Never thought about the railway connection before but now you mention it, yeah. There's a few reported sightings up near the old Dundee to Forfar line that closed decades ago and I always just filed them away separately in my head. Seeing them grouped together like that is a bit different though.
My theory, for what its worth, is that old rail corridors basically become wildlife motorways once they're abandoned. Long straight stretches, overgrown, not many people. If something like a dogman exists and is trying to move around without being spotted, those old lines would be perfect routes. Makes sense it'd get seen more often near them.
Anyone got a map with sightings plotted out? Would love to see if there's a genuine pattern or if we're just finding shapes in random data. Genuinely curious whether this holds up across different regions or if it's more localised.