Glasgow to Fort William

Storyline: A Glimpse of Scotland

Diana & Alex:

“I am aware that many people nowadays regard the train as the second-best means of seeing a country. In Scotland, at any rate, that notion can be cherished to the point of prejudice. We have, indeed, several stretches of line which in scenic outlook are immeasurably richer than the roads leading to the same destination, and one of them is the West Highland Railway” (J.J. Bell, The Glory of Scotland)

Oh, the trains. The excitement and the joy they bring to some. We saw more Canadians on this line than in Canada. Who would have thought that the excited group across from us would be from Whitby, and the couple waiting with us in a waiting room would be from Toronto?

This line dates back to 1884. Not without problems and political struggles, it was gradually built, and officially opened in 1894. Before building railways to and from Glasgow, it was only accessible by difficult waterways. The rails as in many other regions facilitated the economic development of the Scotland’s west.

We boarded the train from Glasgow Queen Street and an old man sat across from us. He was a former scientist, and a current volunteer for the Scottish National Trust. He was so chatty that we missed Singer station in Clydebank (this is the place where 13,000 sewing machines per week were once manufactured by almost 7,000 employees) and a few other stops, before Diana apologised and went to another seat to take some photos. Alex couldn’t get past his upbringing to be polite to old people. So he learned more about the politics in the Scottish National Trust than he ever wanted to. By that time, we were already approaching the shores of Loch Long, home of an important naval installation.

The rails wind along loch shores and through wooded glens, overseen by stunning crags and peaks. It is really pretty, although all the windows of the train were too dirty for any decent photos to be taken. The line often travels through valleys and bogs that no roads traverse. One can see this beauty only from the train. It has a dark history that has been mentioned in many books (by now, we only have 7 of them?)

The highlight is Rannoch Moor. We climbed up a steep hill and then slightly down to the dreaded bog that swallowed trains and people during construction. Apparently, it is a “bottomless” bog and the usual technology could not do anything to keep the rails above the water. That is, until someone turned to the solution used 60 years earlier by George Stephenson to conquer Chat Moss on the Liverpool and Manchester Line: a thick floating base of thousands of log rafts and brushwood above which layers of turf and the stone roadbed were laid. Scary, but it’s still working to this day. As we cross the bog we could feel the train softly swaying up and down.

Many of the stops on the route these days are used by hikers and are by request only. If one wants to board a train they have to flag it down by waving as it approaches the station.

A few other highlights (and there are many more):

A long east-west horseshoe curve just north of Upper Tyndrum, making what could have been a half-mile straight viaduct into a two-mile semi-circle around a valley. Apparently it was cheaper to build this way, but it’s another delight.

Corrour station, the highest station in the UK, and recognizable to fans of the movie “Trainspotting”.

The long stretch along the eastern shore of Loch Treig north of Corrour, with glimpses through the trees of the water below and hills beyond periodically giving way to fully open vistas.

Monessie Gorge, west of Tulloch, and of course as we approach our destination for the day, Ben Nevis–at 1,345 metres the highest peak in the British Isles.

There are many other breathtaking sights and moments on this route, and we were happy to have decided to take an overnight break in the little town of Fort William.

Fort William

This small but appealing town lies below Ben Nevis. From the train station we made our way up to a delightful B&B, checked in and deposited our luggage. Then, at the suggestion of our hostess, went out for a short hike to take in the sight of Neptune’s Staircase, a series of locks near the western entry into the 97km Caledonian Canal connecting East and West coasts between Inverness and Corpach.

We walked through the woods along the shore of Loch Eli, visited the ruins of Inverlochy Castle, stopped (or were actually stopped, by the descending arm at a level crossing) to see the Jacobite steam train on its return journey from Mallaig and eventually reached Neptune’s Staircase, just in time to see the locks opening to let a large trimaran with Australian registration enter and be lifted up the “stairs”. We had our meal for the day at the lovely cafeteria/restaurant facing the locks and headed back “home”. We walked through the attractive village of Caol, where since it was getting late and threatening rain, we opted to hop on the local bus that drove us through some pretty villages back to Fort William and an early night.