Virtually every Scottish branch line was swept away in the 1960s, regarded by conventional wisdom as inevitable in an era of growing affluence and rising car ownership. Among the many towns and villages across Scotland which lost their trains were Ballachulish and Ballater; Callander, Crieff and Crail; Fraserburgh and Peterhead; Leven and St Andrews. But, says author David Spaven, the case for closure of most of these lines was flawed: sensible economies proposed at the time would have allowed a significant number of axed routes to survive and prosper. And now today, he argues, in a new book, road congestion and the climate emergency are opening the way for a potential renaissance of branch lines.