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West Highland Line and Kyle of Lochalsh


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Hi

 

I put some photos of Bridge of Orchy and Tyndrum in the gallery some time ago.

 

http://www.rmweb.co....album&album=539

 

I also have a collection of photos from Glenfinann and Arisaig, I f these would be of use.

 

If there is anything specific that you require photos of , let me know, I am up there next week

 

Gary

Come to think of it I put some up of Plockton and Stromeferry on the Kyle line, they might be on the old RMWeb though, will try PM the link, when I find it!

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Thank you. My knowledge is so little that I don't know what to ask for!

 

 

Garve as a location kind of interests me but I've only looked at a couple so far.

 

 

I'm open to ideas about location to help me save a little time.........

__________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

Thank you all again I'm really touched by the offers of help!

 

Best, Pete.

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It is a bit late now for me to peruse my collection but I can expand on the list of books.

 

Also, dig out some of the videos of the line:

 

The Line to Skye - 1974 and available here http://www.panamint....g/railways.html (and only very recently at that)

The West Highland Line - a Line for All Seasons, part of the above video

Railways of Scotland - The Western Highlands - various dates but including the green + blue eras and available here http://www.cinerail....d-volume-5.html

The West Highland Line (late 1950's) - used to be part of the Night mail video listed above, so still findable on ebay.

A Highland Railway journey (actually covers the Kyle line, in the early 1970's) and available here http://railwayrecoll...products_id=152

 

Don't forget Am Baile for photographs as this is slowly being loaded with the Highland Railway Soc's photo collection (which is pretty big).

 

I know you have already found my Portchullin thread.

 

If you really hone in on the Kyle line, let me know where and I can see what photo's I have.

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Hey I'm just about to embark on a layout of the Kyle of Lochalsh station in n gauge! I've been using google and google maps a bit and I just ordered the History of Railways of Highlands vol 5 Skye Railway from Amazon. There is a track plan of the station for oo gauge too, in the Aspects of Modelling Layout book. Google maps is really useful for existing stations nowadays, although I am modelling the early 60s steam-to-diesel period.

 

Be interested to see what you decide.

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Hey I'm just about to embark on a layout of the Kyle of Lochalsh station in n gauge! I've been using google and google maps a bit and I just ordered the History of Railways of Highlands vol 5 Skye Railway from Amazon. There is a track plan of the station for oo gauge too, in the Aspects of Modelling Layout book. Google maps is really useful for existing stations nowadays, although I am modelling the early 60s steam-to-diesel period.

 

Be interested to see what you decide.

 

Keep in touch! I want to know how you get on......

 

Best, Pete.

 

 

 

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Right as promised:

 

Books Specifically on the Dingwall and Skyle Railway or the locality of Lochalsh

 

Rails to Kyle of Lochalsh by David McConnell - pretty much the definitive history and includes a good ordance survey extract of many of the stations and a fiar number of photo's.

 

The Skye Railway by John Thomas - also a very substantial history of the line but with only moderate photo's.

Wheels Around Skyle and Lochalsh by Robert Grieves - really a book on buses, but there are a fair number of photos that are relevent

 

Old Ways Through Wester Ross by Christopher Uncles - a picture book on Skye and Lochalsh but it has a number of really good fairly early photos. Note there are others in this series that deal with other parts of the Western Highlands like Lochaber (around Fort William)

 

The Skye Line by Tom Weir - a fairly small and a bit dated pamflet type book.

 

More General Highland Railway Books (all have pictures of the line including Kyle)

 

Highland Railway Album by Anthony Lambert - good general picture book and information by picture captions of the whole Highland system

 

Highland Railway Album 2 by Anthony Lambert - as last

Highland in Retrospect by Hunter

 

The Highland Railway by HA VAllance - some photo's but more of a history book

 

Highland Miscellany by Peter Tatlow - picture and caption information book, concentrates on the facets of the railway rather than the history

 

Highland in LMS Days by David Jenkinson - lots of wonderful good quality pictures including a number down the Skye line

 

LMS Engine Sheds - Highland Railway by - whilst this is specific to the sheds (the only one relevent to you is Kyle) it has very good drawings of the area and a number of photos that also show the line etc.

 

The Highland Railway - OS Nock - another more history based book

 

The Highland Railway by David Ross - whilst this is largely a history book, it is one of the best here.

 

The Highland People and Places by Neil Sinclair

 

Highland Railway, Britian's Railways in Old Photographs by Keith Fenwick -

 

Books on all of the West Highland Lines or have significant amounts of these lines in them (ie inc the Callander & Oban

On Scottish Lines by Derek Penney - colour picture book that covers mostly 1950's to mid 1960's

 

The Callander & Oban Railway by John Thomas - largely a history book

 

The West Highland Railway by John Thomas - as above

 

100 Years of the West Highland Railway by John McGregor - actually a nice mix of history and pictures but not that big

 

The Birth and Death of a Highland Railway by Duncan Kennedy - an auto bigraphy by one of the engineers on the Ballachuilish line - with some history of the line

 

Steam in the Western Highlands edited by Jack Kernahan - good quality photos, steam era

 

The Oban Line by Tom Weir - similar to the Kyle equivilent

 

The Mallaig Line by Tom Weir - similar to the Kyle equivilent

 

Scottish Diesels a Colour Portfolio by David Cross - lots of quality photos (mostly his father's) covering the blue diesel era - with a few pre-dating this.

Diesels in the Highlands by Andrew Vines - mostly mid 1980's to early 2000's (again with a few older), good quality colour photo's

 

Diesels in the Highlands by G Weekes - covers the diesels arrival in the Highlands to 1976 and arguably the most core book for you.

 

On West Highland Lines by Robert Robotham - steam era high quality colour pictures of the C&O and WHR

 

Scottish Steam in Colour by Hugh Ballantyne - again a lot of good quality colour photos, but not so many on the western hgihlands.

 

Diesel Days Scotland by Brian Dickson - largely covers the green diesel era (but a few later shots), a bit light on the line in the western highlands I thought.

 

Past and Present, North West Scotland by Keith Sanders and Douglas Hodgins - a "then" and "now" book, with multi-era photo's

 

The West Highland Mallaig Extension in BR Days by Tom Noble - mostly in the post diesel era

 

The Romance of Scotland's Railways by David St John Thomas and Partick Whitehouse - a combination of coffee book history and some nice photos but only a portion on the western highlands

 

 

 

Both of Ian Futers's scottish railway books are worth a look (I beleive there is at least one more to follow), these have already been mentioned. Did people also mention Ernie Brack and David Ford's Fotopic sites? Trawl other Fotopic sites, as there are a number that have pictures of the line at different times.

 

There are a few more general scottish books, especially in the later era that I do not have and I know that I am missing a few of the West Highland Books, so this list is not exhaustive! However, it will give you a pretty good steer. I have italiced the ones I think you will find the most useful. Remember that very little changed to the railway infrastructure between about 1890 and 1984 - indeed a lot still remains - hence I do emphasis the books that would appear to be outside of your era.

 

I am sure I have missed a few (or I felt they are too specific to other things for you). Then there are articles in magazines.....................

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Hi,

 

I'm just back from New York and haven't looked at this forum in quite a while so hadn't seen your post.

 

Can you get hold of back issues of Hornby magazine? The Sept 2008 issue contained some plans for scottish layouts including Kyle.

 

I have a survey drawing from 1983 which is obviously a bit later than your timescale but it does seem to be done before the most recent track rationalisation. I'll try and scan it on Monday when I'm back at work.

 

 

 

NM

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My particular interest is the Kyle Line and I'd go along with the books posted by Mark and the only other one I could add is

 

Track Plans of the Highland Railway- Vol 1- ISBN 1860280005, I've not been able to track down Vol 2 which looks to be most relevant as it includes Garve and Kyle.

 

I've also collected various magazines from Ebay which mainly pre-date me and certainly my ability to read! Just search for Highalnd Railway, Kyle Railway, etc in Ebay and every now and again something different pops up.

 

Model Railway constructor May 1975- Some plans of Scottish stations including Kyle and Mallaig.

Modern Railways Pictorial Number 4- Scottish Highlands

Railway Magazine November 1966- The Northern Highlands Today- part 1

Railway Modeller November 1973- Kyle of Lochalsh Engine Shed.

The Railway Magazine January 1951- Kyle of Lochalsh Revisited

 

Attached is a copy of a survey of the Railway pier at Kyle of Lochalsh undertaken in 1983. I got this from my father who was an Engineer at the time although I'm not sure why the survey was undertaken or why he had a copy.

 

If printed at A3 the drawing should come out at the stated scale of 1:500

 

Hope this is of help.

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