The Ballachulish Railway Line

I am not sure that this line counts as a heritage subject? Please read if you bare interested!

Another of those magazines at Christmas time (2018). This time it was an old "Hornby Magazine" from 2012. This was originally intended to be a short reflection on the Ballachulish Line but it is developing into something much longer. There will be three parts to this story!

This is the first post:

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/01/01/the-ballachulish-railway-line-part-1

 

You should read The Birth and Death of a Highland Railway by Duncan Kennedy, who worked on the construction of the line as a young man (which does not appear to be in your bibliography). There are copies available on Abe although it is the sort of book that you occasionally find cheaply on stalls (as it does not have lots of pictures of locos).

 

I have seen the cover. I have only included things in the bibliography that are directly referred to in the text. I'll keep my eyes open for a copy.

 

In Part 1 of this story we covered much about the history of the line between Connel Ferry and Ballachulish. We start Part 2 with a few reminders of what was covered in Part 1 and provide some additional material from various sources before continuing our journey North along the branch.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/01/02/the-ballachulish-railway-line-part-2

 

This is the third of three posts planned to cover the Ballachulish Branch. It includes the final length of the line approaching Ballachulish, some details about the quarries and a November 1950 article about the line which has been taken from The Railway Magazine of that date.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/01/05/the-ballachulish-railway-line-part-3

 

I’ve just discovered this thread, thanks for posting. I go up to the Highlands twice a year to photograph the Jacobite and I intend to explore the Balachulish branch. I think I’ve found the terminus now a doctors surgery. I’m currently doing the track bed of the most over optimistic railway in the country, the Invergarry and Fort Augustus

 

Hi John, we usual have two weeks in Scotland each year, either on the West Coast or on one of the islands.

A railway along the full length of the Great Glen was always going to be optimistic. ... But it would have been a great line to travel!

Best wishes

Roger

 

It would but when you look at the remains of the viaduct built just to take the line to Fort Augustus Pier it’s clear that Lord Burton had more money than sense!

 

Yes, definitely. There were a few of his ilk throughout the country, who built follies of all different sorts. But I guess he probably spent a lot more than most!

 

Ballachulish station is indeed the surgery; my late mother-in-law once used it as a patient!

If exploring, and though it's a good few years ago now, the reviews are still good, I remember a very good dinner with outstanding views across Loch Linnhe at the Holly Tree Hotel in Kentallen - what was the old station.

 

In 'The West Highland Railway' John Thomas wrote that the first and last miles of the railway ( I&FA), which of course included the Oich viaduct at Fort Augustus, absorbed one third of the railway's capital. Crazy economics for a line that was always opposed by the Highland Railway defending it's monopoly position in Inverness. Of course an example too of the lack of strategic intervention by government in railway development, if the Caledonoian canal were justifiable why not a railway through the Great Glen. Had it been built however I doubt it would have survived Beeching.

But back to Ballachulish.
My late mum had a great aunt who lived in Appin, a journey once possible from her home town of Crieff all the way by rail. Would that it were still possible !

Scott

 

It’s all lost in the mists of time but I wonder if the promoters had visions of making a fortune by selling their line to the highest bidder between the NB ( who had ambitions to get to Inverness) and the Highland (who wanted to stop them) I can’t think of any other reason to build it on such a lavish scale with the formation wide enough for double track just to serve a few scattered communities and the lochside village at FA
I see there is a preservation attempt at Inveraray with some track now laid but I can’t see what they hope to achieve.

 

Another excellent thread from Roger so if I may add a little contribution:-
Here is the first diesel loco photo that I ever took -I was steam mad even then and didn't normally take pictures of diesels. The date is the 6th Sept '65 on a very soggy day (unusual in the West of Scotland, I know). As a child I spent a month every summer on Mull where we had a family home and could see the Ballachulish train in steam days passing Ledaig sands between Connel and Benderloch. By the summer of '65 the steam worked Killin branch was due for closure shortly and Ballachulish was under threat. A day visit to one or the other from Mull was called for. The pull of steam at Killin was strong but more costly on my meager pocket money. In the end , partly because the weather was so bad I "did" Ballachulish instead. I soon regretted it as Killin closed prematurely only three weeks later. However Ballachulish had followed it by the next summer's holiday and much as I regret not doing Killin I treasure the memory of that trip to Ballachulish
Peter

 

Now I know why you spend so much time on the Jacobite! Another station I discovered last year was Banavie Pier, it's now a private house but some of the platform remains. it's another railway I could never see a purpose for.

 

If you are exploring the Connel Ferry bridge, you can park the car on the north side of the bridge on what I think is the old road access to the bridge at North Connel station, which you can see in a couple of pictures in Part 1. (I see for the next image Roger did not take up Getty Images' offer of the logo free image at just £135 for use in a blog. Shame the BBC sold the Hulton Picture Library as the cost Getty charges makes images unusable for most people.)

The branch platform at Connel Ferry is completely overgrown (and unlike the West Highland line, all the stations on the Oban line seem to have had their buildings removed).

 

Banavie Pier station pre-dates the construction of the Mallaig extension and the Pier branch was built to connect the then new West Highland line with the Caledonian Canal. Passengers could transfer from the train to the canal steamers to Inverness by means of a steep path from the station to the basin at the top of Neptune's Staircase. To save having to bring their luggage up this steep path, a steeply graded incline ran up beyond the station to the canal level, then reversed to run alongside the steamer pier solely for luggage transfer.

When the Mallaig extension was built it started part way along the Pier branch between the River Lochy river bridge and the present Banavie station. Even today the site of the junction is clearly marked by MP 0, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, from where the Mallaig line mileage is measured.

Peter

 

You beat me to it Peter.

John - If you have a look at that book 'The New Railway' we both bought a copy of in Mallaig a few years back Chapters 10 & 14 make reference to the branch.

Scott

 

Are the buildings not still intact at Dalmally ?

 

Most stations on the C&O seem to have been fairly flimsy in construction, Dalmally, which still survives, being a notable exception, Beyond Dalmally all the station buildings were of wooden construction, including Oban itself and they all decayed over time. Taynuilt survived until fairly recently but suffered a major fire which destroyed it. In contrast the stations on the Ballachulish branch were far more solidly built and some still survive fifty years after closure.

Peter

 

Thanks Peter,
I knew the history of the branch but couldn’t understand how the cost could be justified just to give access to the Canal given the parlous state of the WHR finances. I didn’t know about the site of the junction still being MP 0. You can still see where the line crossed the A830 a couple of hundred yards before the swing bridge