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Fort William in 1972


Ben Alder

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As part of our annual holiday in 1972, we visited Fort William, and I spent a sunny afternoon wandering round the shed and yard. For some reason, I never made it to the station, but I photographed the engine and goods yard and having looked out some B/W photos of Wick , I came across those of my visit, so I will scan them and post them up. To begin with, three general views of the yard- not great quality, but the ones to follow are clearer.

 

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Wouldn't want you to think that I'm trying to hijack this topic, but wondered if this might be of interest by way of comparison. Taken six years earlier than your photos.

 

post-11812-0-53411200-1347795594_thumb.jpg

 

I posted another couple some time ago, taken on the same day, which are at:

 

http://www.rmweb.co....150#entry517803

 

and there's another one at:

 

http://www.rmweb.co....150#entry517540

 

Hope they may be of some interest.

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Excellent! Was Fort William goods yards adjecent to the shed? I'm contemplating modelling the area in LNER days.

 

Cheers

 

The goods yard was near the shed, a distance from the passenger station. Here are some of the wagons about that day.

 

DB996525-a Salmon- Built 1958 lot no.3065.

 

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B933026 Built Barassie 1958 lot no.2734 timber wagon

 

post-2642-0-44480700-1347800759_thumb.jpg

 

S1711 a Southern utility van

 

post-2642-0-58720000-1347800702_thumb.jpg

 

 

421 an ancient tank wagon at the depot-Built 1902 by Hurst Nelson, Motherwell. Regd. 1902 by LTSR no.378 regd. 1902 by LNWR.

 

post-2642-0-20968900-1347800746_thumb.jpg

 

DM51256

 

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M421691

 

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Glad to see they are of interest- that's the lot of Fort William but we visited Oban the same day and Mallaig the day before, so I'll sort these out soonish.If anyone has similar vintage pics please feel free to add them- they're better being shared than lying in an album!

Edit-

Here is another view of 421- the first scan omitted the left side of the original.

 

post-2642-0-85624500-1347801400_thumb.jpg

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Hi Ben

 

Wonderful set of photos. I have not seen 5406 in green with the arrow logo before. I wonder if it was in that livery before being set northwards from the Midland lines? Another livery querry is the Esso 35 ton tank, was the square with teh Esso oval on it white?

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421 an ancient tank wagon at the depot-Built 1902 by Hurst Nelson, Motherwell. Regd. 1902 by LTSR no.378 regd. 1902 by LNWR.

 

Those tank wagons were in the same position 10 years earlier, but in better shape:

 

post-1771-0-79982400-1347833746.jpg

 

(Edit - sorry - can't count properly)

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Excellent! Was Fort William goods yards adjecent to the shed? I'm contemplating modelling the area in LNER days.

 

Cheers

 

Having sneaked into this yard (and been chased out again) many times at around this time these photos are a real nostalgia trip. In response to the above, the goods yard straddled the running lines - there were sorting and carriage sidings to the NW of the running lines to the station (ie on the same side and south of the shed) and on the other side of the line there was a long loading bank (possibly cattle pens?) and also a sizeable goods shed (which had more than a passing resemblance to the old Superquick kit I thought...). There were also some fascinating sidings and wagon turntables etc in the old distillery bonded warehouses which are the white buildings visible in the distance beyond the tank wagon 421 on Ben's photo above. (Another place that kept me fit escaping from the workies .... Happy days!).

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Hi Ben

 

Wonderful set of photos. I have not seen 5406 in green with the arrow logo before. I wonder if it was in that livery before being set northwards from the Midland lines? Another livery querry is the Esso 35 ton tank, was the square with teh Esso oval on it white?

 

Glad they are of interest- I'm afraid I am of no help to you re. tank wagons, knowing next to nothing about them .Perhaps someone else here will have the answer, though.

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  • 4 weeks later...

great turn back the clock photos. is that a snowplough in Bens 2nd photo right at the far end?

 

the shed - it has roof trusses but was it clear glazed or had the actual covering been removed and left the two road shed open to the elements? it looks open to me.

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  • 4 weeks later...

...

 

post-2642-0-15374500-1347748524_thumb.jpg

 

Sadly, now looking at a dual-carriageway and Morrisons supermarket carpark!

 

Excellent! Was Fort William goods yards adjecent to the shed? I'm contemplating modelling the area in LNER days.

 

Cheers

 

Does this help?

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  • 1 month later...

Brilliant photos and so inspiring. Very sad now to stand on the "new" station and look over a car park and Morrison's store. The only good thing about the new station is the cafe who do a superb breakfast! Every March I do the trip north from Glasgo on the Sleeper, have a walkk round the town fro a photo of gthe wee ferry coinmg in, have a full breakfast in the cafe then come back on the Sprinter. Thanks to Club 55 tickets costs £19.

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