MY wife and I got caught up in Storm Ali last Wednesday (September 19), during our exploration of the scenic rail routes in the west of Scotland. We were travelling from Oban, on the midday Scotrail train, for a connection at Crianlarich, there to enjoy a cup of tea and a scone, before travelling onwards on the down train to Fort William.

Our train, a busy one, ground to a halt just beyond Dalmally and the word spread that there was a tree on the line. The train guard and driver donned their hi-vis vests and jumped down and pulled the tree away. I saw the guard holding back the large branch whilst the driver eased the train past him. He then climbed back on the train and off we went again. Great effort, guys. Sadly we stopped again in a few minutes and were told that there was a full tree across the line. The guard politely refused a gung-ho offer from a group of young American passengers to mobilide a workforce to shift the tree, having “done it before in the States”. The train trundled back to Oban – the only option – where we were told, quite fairly, that no alternative transport was to be provided, owing to the state of road and rail at that time. Specifically, there were no available buses and it was doubtful whether or not they would reach Glasgow anyway. Refunds were offered on-the-spot or online, and that was that. Fair enough – these were extreme circumstances. Half-an-hour later, we saw a ScotRail station employee assisting a disabled lady on to a coach some 400 metres away from the station. Well done ScotRail, and all your staff in and around Oban. You handled a large and unexpected crowd with skill and some compassion. We used our initiative and travelled on to Fort William in a very comfortable coach, skilfully driven through Benderloch and Appin (a bonus), and returned to Glasgow by train the next day enjoying sunny views of Rannoch Moor.

From my experiences last week, I honestly believe that we have too many trees. There appears to have been no expenditure by any authority on coppicing – anywhere. As a result, trees rattle against trains, views, road signs and information notices are obscured by them, roads and rail lines get slippy from their leaves in autumn and winds blow them down on to key thoroughfares. This short-sighted lack of maintenance and control, over at least a generation, now frequently causes problems and costs big sums of money.

I propose a national coppicing programme – tied into any of the many state-funded programmes such as community service, youth employment and so on. That would provide a great service to the public and could generate mountains of fuel for biomass boilers. Who knows – it might even be possible to admire The Cobbler from the train at Arrochar, rather than a wall of vegetation.

Dr David Sutherland,

1 Lochend Road, Troon.