West Highland Line

[whole diary]

[bleeder4]

I'm going to be going on the West Highland Line in a couple of weeks from Glasgow to Mallaig. It's often trumpeted as the 'most scenic rail line in Britain' and even has a special steam hauled service during the summer months.

I've read the pages at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Highland_Line and http://www.seat61.com/WestHighlandLine.htm but does anyone here have any firsthand experience of this line? I realise I'm probably not going at the best time of year but I'll be in Scotland on business and thought I might as well take the opportunity.

[JayMac]

I travelled on this line as far as Fort William back in February. I took the sleeper from Euston (seated....never again! berth next time). Whilst I didn't get to see much of the view on the way up as it was snowing heavily, it was still an enjoyable journey. The 'snow shed' at Cruach proved its worth! The few hours spent in a wet and miserable Fort William were more than made up for by the return journey. The weather had cleared, there was bright sunshine and the views were fantastic.
Some highlights I remember: Seeing the deer sprint away from the train on Rannoch Moor; the horseshoe bend and viaduct between Bridge of Orchy and Upper Tyndrum; the immaculately well kept stations; and seeing the Class 156 from Oban on the opposite side of the valley at Tyndrum approaching Crianlarich to join with the service from Fort William/Mallaig.

And as a smoker it was nice to hear the guard announce that whilst they were joining the units at Crianlarich, passengers were more than welcome to disembark to the platform for a quick smoke!

Oh, and be prepared for a bit of numbness in the rear. Up to 6 1/2 hours Glasgow-Mallaig is a long time to sit in a Class 156. An alternative is to get up real early and take the 0530 Glasgow Queen Street to Westerton service and connect into the sleeper there, for a trip as far Fort William. Seated coaches are provided. Advance seat reservations are recommended, but you at least get much better seating in the Mark II coaches. Plus you've got droplight door windows to look out of/take pics.  If it's not snowing, then I'm sure sunrise in the West Highlands will provide some scenic views! You can then decide if you want to kill a couple of hours in Fort William before the next train to Mallaig. (The connecting Jacobite service ends on 9th Oct) Or you could take the bus to Kyle of Lochalsh, kill a couple of hours there (or on Skye) and return to the central belt via Inverness, which is another beautiful rail journey.
Of course if you factor in an overnight stay somewhere on route, it'll make a return rail journey to The Highlands much easier to enjoy!!

Enjoy the trip and let us know how you got on.

[willc]

Well, it's been a while since I've done the trip - we're talking Class 27s and then 37s, with Mk1/2 coaches, with steam heating on earlier trips and all the station signalboxes open with semaphores and tokens in use, but I don't imagine the scenery has changed and whatever you're sitting on, and for however long, the views are hard to beat.

And definitely go all the way to Mallaig, again more spectacular views, both inland and on the coastal sections, plus Glenfinnan viaduct.

I well remember a trip to Mallaig when staying at the Corrour estate at the north end of Rannoch Moor. Corrour has got to be one of the most isolated stations in Britain, at the end of a track in the middle of nowhere. There's now a fairly substantial B&B in a newish building alongside the line there, but back then there was just the station building cum signal box and a loop for trains to pass around a very short platform, though there was, bizarrely, a footbridge over the tracks, plus a prefab house for the signalman and his family (his wife delivered the post on the estate and the children went to and from school on the trains - I think they even rode in the loco cab with the crew on freights).

I set off for Fort William on a very late-running sleeper but since this train also carried the mail and newspapers from Glasgow in those days, the Mallaig train was sitting waiting for us across the platform at Fort William. After getting under way about 30 minutes late, we had what I think might best be described as a lively run out to the coast, with the Class 37 blasting away up front. Arrival at Mallaig was about five minutes late, the result of a combination of a not exactly taxing regular timetable, with a fairly liberal interpretation of the speed limits.

The other detour you could take is to get a bus south from Fort William to Oban and then catch a train back to Glasgow from there. It's a scenic run along the coast much of the way and you get to go over the old rail+road cantilever bridge at Connel Ferry - nowadays road only since the demise of the Ballachulish branch.

[Tim]

I've done this route fairly recently, both sleeper to Bridge of Orchy (where you can climb two of the Munros from the station and look-down on the horse-shoe viaduct from what seems like miles above, then 156 to Fortwilliam and then the sleeper back south.  The Crannog fish restarant on the pierhead is highly recomended (assuming you like fish that is).  Very tasty and when we told them we had an early evening train to catch they were very accomodating and started serving us before they were officially open.  South on the sleeper is glorious, the buffet has quite a few decent wiskeys and you still get your tea in a china mug and proper milk on a little "interCity" tray (at least you did two years ago). 

The views will be good in the Autumn with the falling leaves. 

We had a trip on the Harry-Potter steam train to Maillag on one day (when we were decided we were too unfit to climb Ben Nevis after hill climbing the previous day) and I woudl wholey recomend it.  The only critism is that you stop at Glen Finnan for only about 25 minutes which is not enough time to look around the station (which has old bits and pieces), have a cuppa at the cafe and take a look at the viaduct (there is a 15 minute talk up from the station which gives a great view of the line, loch and viaduct).  If the weather is good,  see if the timetable allows you a longer break.

If you are a serious walker, I would recomend getting a copy of "walks from the west highland line" for inspiration.  If you just fancy stretching you legs for a couple of hours, you could do worse than hop off at Corrour to see the remote station (as seen in Trainspotting) and stroll round loch Ossian (a flat walk of a couple of hours on gravel path, but still with that glorious feeling of romoteness)   

[bemmy]

Ah, these posts bring back memories.... travelled on the line a couple of times in the 80s and will never forget one particular day when the sky was clear blue and the snowy mountains were perfectly reflected in the lochs. Did a day trip from Tyndrum Upper to Mallaig and back 7 or 8 years ago, and although I thought it was reasonably comfortable for a DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit), it was never going to be as special as those old steam-heated corridor coaches. But it's the spectacular views I went for and as willc says the lochs and mountains are all still there.

[readytostart]

An alternative is to get up real early and take the 0530 Glasgow Queen Street to Westerton service and connect into the sleeper there, for a trip as far Fort William. Seated coaches are provided. Advance seat reservations are recommended, but you at least get much better seating in the Mark II coaches.
Enjoy the trip and let us know how you got on.

Just a wee correction, seat reservations are compulsory for this service, no matter where you wish to join / alight. Unlike the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) sleeper, the number of seats is only half a coach worth, with the rest of the train being formed of sleeping accommodation and the lounge car.

[The Grecian]

I travelled from Fort William to Mallaig in July 1999 and frankly the scenery is ruddy fantastic. I doubt there's a better train journey in Britain. Of course it'll probably depend on the weather at this time of the year as Scotland isn't renowned for its sunny climate but if you pick a good day it's superb. It's pretty reasonably priced as well.

[grahame]

from the Oban Times

Local rail users have been urged to make use of new Sunday services being introduced on the winter timetable for the West Highland Line, or risk losing them in the longer term.

Users of the the West Highland Line have for many years been lobbying for the winter timetable to include Sunday services.

But, up until now, the first train into Mallaig on a Sunday in winter would arrive at 11.35pm.