West Highland Railway Extension (Fort William-Mallaig)
Considering the financial shortcomings and strife in its history, the WHR seems to exist almost purely because of the beautiful landscape through which it runs… and a little magic
Nomination: There aren’t enough words in the English language to fully describe a journey from Fort William to Mallaig. It truly is an icon of scenic beauty, from its route past the deepest loch in Scotland (Loch Morar), through the most westerly station in the UK (Arisaig) and the foothills of Ben Nevis. This is a sublime part of the world.
But what makes the Mallaig Extension special is how the railway builders tamed this wild landscape with mass concrete, the most enduring memorial to this new technology being Glenfinnan Viaduct, another railway structure that deserves the term ‘iconic’.
It’s amazing that thanks to a fictional student wizard in a blue Ford Anglia, the Mallaig Extension is now one of the most famous railways in the world and has made it much more of a success as a tourist attraction than as a way to get fish to market. Couple that with the only railway on the national network where steam trains pass on an almost daily basis, and the Mallaig Extension really earns its place as one of the world’s great railway journeys.
August 19 1745: Charles Edward Stuart raises the banner of the ancient house of the Stuarts at a remote spot of Glenfinnan, at the head of Loch Sheil.
It’s a pivotal moment in British history. Stuart’s Jacobite army would march south (as far south as Derby, in fact) before retreating to Culloden, near Inverness. Defeat here at the hands of the Hanoverian army in 1746 would end the Stuarts’ claims on the British throne and radically alter the traditions of the Highlands for generations to come. The raising of the Stuart banner at Glenfinnan is marked by an 18-metre (60ft) high monument, erected in 1814, which becomes a place of pilgrimage to hundreds of ‘Jacobite’ enthusiasts every year.
But the monument is now overshadowed by another structure. Standing 30m (100ft) high, the drab concrete edifice attracts hundreds of visitors a day during the summer months, all making a different type of pilgrimage thanks to the silver screen antics of a student wizard, a red Great Western locomotive and a 1960s Ford.
Even if you’re not a fan of J.K. Rowling’s bestselling Harry Potter books, you cannot deny the positive attention that the ‘Hogwarts Express’ has garnered for a railway that, in the 1960s, was only saved by the promise of 200,000 tonnes of freight traffic a year from Scottish Pulp (Development) Ltd’s new plant at Corpach.
The West Highland Railway opened in August 1894. That simple sentence hides the trials and
tribulations that the railway builders underwent to construct the line from Glasgow Queen Street to Fort William. But what a railway!
The biggest argument for the construction of HS2 is that it will bring prosperity to deprived areas of the country. This is not a new argument, and the Victorians built many miles of railway to rejuvenate flagging industries, but all they managed to tap into were traffic flows that never materialised.
The Highlands were some of the most deprived areas of Britain in the 1890s - so much so that in 1892, the Government sent a committee to seek out the best ways to bring help to the area. The locals believed a rail connection to Mallaig Bay would be ideal.
The North British Railway, which operated the West Highland, wanted nothing to do with a railway that would go west beyond Fort William, despite crofters offering their land for the railway well below market rate and offering their services as navvies.
The West Highland Railway believed, in the face of physical evidence, that the West Coast fishing trade could become a lucrative source of revenue. The West Highland (Mallaig Extension) bill was passed by Parliament and the first sod was cut at Corpach on January 21 1897. What made this railway different was that it received government funding: shareholders received a guarantee on investment and a £30,000 grant was made towards the construction of the pier at Mallaig.
It’s somewhat ironic that the Tories approved of public subsidies for transport but the Liberals did not, expressing horror at the ‘free gift’ being handed over to railway promoters and their shareholders.
Construction was one of the most arduous in railway history. Contractor Sir Robert McAlpine’s son Malcolm nearly became one of the many casualties.
McAlpine was able to keep costs down and live up to his ‘Concrete Bob’ nickname by using this material for the majority of the bridges and viaducts. This included the delicate-looking 21arch 1,248ft-long structure that curves above the Finnan valley at a radius of 12 chains (241.4 metres). When the Extension opened in 1901, Glenfinnan Viaduct was the world’s largest railway structure built from concrete. The extension is a railway of contrasts. The Gulf Stream allows palm trees and sub-tropical plants to flourish near Arisaig. How is it possible that this meets the same railway that crosses Rannoch Moor?! There are so many classic locations and landmarks on the Extension that it’s impossible to list them all. The straightest section of track is along Loch Eil. Along this stretch, the line crosses the Caledonian Canal at Banavie, with the eight lock gates of Neptune’s Staircase stretching up the hillside. The Extension looked financially doomed from the off. Receipts never exceeded expenses, although it came close in 1911-12 when the line only lost £2,017 12s. The steam-hauled ‘Jacobite’ service has helped save the West Highland (Extension), with January and February being the only months when the ‘Road to the Isles’ isn’t laden with hordes of tourists. The West Highland (Extension) is one of the few railways to bridge the gap between railway enthusiast and the general public. Do your children or grandchildren scoff at the chance to ride the railway? Tell them that they’re taking the train to Hogwarts, and see their eyes light up. The West Highland Railway - it’s a magical experience.