Building record MHG55526 - Railway P-Way Bothy, Boat of Garten

Sleeper building used by the railway workmen as a shelter when working on the track. The P-way bothies (Permanent Way Bothies) were located approximately every 1 mile along the track, according to a local ex-signalman on the railway, George Keir. This one is thought to date to the early days of the railway in the 1860s. The building is small and in a dilapidated state of repair. The roof is of corrugated iron. Some parts of the building are clad in a bitumen-based material. The sleepers on which the building is constructed and which form the floor can be seen through the open window though some are missing.
There are signs of fire damage on the timbers in the SW corner of the building, probably due to the workmen lighting a fire in the building in order to keep warm. The crevices between the sleepers have been stuffed with corrugated paper to act as draft excluders.

The bothy is one of a number of 'sleeper' buildings built from railway sleepers, or on railway sleeper foundations, in Boat of Garten and Badenoch and Strathspey. See Jackie Wilson's report for the ARCH Community Timeline course, 2011. <1>