Forestry line near Fort William ?

[JZ]

Recently I have been buying Seventh Series One-inch OS maps to build up a picture of pre-Beeching Britain. Upon studying the maps, I often find things of interest that I am usually able to find answers to, either from my own library or via the internet. However, on sheet 36, Fort Augustus, published 1956, I have found a line( Mineral Lines, Sidings or Tramway) that runs from a jetty on Loch Treig near Tulloch and climbs to around the 1000ft contour and continues along Glen Spean towards Fort William and appears (I'm missing sheet 35) to finally join BR metals at the junction of the Mallaig line. In all a distance of about 15-20 miles, including some spurs.

 

 Can anyone help with information on this ? Maybe I'm using the wrong search criteria.

[60021 Pen-y-Ghent]

Start here:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lochaber_Narrow_Gauge_Railway

 

and here:

 

http://www.railbrit.co.uk/location.php?loc=Lochaber Narrow Gauge Railway

 

And here

 

http://www.railbrit.co.uk/Lochaber_Narrow_Gauge_Railway/frame.htm

[Pacific231G]

Definitely the 3 ft gauge Lochaber Narrow Gauge Railway. Though not that well known because it was purely a construction then an industrial line this railway totalling about 26 miles was actually one of the longest narrow gauge railways in Great Britain.

 

I explored part of the Fort William end with my father in 1967 and had thought the line above the aluminium works to be disused- it was pretty rusty - but it was still being used until 1977 for maintenance of the fifteen mile long water tunnel that supplied the Aluminium works just outside Fort William with hyro-electric power from Loch Treig along with water taken from various streams along its route. A short branch was even rebuilt to one of the intakes in 1968.

 

The railway was originally built by Balfour-Beatty for their  contruction of the water tunnel and after its completion the railway was kept by British Aluminium to provide maintenance access to the tunnel across fairly difficult terrain. This so called "upper works railway" must have provided quite an exciting ride for the maintenance crews who mostly used Wickham trolleys "speeders" to get around to the various valve shafts and intakes along the hydro tunnels as it was lmost all curves with bridges- often trestles- crossing the frequent valleys and water courses. 

 

The line ran from a pier on Loch Linnhe used originally to bring in supplies for the constuction works. Later, the section from the pier to the aluminium works that crossed the West Highland Line on an overbridge operated more or less separately from the upper works railway mainly to bring in raw materials. In 1967 we didn't see any signs of life on the pier railway though the fairly extensive trackwork was still intact on the pier and there were some flat wagons around. At that time it may still have seen occasional use but it formally closed in 1971.

 

The NGRS published a pretty comprehensive book by Patrick Howat about the line in 1980  (ISBN 0 9507169 0 1) and this is still fairly easy to get hold of. Patrick Howat also published a book called The Puggy Line about the railway in 2007 but I don't know if this is basically the same text- presumably updated. 

[DavidBird]

The overbridge where the lower works railway crossed the main line is still intact and easily accessible on foot from the A82 just outside Fort William. It's a good vantage point to observe the mechanical signalling around Mallaig Junction (sorry it's now called Ft William Junction), and if you time it right to watch the 67 shunting the oil terminal.

[scotcent]

I  travelled  up  this  line  in  1961  on  an  open  Wickham  Speeder  and  it  has  to  be  said  it  was  exciting  at  times........  The  bridges  were  fairly  shaky  by  then.  Very  much  recommended  if  you're  interested  in  the  line  is  "The  Puggy  Line"  by  Patrick  Howat  2007,  published  by  the  Narrow  Gauge  Railway  Society,  which  gives  a  full  and  detailed  history.  Amazon  have  a  copy,  and  I  imagine  it's  the  sort  of  thing  Douglas  Blades  might  have.  It's  a  very  readable  book.

 

Allan  F

[keefer]

OS 1-inch 7th series, sheet 46 loch linnhe at NLS: here, shows how the line passes over the 'big' railway on its way to the pier

 

sheet 35 loch arkaig, the one you're missing is here

 

if you're missing sheet 35, you can click on 'order this map' to purchase either a digital or hard copy (up to original A0 size), prices here

 

(apologies if you knew this already)

[Andy Kirkham]

The line between the pier and the factory (as distinct from the Upper Works Railway) was steam operated until the end.  It had a couple of Hunslet 0-4-2STs which I think were preserved. One of them may be in Ireland.

 

There was similar kind of railway at the Dolgarrog aluminium works in North Wales 

 

http://maps.nls.uk/os/one-inch-seventh-series/view/?jp2=91576751#jp2=91576751&zoom=5&lat=8351.11296&lon=7791.62259&layers=BT

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowlyd_Tramway

[JZ]

if you're missing sheet 35,

 

Now laid my hands on a copy. Expecting it to arrive today or tomorrow.

[peak experience]

a further, but lessor known railway was built in lochaber near ballachulish at kinlochleven