SideTracked - Breich Traditional Geocache
Primitive Person: Archiving this one as I'm currently not able to easily reach the area to maintain it. The station is a lot less interesting since the rebuild anyway...
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A quick find at one of Scotland's least-used railway stations - getting here (by train at least) can be tricky! One of the SideTracked series of caches at railway stations.
Breich station serves the small village of the same name in West Lothian. It's located on ScotRail's Edinburgh to Glasgow via Shotts line. This line has seen services improved recently, but poor Breich has been a bit left out. As the village is small and sleepy, and the station is fairly distant from it, it has never been very busy. A more convenient bus service through the village itself hasn't helped matters. Breich's dwindling patronage has seen train services reduced over the years to the point where only two trains a day call - one from Glasgow to Edinburgh at 08.04, and another one in the opposite direction at 18.38. No trains call on Sundays. On average, 2.6 people a week use Breich, so the place is usually deserted. It has very basic facilities but there's a certain forlorn charm about the place, and I rather like it. Unfortunately the station may not be with us for much longer, as electrification work requires a replacement bridge, which will cost over a million pounds - expenditure very hard to justify given such low use. There's currently a consultation going on over plans to close the station, but nothing is likely to happen for a while, and the plans would need to be approved by the Transport Minister. If it does close, it will be the first station closure in Scotland since Errol in 1986. If you manage to arrive or depart by train, I'll be very impressed! You'll probably need to travel at least one way by bus though. There's no official car park, but if you're driving you can go down the driveway and park at the bottom - I doubt you'll get in anyone's way. Savour the atmosphere as the automated PA announcements boom out across the empty landscape unheeded, and the trains mostly whizz by at speed. The cache is a 35mm film canister. Bring your own pen.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Lbh pna ybt guvf bar ng gur raq bs gur oneevre.