New images of Fort William-mallaig line construction in BBC documentary
A series of newly-published Victorian photographs chronic ling the building of the final section of the West Highland line made famous by the Harry Potter films is to be featured by BBC ALBA on Hogmanay.
The pictures include portraits of nurses who cared for the many workers injured during the project, which saw the creation of the iconic link between Fort William and Mall aig between 1897 and 1901.
They were discovered in a collection of negatives at an auction in Cornwall in 2017 and are thought to have been taken by Thomas Malcolm Mcalpine, as on of the engineer and line builder Robert Mac alpine, later Sir Robert.
The younger McAlpine –whose father founded the building and civil engineering firm that still carries his name – was badly hurt while supervising a rock blasting operation during the construction work.
The documentary, Ceolna Loidhne( Song of the Track ), to be broadcast at 9 pm tomorrow, sees Glen finnan-based musician In grid Henderson following the story of the photographs while composing an album in tribute to the railway builders.
It features the Glen finnan viaduct, which attracts thousands of visitors a year because of its role in the Harry Potter film on the Hogwarts Express’ s route to Hogwarts School of Witch craft and Wizardry.
The line, which extended the Glasgow-FortWilliam route to the fishing port of Mallaig , helped pioneer the use of concrete on a large scale, including for the via duct and five others on the route, and helped give Sir Robert Mc Alpine the nickname“Concrete Bob ”.
Producer Annie Cheape, of Sgeul Media, of the photographs :“Along with construction, they document the people working on the railway, and the dangerous conditions they encountered.
“These images reveal the face soft he nurses who tended the injured in make shift field hospitals.
"They are smiling, look relaxed, happy and enjoying themselves.
"It’s unusual to see women of this period photographed in this informal way.”
She continued :" Many hundreds[ of workers] were injured while blasting through the rocks, most of them navvies from Ireland or the Scottish islands.”
The death toll is unknown but could run into hundreds, from blasting, crushing, falling and dr owning incidents as well as from disease and hypothermia.
Ms C he ape added :“Many men were injured during the rock blasting, but al cohol was a huge problem too.
"Men died of hypothermia after drinking to o much, or had accident son Monday morning while still under the influence.”
The photographs were published last month in a book, Building the Mallaig Railway –a photographer’ s story, by Glenfinnan Station Museum curator Hege Hernaes.