Out of area, but a salutary lesson about the dangers of using rural rail lines as a 'footpath':
From
The Courier, Perthshire:
A Blairgowrie man has described the horrific moment the train he was on hit two walkers ^ then discovered they were his father and brother.
Gary Kolarczyk's brother Paul and 87-year-old father, Gerhard, had been walking on the tracks of the West Highland line when they were hit on Tuesday.
They had been heading back to Rannoch Station after a fishing trip, where they were due to be picked up by Mr Kolarczyk and his wife Alison.
The couple, who live in Blairgowrie, had decided to take the train to Fort William for the day while they waited for the pair.
However, as Mr Kolarczyk, an offshore worker, and 53-year-old Alison travelled back that evening their train came to a sudden halt a couple of miles from the station.
''We felt the train brake suddenly and we heard the horn going, then it just came to a stop,'' said the 60-year-old. ''A couple of minutes later a message came over the Tannoy saying we had hit some sheep on the line.''
Knowing his father and brother would be on their way back to the station, the couple said they had a ''funny feeling'' something terrible had happened.
''We just looked at each other and knew there was something else,'' he said. ''We hadn't seen any sheep for miles and miles and it is such a remote place.''
The couple ^ who had been sitting in the last carriage of the train ^ went to ask the driver what had happened after another message asked for medical help.
''We saw someone put on surgical gloves and we knew then that it wasn't sheep,'' he said. ''They wouldn't let anyone off the train. I was just numb. I was thinking of the worst-case scenario.''
Mr Kolarczyk was eventually allowed to leave the train and his worst fears were confirmed ^ the train had hit his father and brother. The driver had spotted the men and braked in an attempt to avoid a collision.
Mr Kolarczyk got his father on board the train. He had suffered cuts and bruises, bumped his head and was in a state of shock.
The 87-year-old said he had dropped down into a 5ft-deep drain at the side of the track after his son shouted from behind that a train was coming.
''He was just dazed. I don't think he realised just how serious it all was,'' Mr Kolarczyk said.
A helicopter was scrambled from RAF▸ Kinloss to help his 52-year-old brother, who had suffered serious leg injuries. He was airlifted to Southern General Hospital in Glasgow, where he remains in a serious condition and is sedated.
Mr Kolarczyk said he would not know exactly what happened until Paul wakes up, but that he thought the train had snagged his rucksack and flung him from the line.
Mr Kolarczyk had travelled with his father by air ambulance to Belford Hospital in Fort William, where he was checked over and allowed to go home the same night.
His brother and father live in Germany and had travelled to Scotland for a holiday.
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