West Highland Termini: Fact and Fiction

[Karan Warner]

Salutations,

 

First of all, given my current financial situation, it is impossible highly unlikely that I will be able to construct anything of this nature in the foreseeable future; this is just speculation. As such, anyone who does not wish to spend their time discussing something entirely abstract, please feel free to ignore this post. However, for those of you who don't mind discussing designs for fun without expecting to see any actual modelling, I would welcome any feedback/discussion. 

 

I have been toying around with various designs for a quayside terminus set somewhere on the west coast of Scotland (a la Mallaig) for quite some time now. However, for the sake of interest, I have imagined a comparatively busier branchline, with regular (is 3-4 an hour pushing it?) trains of around 4 or 5 coaches each, hauled by Black 5s or K1s, taking passengers too and from a mainline connection. I am not too concerned with choosing a particular period, but pre-nationalisation would allow me to run trains of both LMS and LNER stock (the updated Hornby teak coaches are gorgeous!). Goods traffic is comprised of coal, perishables, and livestock, as well as lots of fish traffic from the quayside. I have attached a track plan, which is a bit barebones (the number of pieces available was restricted as I am using a free trial), so I will do my best to describe whatever is missing; please ask if anything is unsure. 

 

The fiddle yard is to the left of the plan, and the large black arrowhead denotes the route off-scene. Above the mainline is the headshunt to the goods yard, which consists of a goods shed and a siding serving a coal yard (this isn't depicted; it is the uppermost siding). There are two platforms, each long enough for a nicely-sized train. I have intentionally omitted a loco release from the lower platform, thus creating the need for a second loco to draw the train out and shunt it to the other platform; hopefully this will add operational interest. The engine shed and associated amenities (the left-most of the brown squares) allows for engines to top up coal and water in between services. The two sidings below this serve a quayside, with fish vans receiving crates from boats in the water. The grey bulge protruding from the top of the station area is a cattle dock. A sea wall would run along the lower-right edge of the layout, and, if space is available, I should like to model some of a beach. I have used measurements from the Metcalfe and Ratio websites to ensure that the buildings are the accurate size. All points are Peco large radius code 75, as I would use their new bullhead range should I ever be able to actually build this. 

 

I would be grateful for any feedback anything, from the concept (is it plausible/not absurd?) to the track plan (does it look interesting to operate? are there any obvious problems/improvements that could be made?), and I invite anyone else who is playing around with a similarly-sized/themed design to share their musings. 

 

Thanks,

 

Karan

Edited August 14, 2018 by Karan Warner

[Harlequin]

Hi Karan,

 

Here are a few design thoughts.

• The goods yard headshunt isn't really long enough to be useful. So maybe redesign it or abandon it.
• If you pushed the engine shed to the far left it could act as a view blocker to hide the route off-scene and give you more room for coal stage and water.
• What sort of fiddle yard are you thinking about? (The access point being near to the back of the layout could be an issue.)
• The bottom right line looks like a carriage siding but it would have to remain empty a lot of the time to allow access to the kickback quayside area.
• This is a subjective point: The passenger platforms feel a bit isolated and uncomfortable to me - surrounded by goods, quayside and sea wall... Not sure if/why that might be a problem.
• The design has space behind the tracks in the middle. If you redistributed some of that space to the front of the tracks (angle the ends of the design a bit more towards the centre) then the sea wall and quayside could be a more interesting shape and you'd have more room for your beach.

Having said all that, you've got to be careful not to rationalise too far or else you risk losing the uniqueness and character of the design.

Edited July 30, 2018 by Harlequin

[DCB]

More like 3 to 4 trains a day.   I would suggest a look at Fort William and Oban Track plans.  The pre 1970 Fort had just 4 points. two of them a release crossover and had intensive movements a couple of times a day as Glasgow - Mallaig and Mallaig-Glasgow trains crossed. However with 4 passenger trains per day it spent a lot of time deserted. It did however have a wide variety of locos, B1, Black 5, Std 5 were used interchangably often double heading as were K1/2/4 (and probably BR std 4) 2-6-0s with J36 tender locos as shunters.  (I think they had a snow plough equipped LMS 4F duped somewhere as well atone time)

 

Oban was busier passenger wise as the Ballachulish Branch trains as well as Callander /Glasgow/Edinburgh used it but again about 4 of each plus excursions in high summer and the station was at the quay so some goods was dealt with there but there was a separate goods yard.  Tank locos Caley 0-4-4T worked to Ballachulish and were probably used for shunting and Black 5s roamed the line after the mid 1930s replacing the Caley tender locos except the Jumbo 0-6-0s

[Londontram]

Hmmm very interesting concept and one I'm exploring in a planed west coast what if type scenario. My idea was of a proposed but unbuilt extension of the Ballachulish branch to the west coast at Kentra bay. The Caledonian survaid the route but went no further.

We compress time on our layouts and add many what ifs so where maybe four trains a day sounds about right. Maybe you could add a local "schools" train in and out each day starting from your station collecting school children to take to the high school in a near by major town.

Your harbour could have an island service so mail would be a feature of at least one train a day. A regular pick up goods each day. The Caley were known to run a stores train stopping at all stations with the consumable needs for the railway ie. Lamp oil paper work replacement damaged equipment so that could be another dedicated short freight once a week.

Summer excursion traffic. A fish or cattle only train. You could suggest that the line after leaving the station faces a steep climb making the need for the station pilot to have to bank the occasional train adding to the interest with some light engine movement with the returning loco. There is scope to bring a fair bit of traffic onto the layout and let's be frank if every exhibition layout ran a realistic service they would be dry old boring layouts to watch.

 

Having the station platform in the general dock area was not unusual at all as a lot of small coastal termanises will testify this way you can keep it fairly compressed and don't have to build a town around the station. As the others have suggested have a play around with your track plan and try tweaking it heve and there but I think the general idea is pretty sound.

Steve

 

Edit add - You might want to consider if you move the engine shed a small turn table, one just big enough for a black five or something when the Ballachulish branch was being built tender engines were kept off the line untill the turn table was built so they were not keen on running locos tender first.

Edited July 30, 2018 by Londontram

[Joseph_Pestell]

Tricky to find suitable locations in the West Highland area.

 

Tend to agree that best to base something on Fort William. Perhaps the back-story could be a larger station needed to accommodate trains on the never-built line to Inverness up the Great Glen.

 

I quite like that trackplan.

 

The headshunt could be extended under a road overbridge. The platform could be a bit wider and, I agree, needs a bit more shelter in such an exposed location.

Edited July 30, 2018 by Joseph_Pestell

[Karan Warner]

Hi Karan,

 

Here are a few design thoughts.

• The goods yard headshunt isn't really long enough to be useful. So maybe redesign it or abandon it.
• If you pushed the engine shed to the far left it could act as a view blocker to hide the route off-scene and give you more room for coal stage and water.
• What sort of fiddle yard are you thinking about? (The access point being near to the back of the layout could be an issue.)
• The bottom right line looks like a carriage siding but it would have to remain empty a lot of the time to allow access to the kickback quayside area.
• This is a subjective point: The passenger platforms feel a bit isolated and uncomfortable to me - surrounded by goods, quayside and sea wall... Not sure if/why that might be a problem.
• The design has space behind the tracks in the middle. If you redistributed some of that space to the front of the tracks (angle the ends of the design a bit more towards the centre) then the sea wall and quayside could be a more interesting shape and you'd have more room for your beach.

Having said all that, you've got to be careful not to rationalise too far or else you risk losing the uniqueness and character of the design.

 

Thanks for the feedback. 

-Yes I thought it looked too small, I think I could extend it through the scenic break if need be.

-The engine shed idea is good, and I was thinking that the line would bend round a (possibly quite sharp) corner into a ladder yard, as I have little flexibility for a traverse given that the access point is nearer the back of the plan as you said.

-The bottom line functions as both a kick-back and somewhere to leave a couple coaches in-between duties; it's around 5 feet long so I think(?) there is room for both

-Joseph_Pestell raised this point as well; I really like the look of the island platform, so am eager to keep it. Do you think that if I widened it it would make it look a little more natural? It would have a glass canopy providing shelter to passengers at the station end (I remember an article in Railway Modeller a few years back about a seaside LNER terminus with a lovely glass canopy, I forget the name)

-I tried to incorporate a sort of flow to the plan instead of keeping it all on the same plane, and whilst I like the curved throat it produces you are right that it leaves the back of the layout rather empty. I shall have another go at shuffling things around, although I am limited by the free trial; I'll post whatever I come up with

[Karan Warner]

Maybe you could add a local "schools" train in and out each day starting from your station collecting school children to take to the high school in a near by major town.

Your harbour could have an island service so mail would be a feature of at least one train a day. A regular pick up goods each day. The Caley were known to run a stores train stopping at all stations with the consumable needs for the railway ie. Lamp oil paper work replacement damaged equipment so that could be another dedicated short freight once a week.

Summer excursion traffic. A fish or cattle only train. You could suggest that the line after leaving the station faces a steep climb making the need for the station pilot to have to bank the occasional train adding to the interest with some light engine movement with the returning loco. There is scope to bring a fair bit of traffic onto the layout and let's be frank if every exhibition layout ran a realistic service they would be dry old boring layouts to watch.

Some excellent ideas; I especially like the idea of a schools train, and I had forgotten mail traffic from my initial design.

 

Edit add - You might want to consider if you move the engine shed a small turn table, one just big enough for a black five or something when the Ballachulish branch was being built tender engines were kept off the line untill the turn table was built so they were not keen on running locos tender first.

What length, either in the real world and in 4mm, would a turntable of that size be? If one fits then I'll be sure to add it

Edited July 30, 2018 by Karan Warner

[Joseph_Pestell]

For a Black 5 or similar, I think that you need a 60' turntable.

 

With regards to shelter for the platform, the usual Scottish way would probably be a wall supporting girders across the track to a platform canopy - rather than a full trainshed. And you want something that does not hide the trains too much.

[Karan Warner]

hmmm, my first attempt to reply to these seems to vanished, so I shall try again...

More like 3 to 4 trains a day.   

 

Sadly, I thought what I was imagining was too good to be true

 

I would suggest a look at Fort William and Oban Track plans.  The pre 1970 Fort had just 4 points. two of them a release crossover and had intensive movements a couple of times a day as Glasgow - Mallaig and Mallaig-Glasgow trains crossed. However with 4 passenger trains per day it spent a lot of time deserted. It did however have a wide variety of locos, B1, Black 5, Std 5 were used interchangably often double heading as were K1/2/4 (and probably BR std 4) 2-6-0s with J36 tender locos as shunters.  (I think they had a snow plough equipped LMS 4F duped somewhere as well atone time)

 

Oban was busier passenger wise as the Ballachulish Branch trains as well as Callander /Glasgow/Edinburgh used it but again about 4 of each plus excursions in high summer and the station was at the quay so some goods was dealt with there but there was a separate goods yard.  Tank locos Caley 0-4-4T worked to Ballachulish and were probably used for shunting and Black 5s roamed the line after the mid 1930s replacing the Caley tender locos except the Jumbo 0-6-0s

 

Tend to agree that best to base something on Fort William. Perhaps the back-story could be a larger station needed to accommodate trains on the never-built line to Inverness up the Great Glen.

 

I had come across FW in my reading and it seemed like an interesting prototype, but try as I might I could not find a track plan that was either legible or gave enough detail to be of any use. I know Ian Futers produced a rendition of the station in 7mm years ago, so I tried to find a plan for that instead but was equally as unsuccessful. Would anyone happen to have one that they could share?

 

Oban and Ballachulish both seem interesting, I shall look into them

[Karan Warner]

For a Black 5 or similar, I think that you need a 60' turntable.

 

With regards to shelter for the platform, the usual Scottish way would probably be a wall supporting girders across the track to a platform canopy - rather than a full trainshed. And you want something that does not hide the trains too much.

Thanks for the info

 

Sorry, I think I was too vague in my previous post; it would not be a full train shed (that would be too obtrusive as you say) more like a platform canopy made of ornate ironwork and glass, so as to leave the trains unobscured.

 

Edit- found a photo to show the sort of thing I was thinking; if it still looks odd then please say so

Edited July 30, 2018 by Karan Warner

[Karan Warner]

Right, I did some more looking into Fort William and found this thread, where people had shared some maps that were good quality, and the OP had produced an interesting scheme. Inspired by this, I have produced a new design, which is quite different in flavour to my previous plan, but there is an elegance to its simplicity which I really like (as well as the fact that fewer points means fewer pounds to spend), and it still retains its waterside west-highland setting.

 

There is a 60' TT which gives access to a stabling road with coal and water facilities. The run-round can just about hold 5 Mk1s, which I think is more than generous. I am aware that in the prototype, the lowest line extends beyond the station to a harbour, but I do not have space for something like that. Therefore, I have imagined that this road (the orange one on the diagram) could be used to handle parcels traffic and some general goods, (un)loaded via the platform. I have also added a second siding that runs along the quay (the green), most likely set into concrete, which will handle fish traffic. There is a building (anything from a cottage to a boathouse) in the lower-left corner which disguises the exit to the fiddle yard, as people suggested, and by having the route off-scene lower down than previously it provides space for a conventional traverser to be used. 

 

The entire front of the layout is bordered by water; a sea wall on the left and then a quay further towards the right, along the siding. There is still a good deal of empty space above the throat, which could be filled with something. Perhaps a small coal yard (cf. Railway Children), and some generic lineside buildings (mess room, toilets, offices...). Having said this, I do think having a bit of empty space helps to reinforce the setting; lonely highland harbour town with surrounded by nothingness. 

 

Finally, I produced two alternatives station throats. The one currently in place is marginally shorter as it makes use of a three-way, which currently is not available in bullhead, although does look rather fancy. The standalone one below the plan uses only standard left and right turnouts (thus bullhead track can be used throughout), and has the added benefit of slightly gentler radii, at the cost of length. I'd be interested to know which one people think looks better.

 

I would welcome any feedback, be it positive or negative.

 

Edit- Upon closer inspection, the throats appear to be more or less the same size, so the only difference is to do with appearance.

Edited July 30, 2018 by Karan Warner

[Zomboid]

Copy the real railway on this - 3 ways/ tandems would be used where there wasn't the space for individual turnouts. You have space in that plan, so don't use the 3 way.

[Karan Warner]

Copy the real railway on this - 3 ways/ tandems would be used where there wasn't the space for individual turnouts. You have space in that plan, so don't use the 3 way.

 

Righto

[Karan Warner]

Here is the amended first design. As suggested, I have widened the platform, extended the shed road to mask the exit (and included facilities), and dispensed with the useless headshunt in favour of a 60' TT, which also helps fill the gaping void that existed before. The grey colour of the sidings on the quayside signifies hardstanding. I think this is much neater.

 

PS, the screenshot function on my computer doesn't seem to work with the track planning software, so I am having to take photos with my phone, hence the the nasty shimmery reflections.

[Harlequin]

Hi Karan,

 

Looking at your design in post #14:

 

I'm not sure about the turntable - it looks a bit overbearing and is squeezed very close to the backscene. You could reasonably say that the station turntable is further up the line, off-scene, so that you don't need to model it.

 

The tunnel entrance should not be needed if you're using the engine shed to hide the entrance of track into the scene (and it would be difficult to make it look natural where you have shown it).

 

The curvy lines close to the entrance/exit are really nice but all the sidings and platforms lines are very straight, very parallel, very "model railway" (if you see what I mean). A little bit of variation would help, IMHO.

 

BTW: We know that Bullhead crossings, single slips and double slips are coming soon so you could use them in your plans if wanted/needed.

[Karan Warner]

Hi Karan,

 

Looking at your design in post #14:

 

I'm not sure about the turntable - it looks a bit overbearing and is squeezed very close to the backscene. You could reasonably say that the station turntable is further up the line, off-scene, so that you don't need to model it.

 

The tunnel entrance should not be needed if you're using the engine shed to hide the entrance of track into the scene (and it would be difficult to make it look natural where you have shown it).

 

The curvy lines close to the entrance/exit are really nice but all the sidings and platforms lines are very straight, very parallel, very "model railway" (if you see what I mean). A little bit of variation would help, IMHO.

 

BTW: We know that Bullhead crossings, single slips and double slips are coming soon so you could use them in your plans if wanted/needed.

 

Thanks Harlequin,

 

-Yes I suppose it would be neater to have imaginary off stage facilities than to cram them in.

-That's just the new way I decided to use to represent the exit off-stage; I very much doubt it would be a tunnel in reality (i should have specified this, apologies!)

-I'll try and introduce a but of variation to the right hand side of the layout and see if it improves the overall look.

-And that's good to know, thanks very much.

 

 

[Pacific231G]

Thanks Harlequin,

 

-Yes I suppose it would be neater to have imaginary off stage facilities than to cram them in.

-That's just the new way I decided to use to represent the exit off-stage; I very much doubt it would be a tunnel in reality (i should have specified this, apologies!)

-I'll try and introduce a but of variation to the right hand side of the layout and see if it improves the overall look.

-And that's good to know, thanks very much.

If you want busyness then I'd stick with the three platform faces as at the old Ft.William terminus. The Fort was (and its current incarnation is) a reversing junction. That automatically almost doubles the number of train movements over an end of the line terminus such as Mallaig or Oban which would generally only handle one train at a time. Because the Malllaig extension was of slightly less importance than the line from Glasgow, there was a lot of shunting to add or detach sleepers or restaurant cars that only ran as far as Ft.William and to add the observation car that ran between the Fort and Mallaig. Because trains generally crossed at Ft.William, and in the summer there were often relief trains, all three platforms were often occupied.

 

The one downside of Ft. William was that the quayside line was off beyond the station square and very little used. Having a more active quayside in front of the station would be worth considering and I'm wondering if that and associated sidings might remove the operational need for a goods yard. If I were designing this, and I am trying to come up with a French equivalent (possibly La Bastide Guillaume!) I'd be inclined to think of a combination of Fort William and Kingswear.

 

While it's true that Highland lines tended not to handle many trains a day in total, we can ignore the long gaps and focus on the periods of intense activity. I did get to experience Ft. William a few years before the old station shut. When it was busy, probably two or three times each day, it was fascinating to watch activities with the station pilots working their socks off  When it wasn't...... well you could always visit a distillery or climb Ben Nevis!

Edited August 1, 2018 by Pacific231G

[ejstubbs]

Your layout reminds me somewhat of Kyle of Lochalsh.  A number of features strike a chord:

• Long, narrow layout (admittedly at KoL this was because the station was built partly on the pier);
• Single island platform accessed from one end (at KoL this is via a ramp from the overbridge on the landward end of the site);
• Goods/wharf facilities on both sides of the passenger facilities.

KoL did have a loco shed, and a 60ft turntable, but they were back up the line a bit, beyond two road overbridges.  The turntable is now at Aviemore on the Strathspey Railway.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 1, 2018 by ejstubbs

[Karan Warner]

Apologies for my tardy replies gents, I've been away on holiday and haven't been checking the thread.

 

Pacific:- thanks for the extra information regarding Fort William. It does seem to be the best prototype for a busy west highland terminus. Regarding the platform road that led onto the quay, you mentioned how it was utilised during periods of heavy traffic (perhaps summer); was it regularly used for terminating/reversing passenger services during periods of normal traffic, or was it left clear for access to the harbour? You mentioned that the harbour was seldom used, so perhaps this wasn't necessary in practice, but demanded by protocol...(?)

 

Ejstubbs:- Kyle does have a lot of the features that I was envisioning; I shall conduct some further research. I recall there being an attractive rendition of it in a RM a few years ago; I'll try to dig it out. Lovely photos by the way.

Edited August 7, 2018 by Karan Warner

[kevinlms]

Your layout reminds me somewhat of Kyle of Lochalsh.  A number of features strike a chord:

• Long, narrow layout (admittedly at KoL this was because the station was built partly on the pier);
• Single island platform accessed from one end (at KoL this is via a ramp from the overbridge on the landward end of the site);
• Goods/wharf facilities on both sides of the passenger facilities.

KoL did have a loco shed, and a 60ft turntable, but they were back up the line a bit, beyond two road overbridges.  The turntable is now at Aviemore on the Strathspey Railway.

 

 

 

 

They don't build stations like that anymore. Mores the pity.

 

Somehow modern railways tend to be rather basic, in the extreme.

[luckymucklebackit]

Apologies for my tardy replies gents, I've been away on holiday and haven't been checking the thread.

 

Pacific:- thanks for the extra information regarding Fort William. It does seem to be the best prototype for a busy west highland terminus. Regarding the platform road that led onto the quay, you mentioned how it was utilised during periods of heavy traffic (perhaps summer); was it regularly used for terminating/reversing passenger services during periods of normal traffic, or was it left clear for access to the harbour? You mentioned that the harbour was seldom used, so perhaps this wasn't necessary in practice, but demanded by protocol...(?)

 

Ejstubbs:- Kyle does have a lot of the features that I was envisioning; I shall conduct some further research. I recall there being an attractive rendition of it in a RM a few years ago; I'll try to dig it out. Lovely photos by the way.

 

The couple of times that I visited Fort William there was no traffic going down to the pier and there were often road vehicles parked across the tracks so it was just treated as a normal platform.  The NLS large scale map has now been published https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=17&lat=56.8207&lon=-5.1070&layers=170&right=BingHyb showing that the goods facilities and run round loops were down by the locomotive shed, so freight would not normally be seen in the passenger station - with the exception of Fish Traffic which I have seen photographs in the station.  The new yard which now forms th ehome depot for the Jacobite seems to have been a later addition as it does not appear on the older large scale map - a wartime addition?

 

Jim

[Pacific231G]

The couple of times that I visited Fort William there was no traffic going down to the pier and there were often road vehicles parked across the tracks so it was just treated as a normal platform.  The NLS large scale map has now been published https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=17&lat=56.8207&lon=-5.1070&layers=170&right=BingHyb showing that the goods facilities and run round loops were down by the locomotive shed, so freight would not normally be seen in the passenger station - with the exception of Fish Traffic which I have seen photographs in the station.  The new yard which now forms th ehome depot for the Jacobite seems to have been a later addition as it does not appear on the older large scale map - a wartime addition?

 

Jim

The actual quay, which at one time had two tracks  and a releasing crossover between the piers*, doesn't appear to have been used for goods traffic for many years though it had been used at one time for grain shipments for the distilleries and I suspect also coal for the steamers. However, I have a Britain from Above aerial photo from 1949 that shows it with four or five carriages and, though I never saw this with my own eyes, I have seen several photos from the 1970s with one or two coaches parked just beyond Macbrayne's steamer pier. Though the carriage sidings were up the line along with the MPD and goods yard, the quay line was a handy place to hold a carriage or two needed to strengthen trains between Ft. William and Glasgow (or vice versa) or even the carriages for a relief train.  Although the goods yard was several hundred yards up the line from the station, all trains, including goods had to come to the station signal box to drop and pick up their single line token even though that would have only got them as far as Mallaig junction box.

 

Also, as you say, fish from Mallaig could be a tail load for passenger trains so would have had to be shunted as would the covered vans used for the proto motor rail service attached to certain passenger trains from Mallaig when the A830 was still in a very primitive state.   Cars were actually unloaded in the goods yard's end loading dock but would have had to be shunted there from the station .All in all and despite long periods when almost nothing happened , Ft.William offered, mainly in concentrated bursts, an incredible range of activities for a terminus with effectively just two points (the releasing crossover between the two "bay" platforms was very little used and eventuall removed)  I spent hours watching activities there during family "rain and midge"  summer holidays and never twigged just how simple the layout was. It was so engrossing that I didn't even mind that it was by then all diesel.

 

I've got several accounts of Ft. William's actvities but the best are in John A McGregor's "All stations to Mallaig!- the West Highland line since Nationalisation which if you can find a copy is well worth having. I can PM a scan of his article describing operation of Fort William in the 1950s and 60s from West Highland News to anyone who's interested but shouldn't post it.

I seem to have a very large file on the old Fort William station. I think that's telling me something! 

 

*Looking at the NLS site, (thanks for reminding me that's where I got some of the information from) there are two tracks on the quay in the 1888-1913 6inch OS Series and their layout is clearly shown in more detail with the releasing crossover in the 1892-1914 25" series. It has equally clearly been reduced to a single siding by the 25" 1944-1967 series  but I think the aerial photo from 1947 is still showng two sets of tracks on the quay so I don't know when the survey was done for the 1944-1967 series. None of the OS maps shows the releasing crossover within the station but that's not unusual and it was probably masked by the platform canopies.

Edited August 14, 2018 by Pacific231G

[Londontram]

To get a feel of the West Highland area check out this 1962 Railway roundabout film from 9 mins 25 secs showing the Jones goods at KOL Station and the surrounding area

[Karan Warner]

I've got several accounts of Ft. William's actvities but the best are in John A McGregor's "All stations to Mallaig!- the West Highland line since Nationalisation which if you can find a copy is well worth having. I can PM a scan of his article describing operation of Fort William in the 1950s and 60s from West Highland News to anyone who's interested but shouldn't post it.

 

 

If it isn't too much trouble, I would be very grateful if you could.

The couple of times that I visited Fort William there was no traffic going down to the pier and there were often road vehicles parked across the tracks so it was just treated as a normal platform.

 

Thanks for clearing things up!

To get a feel of the West Highland area check out this 1962 Railway roundabout film from 9 mins 25 secs showing the Jones goods at KOL Station and the surrounding area

 

Thanks for the pointer, I'll get right on it.

[TomJ]

I hope you don’t mind a mild thread hijack! I was interested in the operation of the old FW station - especially the bit about all trains having to come into the station first - including goods trains. Did they just back as far as the signal box or would they have gone right into a platform to wait for departure? Also how did they back into the station? Where they propelled by the train engine or did a pilot pull them in? Thanks