Hello guys, today I will be suggesting a Scottish route which is quite scenic and it is Fort William-Mallaig. The route has 11 stops and there are 2 different operators. The first one is Scotrail which stops at all stops from Fort William to Mallaig. The second one is a heritage railway named West Coast Railways which only travels between Fort William and Mallaig but 1 stop in between. This route is also quite scenic in real life and it is located on the Loch Eil River. Now let’s look at details about the line. There are 11 stops in total, those stops are, Fort William, Banavie, Corpach, Loch Eil, Locheilside, Glenfinnan, Lochailort, Arisaig, Morar, and Mallaig. Scotrail calls at all of these stops, West Coast Railways only calls at Glenfinnan because Fort William and Mallaig. The Scotrail journey is 1hr and 30m while West Coast Railways takes 2hrs. Let’s look at details about these stations now. Fort William Station serves the town of Fort William, located in the Highland region of Scotland, its located on the West Highland Line between Spean Bridge and Banavie. This station is managed by Scotrail which is the main operator. The station first opened on the 7th of August 1894 but then closed on the 9th of June 1975, but on the 15th of June 1975 the present station opened just 6 days later.
This is Banavie Station, it only has 1 platform and a signal box.It opened on the 1st of April 1901. It services the village of Banavie, although it is much closer to Caol, the station is situated between Corpach and Fort William, to continue onto the next station at Corpach trains have to cross over the Caledonian Canal at Neptune’s Staircase which is a popular tourist attraction, this station is also managed by Scotrail. This is what Neptune’s staircase looks like and is situated in the village of Banavie. It was built by Thomas Telford between 1803 and 1822, it is the longest staircase lock in Britain too. The system was originally hand powered but has now been converted to hydraulic operation.
This is Corpach Station. It also has one platform. There is also a level crossing after the station. It serves the village of Corpach. It is located between Banavie and Loch Eil. It opened on the 1st of April 1901. It is managed by Scotrail. Near Corpach Station there is a museum named Treasures of the Earth. It is a 2 minute walk from the station entrance and exit. In this museum they have got a lot of treasure like gemstones, crystals, fossils and all other treasures.
Needs to be in the loco hauled period for more interest and more traffic. This is not a route you want to see from the narrow slit of a Class 156 window.
Don’t worry, I will also add a railtour to the suggestion as a Class 37 as they used to haul passengers from Fort William to Mallaig.
Yes anytime between the 1970s and late 80s would be fine. Any other time except Summer 1992 would be a sleep inducing snoozefest.
The ideal would be the transition from Class 27 to Class 37 (steam heat) but would definitely need a RMB buffet car plus Mark One sleepers to represent the overnight service to/from Euston. AFAIR the internal Scottish portion which attached on the stock from Euston at Queen Street was a BSK, CK, TSO and RMB which then detached at Fort William to go forward to Mallaig. For superb fish and chips in the Fishermans’ Mission.
A lot of trains ran mixed even through the 80s, yes the transition from Sulzer 27 to EE 37 would be a great period. I get the horrible feeling we will suffer a Rivet product though for this and get a 156 which inherits the 150/2s poor quality and scenery as per previous efforts.
