RMweb Premium JZ Posted January 22, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 22, 2013 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. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
60021 Pen-y-Ghent Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 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 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 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. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidBird Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 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. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotcent Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 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 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium keefer Posted January 29, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 29, 2013 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) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Andy Kirkham Posted January 29, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted January 29, 2013 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 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium JZ Posted January 29, 2013 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted January 29, 2013 if you're missing sheet 35, Now laid my hands on a copy. Expecting it to arrive today or tomorrow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peak experience Posted April 18, 2013 Share Posted April 18, 2013 a further, but lessor known railway was built in lochaber near ballachulish at kinlochleven Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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