Severe weather was causing chaos for some Highland rail services on Saturday, after temperatures in parts of the region plunged to -20C overnight.
The Met Office reported last night that the mercury had already plunged to lower than -17C in Altnaharra on Friday evening.
And the the emperature fell even lower, with -18.5C eventually reported in Altnaharra on Saturday morning.
The severe weather has resulted in significant disruption to some services on the Far North Line, after the level crossing barriers at Lairg station refused to lower in the frigid weather.
It resulted in the 6.18am Wick to Inverness service terminating at Lairg when already running an hour late, while the 7am Inverness to Wick service also terminated at the station due to the issue.
The 7am Inverness to Wick train, which terminated at Lairg, and then began running an additional service for southbound passengers. Picture: Philip Murray.
The trains subsequently began operating additional services heading back the way they came in a bid to mitigate some of the delays for passengers heading in those directions.
The 8.02am Wick to Inverness train was also suffering knock-on delays as a result, with it being delayed at Rogart while the cancelled 6.18am service made its way back north from Lairg.
Elsewhere in the north the 9.46am Inverness to Elgin and 10.51am Elgin to Inverness trains were also cancelled due to a “fault with the signalling system”.
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