Most Scenic Railway Journeys.
There are 35 volunteers at present and more on a waiting list.
Manager Bobbie McGraw says it’s one of Pitlochry’s finest attractions.
“It’s still a working station, so you get people passing through,” she said.
“But then you get people from Canada and Holland saying ‘oh we’re here because we saw you on TV’.
“You meet so many nice people who want to tell you their stories,” Bobbie added.
“I’m a bit of a train buff myself. My father worked on the railways. So it’s just a lovely place to come and spend time.”
Full steam ahead for railway collectors
Pitlochry Station Bookstore normally stocks all kinds of secondhand books.
But Saturday’s birthday sale will feature a large number of titles and other items donated by the Museum of Scottish Railways at Boness, as well as specialist books from the shop’s own stores.
The event is on this Saturday from 10am to 4pm.
Pitlochry Station Bookshop’s charities are Children’s Hospices across Scotland (CHAS), Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA), Tayside Mountain Rescue, Cancer Research, Highland Perthshire Shopmobility and Mercy Corps.
Its supporters include the Green Park Hotel, Fisher’s Hotel, ScotRail, Elizabeth Yule Transport, Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Highland Mainline CRP and the Museum of Scottish Railways.
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