Scottish Highland Railways

David Tucker

• Publisher: Crowood
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781785007934
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Rail Transportation
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Scottish Highland Railways describes eight great journeys by rail through northern Scotland, detailing the history of the lines while travelling along their modern-day routes. In addition, the landscapes, regional history, stations and services available are all described. With over 100 present-day and archive photographs and maps, this book provides the histories of the railways of the east coast, the Grampian region, the highland main line and the Far North, West Highland and Oban, Mallaig and Kyle of Lochalsh lines. A railway company 'family tree' is given and a timeline documenting the many mergers and changes over time. The recent history of these railways in the 20th and 21st centuries is given along with a list of operational stations in 2020 together with passenger usage statistics. There are also details of rail organizations and regulations in Scotland.

CHAPTER 1

Background to Scotland and its Highland Railways

Railways into and through the Scottish Highlands were shaped by a combination of factors – geographical, political, social and economic – and these factors continue to influence the industry today.

Highland Geography

Beginning with physical geography, the Highlands area (as defined above ‘Defining the Highlands’) covers 33,300 square miles, or one-third of the land mass of Great Britain. The obvious characteristic of this region is its mountainous or hilly terrain, which has contributed to the sparse population: around six persons per square mile, as against forty per square mile for Scotland as a whole (and 264 per square mile in England). Settlements are widely spread out: some stretches of the journeys through the Highlands involve gaps of more than 15 miles between stations. At one extreme, the last stage on the northbound Main Line between Carrbridge and Inverness is 27.6 miles, typically lasting 28 minutes, and there are several non-stop runs of 15 miles or more on the rural lines if no ‘request stops’ are made.

View from Duirinish station (single platform), remote request stop on Kyle Line; fewer than 1,000 annual ‘entries and exits’ are made by passengers at this station (see Appendix 4).

Corrour summit (West Highland Line) in winter. JOHN ROBIN, 1974

Physical features presented challenges to railway builders in the nineteenth century. The flat east coast route was the easiest, and first, to be developed – see Chapter 2 – in part due to a relatively high population density and to thriving agriculture and industry (fishing, forestry), but also inspired by royal approval: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert both approved of train travel, particularly when a line opened to their Highland retreat, Balmoral.

In the centre and west of northern Scotland, tougher terrain meant fewer towns and villages to connect, and the need to build railways around, or over, a variety of physical features. As encountered on each of the lines described in subsequent chapters, these features included mountains and hills (or ‘bens’, from the Gaelic name, still used); rivers and lakes, or ‘lochs’; and valleys both steep (‘glens’) and broad (‘straths’). The route from the southern urban centres (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Perth, Stirling) to Inverness, the Highland capital, was blocked by the Drumochter and Slochd mountain passes until the 1890s, while the fjord-like structure of the indented west coast also delayed the development of a West Highland line.

Climate is another factor for railways to contend with in the Highlands, particularly high winds and snow on the lines in winter.

Highland History

The Highlands took part in Scottish national history, but also had their own historical development, based on early tribal regions and, later, the importance of local extended families known as ‘clans’. In the course of describing the development of specific railway lines – and stations, in particular – reference is made to some key events in Scottish history, and these are outlined briefly, as follows:

• Early peoples – Picts, Britons and Scotti, or Scots – left their imprint on the land, particularly in enduring place names (bens, glens) and some monuments. Roman occupation was brief, from c. ad70 to c. ad212

• Scottish nationhood was confirmed in the medieval period by resistance to attacks from both the English and the Norse. The Stuart dynasty (1371–1714) included kings and queens of both Scotland and, after 1603, England (as the united Great Britain under James I, but remaining as James VI in Scotland). Ousted by the Hanoverian dynasty, the Stuarts in exile plotted – unsuccessfully – to retake the British throne (see sidebar: The Jacobites)

• The eighteenth century brought enlightenment and the Agricultural Revolution, together with the growth of the British Empire, producing an exodus of people from the Highlands. Migration continued into the nineteenth century, when thousands of Highlanders were displaced by sheep farms (during the Clearances); but coastal fishing developed, and Queen Victoria’s love of Scotland and its people kick-started tourism to the Scottish Highlands

• The World Wars of the twentieth century united the British in common cause, but by the 1990s the demand for semi-independence (‘devolution’ of power from Westminster) had reinstated a parliament in Edinburgh with an influence on transport development in Scotland. The old industries declined, but forestry, energy production, leisure and tourism took their place in the Highland economy

Queen Victoria’s Royal Route, celebrated at the former Ballater station tearoom (described in Chapter 2).

The twenty-first century has brought unresolved challenges that warrant their own chapter, including the management of the country’s railway system, and, at a higher level, Scotland’s position within the United Kingdom (and within Europe).

Highland Culture, Tourism and Railway Journeys

The motivations of rail passengers today are usually very different from those of early nineteenth-century travellers by rail.

Tourists are drawn not only to the Highlands, but also to enjoying its railway journeys: the West Highland Line is regularly voted among the world’s most scenic journeys. The tourist is also likely to hope to encounter some aspects of the regional landscape or culture that are very distinctly ‘Highland’ – almost bordering on cliché!

The cultural symbols of the Highlands, however clichéd, range from tartan and bagpipes to ‘hairy cows’ and heather, but some of the symbols helped underpin railway development in the tourist era. The chiefs of the clans who dominated some regions often had the final say on railway routes, as the wealthy landowners, and the castles they occupied, were sometimes given private stations (for example Dunrobin in Sutherland, Blair Atholl in Perthshire, Duncraig in Ross-shire). Whisky distilleries were often positioned deliberately off the beaten track – to evade discovery by the excise collector – but transporting raw materials and casks became an important function for rail in some areas.

In the modern era, railways have developed alongside tourism in several directions. ScotRail, the main national operator, offers several tourist ‘passes’ over several days, including the Highland Rover, Spirit of Scotland and Scottish Grand Tour. Tour companies such as Great Rail Journeys, although based in York, had nineteen tours on sale in 2019, the majority with names such as ‘Highland Adventure’ and ‘Christmas in the Highlands’. Heritage trips are popular, the most familiar being rides on The Jacobite (with its Harry Potter connections) by West Coast Railways and the Strathspey Railway, based in the busy tourist town of Aviemore on the Highland main line.

Example of the translated station name at Ardlui (West Highland Line), in English and Gaelic.

Another distinct cultural feature of travelling in the Highlands comes from encountering the old language of Gaelic. Although spoken today by only a small minority, the language retains its links with the landscape – lochs, bens, glens – and also with towns and their railway stations. Since 1996, ScotRail has put Gaelic translations on station signs, some examples being the following:

Ardlui = Àird Laoigh, meaning ‘high ground of the young deer’

Inverness = Inbhir Ness, ‘mouth of the River Ness’

Pitlochry = Baile Chloichridh, ‘place of the sentinel stone’

Tyndrum Lower = Taigh an Droma Ìochdrach, ‘the house on the ridge’

The translation of ScotRail itself as Réile na h-Alba – with ‘Réile’ meaning railway and ‘Alba’ being the ancient name for Scotland – has been introduced into the livery, along with a saltire symbol.

THE JACOBITES

A Jacobite was a supporter of the armed rebellions aimed at restoring the Stuart dynasty to the British throne, starting with the exiled James II of Britain (James VII in Scotland). The King Jameses had styled themselves ‘Jacobus’, from the Latin, hence ‘Jacobite’.

The most serious of several Jacobite risings was the final one, in 1745–46, when Stuart supporters under the exiled Charles Edward Stuart (‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’) invaded from France, raised armed insurgence in the Highlands and marched south, capturing Edinburgh and driving on to the English Midlands. Forced to retreat by the British army, the last Jacobites were defeated at the Battle of Culloden (1746) near Inverness. The Bonnie Prince escaped to the Hebridean islands and then to France.

The Highland Main Line crosses the Culloden battlefield where the National Trust visitor centre is an important destination for visitors to the Highlands. The West Highland branch to Mallaig stops at Glenfinnan, where Charles gathered his supporters.

The viaduct at Glenfinnan, and The Jacobite steam train that crosses it, have since been made famous by Harry Potter movies, and interest in the Jacobites has been fostered by Outlander, a popular series of books and television dramas.

Infrastructure: Past to Present

The Highland infrastructure for both rail and road transport has been influenced by the geography of this UK region, both physical and human. A mountainous, often rugged terrain means that human settlements – and railway stations – are small and scattered far apart.

Railway lines have to negotiate steep inclines and summits, and must be carved through mountain passes or along river valleys and, frequently, alongside bodies of water: rivers, lakes or the seacoast. These challenges to constructing a railway through semi-wilderness have resulted in scenic enjoyment for passengers, making the journeys more popular among twenty-first-century tourists than ever before.

Single track, doubling temporarily, to loop round the island platform at Ardlui station (West Highland).

Highland railway lines are, for the most part, single track, for the obvious reason that traffic is too infrequent to justify double tracking. However, this is chang...