Kyle of Lochalsh Line

Inverness – Kyle of Lochalsh
Train from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh at Loch Achanalt
Route length:	102 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend 0 m 02 ch Inverness to Perth and Aberdeen 0m 18ch from Perth and Aberdeen 10m 12ch Beauly 13m 04ch Muir of Ord formerly Black Isle Line 16m 21ch Conon Bridge 18m 58ch Dingwall 18m 76ch / 0m 0ch Far North Line Strathpeffer Branch 4m 44ch Achterneed abandoned in 1966 Raven's Rock Siding abandoned 1952 11m 65ch Garve 17m 20ch Lochluichart 21m 34ch Achanalt 27m 72ch Achnasheen Luib (Loan) Crossing abandoned 1922 Glencarron Platform abandoned in 1964 40m 34ch Achnashellach 45m 74ch Strathcarron 48m 22ch Attadale Rockfall gallery 53m 15ch Stromeferry 57m 09ch Duncraig 58m 22ch Plockton 59m 58ch Duirinish 63m 64ch Kyle of Lochalsh

The Kyle of Lochalsh Line is a railway line in Scotland . It connects Inverness with Kyle of Lochalsh , but only branches off the Far North Line in Dingwall .

history

After 1855, the first train of the Highland Railway to Inverness Rail Station had achieved the desire grew up in the north and the western Highlands for a rail link. In 1865 the Dingwall and Skye Railway received approval to build a line across the Highlands. The Inverness and Ross-shire Railway, which was taken over by the Highland Railway after three years, opened the section from Inverness to Dingwall in 1862 with the support of the Duke of Sutherland .

The line between Dingwall and Stromeferry was opened on August 5, 1870. In Stromeferry a connection to the Isle of Skye and the Outer Hebrides was made by steamer , from which the main traffic importance of the route resulted. Another reason for the construction was the wishes of various wealthy country nobles who wanted to better reach their country estates and lodges in the highlands. In the years up to the First World War, first class passengers had a share of up to 20%. Tourist traffic reached the greatest demand during this period before August 12th of a year, the official start of grouse hunting known as the Glorious Twelfth . Some train stations such as Achnashellach or Duncraig were initially used exclusively for residents of nearby country estates and were not open to the public. Freight traffic, on the other hand, did not develop as hoped, plans to move fishing boats between the North Sea and the Atlantic were not implemented, although an extra-wide track spacing had already been planned at Garve station.

The Dingwall and Skye Railway was taken over by the Highland Railway in 1880. The small health resort of Strathpeffer , the largest town between Dingwall and Kyle of Lochalsh, had only one train station far away due to resistance from landowners. The Highland Railway therefore opened the Strathpeffer Branch in 1885 , a short branch line that branched off from the Kyle of Lochalsh Line in Fodderty Junction . The previous Strathpeffer train station was renamed Achterneed .

The Kyle of Lochalsh train station

Train crossing in Strathcarron, 1989

In 1893, the Highland Railway began building the extension from Stromeferry to Kyle of Lochalsh, significantly shortening the sea route to Skye. After four years of construction, the extension was inaugurated on November 2, 1897. The route on the steep and rocky south bank of Loch Carron proved to be very laborious. Like the parallel A890 , this section is repeatedly threatened by falling rocks and is therefore equipped with appropriate safety fences and protective grids as well as a rockfall gallery. Despite this shortening of the sea route, the completion of the West Highland Line to Mallaig in 1901 led to a decrease in traffic.

In 1923, the Highland Railway was part of the implementation of the Railways Act 1921 in the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). In 1948 the LMS became part of British Railways (BR). The short Strathpeffer Branch was discontinued in 1946 for passenger traffic and in 1951 for goods traffic as well.

Under the chairman Richard Beeching , who was in office from 1963 , British Railways developed plans for the rationalization and restructuring of the British railway network, which became known as the Beeching ax due to the extensive line closures involved . The Kyle of Lochalsh Line also became a candidate for employment in the late 1960s. Initially, however, the closure was postponed because an assembly plant for drilling platforms including a connecting railway, the Loch Kishorn Oil Platform Construction Site , was built in Stromeferry as part of the development of the oil industry for the North Sea oil . Due to the inadequate road connection, the operation was dependent on the rail connection. The plant, which went into operation in 1975, proved to be an economic failure and was closed again in 1982. At this point, tourism had already discovered the railway, which ran through scenic parts of the Highlands, and existing plans to discontinue it were finally put aside.

In order to reduce the still existing high operating costs, the Kyle of Lochalsh Line as well as the Far North Line were converted in 1985 from the hitherto existing staff security to the radio electronic token block , in which the driver is given a license to drive to the next station via radio requests. The joint central operations management for both lines is located in Dingwall. The switches are set by the driver. The route can thus be operated without a local dispatcher .

With the dissolution of British Rail in 1997 ScotRail , at that time a subsidiary of the National Express Group, took over passenger transport on the Kyle of Lochalsh Line. In 2004 the franchise switched from National Express to FirstGroup , and in 2015 to Abellio .

Route description

The Kyle of Lochalsh Line is single track throughout. There are crossroads west of Dingwall in Garve, Achnasheen and Strathcarron. The former sidings in Achterneed, Achanalt, Loan crossing, Achnashellach and Stromeferry were closed by the beginning of the 1980s at the latest. The highest point of the line is the "Luib Summit" (between Achnasheen and Achnashellach) at 646 feet (197 m) above sea level.

Vehicle use

Kyle of Lochalsh with a shunting steam locomotive in 1957

Two BR Class 37 passenger trains at Kyle of Lochalsh, 1989

British Rail Super Sprinter (Class 156 series) at Dingwall station

The Kyle of Lochalsh Line was initially operated with older locomotives from the Highland Railway. In 1882 then specially built for the track came a Tender locomotives the wheel arrangement 2'B used, which provided very good service and as "Skye Bogies" were called. They remained on the line until the 1930s, supplemented by other 2'B designs of the Highland Railway. From 1934 onwards, the LMS finally started using its widespread standard locomotive Class 5 "Black Five" with a 2'C wheel arrangement, which dominated vehicle use until the end of the steam locomotive era. British Railways began around Inverness early with the Verdieselung so that in 1961 disappeared the last steam locomotives from the scheduled use on the Kyle of Lochalsh Line. They were replaced by class 25 and 26 diesel locomotives. From 1980, BR class 37 locomotives were mainly used. Until the 1960s, the midday train from Inverness to Achnasheen ran a dining car , which was handed over to the counter train there.

At the end of the 1980s, the locomotive hauled trains were replaced by railcars . The Class 156 initially used were replaced after a few years by the Class 158 still in use .

literature

• Keith Fenwick, Howard Geddes: The Highland Railway , The History Press, Stroud 2011, ISBN 978-0-7509-5094-7
• Highland impressions. By Rail from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh , Railroad Magazine 9/84, pp. 35-39

Web links

• Dingwall and Skye Railway, Railscot article (accessed September 30, 2012)
• The Kyle of Lochalsh Extension, Railscot article (accessed September 30, 2012)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Highland impressions. By Rail from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh, Railroad Magazine 9/84, pp. 35-39
2. ↑ ^{a b} Dingwall and Skye Railway on Railscot (accessed February 10, 2013)
3. ↑ Strathpeffer Branch on railbrit.co.uk
4. ^ Keith Fenwick, Howard Geddes: The Highland Railway , The History Press, Stroud 2011, p. 64
5. ^ Keith Fenwick, Howard Geddes: The Highland Railway , The History Press, Stroud 2011, p. 57