sftfan1909
Member
It's been quite a while since I last wrote a trip report, but I wanted to do one for this trip as it was one of my more memorable station ticking adventures for various reasons. I figured that it could also help anyone else who wanted to do something like this, albeit perhaps without a few of the more adventurous elements. With that being said..
Every Station on the West Highland Line
Premise: I'm a shack scratcher which involves trying to get on or off a train at as many stations as possible. I have pretty similar rules to most, those being that just stopping does not count, and jumping on and off the same service also does not count (except in certain circumstances such as termini where the train changes headcodes.) I first tried to plan a trip to the WHL 4 years ago which went wrong when the line was closed to a landslip, and I never got round to planning a return until now.
Planning: As a little insight as to how I tend to plan these trips, I first take the map of the stations I want to cover and add the distances by walking between them all, before researching buses or other ways to get between them, and then take this into account when working out which stations to jump on and off at. Sometimes the walks aren't exactly the most appropriate or the bus connections too tight but I find it useful to have the info to hand as plans can often change when out and about (as indeed they did in this case.) Here's the sort of thing I mean:
A little crude but useful info to have 
Given I had 4 days off work I came up with a plan to hopefully, with a little luck, attack every station from Helensburgh Upper and up. I'm a bit of a risk taker so there were some interesting connections/transfers between stations that I had planned but we'll get to those...
Day 1: Friday 28/07/23
Most of the first day was taken up by the long journey north, starting with 390131 on the 0730 Euston - Glasgow. Nothing eventful really until reaching Glasgow Central where the +21 connection onto the lunchtime Oban/Mallaig thankfully made. I trusted this as the 0730 seems like quite a reliable service with plenty of allowance on the approach into Glasgow; indeed we stopped for a good few minutes waiting for a southbound Avanti to clear our path in. I had enough time to go via Tesco for some supplies before finding a seat on the trio of 156s (477, 458 and 456) to head north. As expected, this service (and indeed many others on the trip) were very full of tourists, many of whom were from countries far and wide on Interrails and the like.
Having previously only travelled the route to Oban on the GBRF 2021 tour I wasn't too familiar with the route but it certainly lives up to its reputation as the most scenic rail journey in the UK, and possibly my favourite worldwide which is not something I say lightly having covered a few other candidates in various countries. This was only the first part of the line too, and I wasn't even going to make it to Mallaig on this day. We worked our way up to Crianlarich where 156477 split off to head towards Oban and we were left to continue. This is where the first of quite a few surprises of the trip occurred as I looked out of the window at Upper Tyndrum and thought I spotted a familiar face on the platform. As it turned out, it was a friend of mine from Cornwall who I hadn't seen in over a year and who just so happened to also be visiting Scotland at the same time as me..
So it was nice to have some company for the journey over Rannoch Moor, past the famous Corrour station and Loch Treig before reaching Fort William itself. I stayed on board as we reversed and set off on the Mallaig extension, running past Loch Eil before alighting for my first new station at the aptly named Locheilside.
Locheilside is, like many of the stations in this area, very basic with just a bus stop style shelter and the usual gravel platform. The A830 road right outside the station was quiet as expected which made me happy for reasons we will get to shortly. As expected I was the only passenger to alight, and indeed the only one to request the next train to stop. 156500 and 156499 had arrived in after I'd had just a 20 minute wait, to take me back to Banavie station. This was more interesting as it is the location of Banavie Signalling Centre which controls all of the RETB (Radio Electronic Token Block) signalling on the lines north of Helensburgh. It was a pleasant station and just outside it was the famous "Neptune's Staircase" set of canal locks.
I had an explore of this area before walking into the village of Caol and its Co-op for some dinner. Then I turned back on myself and walked besides the canal to reach my third station of the day at Corpach. I loved the view along the loch from this level crossing station and sat outside for the ~45 minutes I had before 156458 & 156456 returned from Mallaig to take me the short distance to Fort William itself. This service is timetabled to arrive in at 1937 with the southbound Highlander leaving at 1950, however I believe the connection is held if the train is late.
I joined the seated coach at the front of the sleeper as it was time to head towards Roy Bridge, with 66739 leading 73968, both working in multi albeit the 73 mostly doing ETS work.
While en route I decided for some reason to switch my walk around and get off at Spean Bridge, a station with a nice looking restaurant in the building. Unfortunately I did not pay visit as I set off on the 3.6 mile walk besides the A86 towards Roy Bridge. This was not the most ideal road to walk down with it mostly lacking a pavement, but as it was so quiet this didn't really bother me; I have walked down far busier roads with little more trouble. It was a pleasant walk with the peace being broken part way by the Royal Scotsman passing by with 66743 & 66746 in charge, a nice surprise as I wasn't expecting it and indeed we would cross paths a few times over the next few days. Soon enough I was at Roy Bridge featuring all the standard West Highland attributes such as basic shelter, single gravel platform and just enough midges to be mildly irritating without causing too much nuisance. Here I joined the last northbound train of the day with 153377 and 156476. It was nice to catch up with the 153 as it feels like so long since they worked down a bit closer to home. Following a reversal at Fort William I was the only person to alight at Loch Eil Outward Bound at 2235.
Here it was time for one of my more stupid/brilliant ideas (delete as appropriate) as while researching the trip I noted the stupid prices of accommodation in the Fort William area. I'm normally indifferent to staying in places like hostels and actually had one booked in Glasgow for the next two nights, but I didn't want to fork out loads of money for a room up here when I wouldn't even get to use it for very long being as I planned to catch the first possible train at about 7am. That was why in addition to my normal bag I had been lugging round a sleeping/bivvy bag all day which I bought a couple years ago to use for wild camping and never actually got round to using. I deliberately chose this station to finish the day as I had noticed it had a proper shelter, i.e. not a bus stop sort of thing but proper walls and a roof. There was a bench that ran around the edges which I simply lay down on and enjoyed the peace, for I would have been extremely surprised to encounter anyone at these hours in this remote-ish location. It rained during the night (if it hadn't I would've been tempted by the forest) but it didn't bother me as I enjoyed a nice night's sleep in the great outdoors...
Day 2: Saturday 29/07/23
...until I was woken up by my alarm around 6:20 where I had plenty of time to sort out my stuff before the 153/156 returned on the first southbound service. A little under 9 hours fester at a shack is probably a new record for me, if you could call it a fester, but I wasn't too tired. Anyway it was time for breakfast in Fort William, at which point I had a minor crisis in the station just after picking up my sleeper ticket for the Monday night. My phone screen had not been in the best of conditions prior to the trip but I'd neglected to get a new phone before going, a decision which backfired as I once again dropped my phone and this time the screen was almost completely useless, with just the bottom half working. I jumped on the first northbound of the day, where I was joined by my friend who had decided to come with me for the first two stations of the day. It was the return of 156456/156458 for the 30 mile trundle to Beasdale station. On the journey I tried without success to order a new phone before mine completely gave up the ghost and the screen stopped working, so I was now without a phone at all (which is also why I borrowed the pictures for these two days from the internet. 
) Perhaps a bit stupidly I elected to carry on my day as normal as I was confident I knew my plan well enough and figured there would be opportunity later on to deal with the situation..
As I'd come to expect, we were the only people to alight at Beasdale, and I saw no one else use the station when I passed it several times later on. This also had a proper waiting shelter but not a great deal else, so we set off for the 3.7 mile walk towards Arisaig. This was one of the tighter walks in the plan as we only had 74 minutes to do it in and it was a hilly one, not helped by being slightly late and the weather not being able to make up its mind about whether it wanted to rain or not. I guess that's typical Scottish weather for you though. Approaching Larichmore Viaduct we saw the Royal Scotsman pass over again and we had a mild panic about whether it would block the crossing at the station, which of course it did not, allowing us to reach the southbound platform in time for the same 156s once more. Setting off from the westernmost station in Great Britain, Arisaig, we had another enjoyable journey to the World Famous Glenfinnan station, for the World Famous Glenfinnan Viaduct.
My friend was continuing south all the way to Glasgow so I said farewell and set off for a walk down into Glenfinnan itself, joined by many people off to see the viaduct and the monument. Unfortunately there would be no Jacobite to watch come over the bridge so I sat down on the Loch Shiel shore and took a little while taking in the view which was stunning as ever, further solidifying this region as my favourite in the UK. It was places like this and views like this which really made the semi-pointless project of visiting all these stations worthwhile for me, as I had expectations for the trip but felt like they were being exceeded in almost every corner.
Sadly I could not sit there forever as it was time for another first for me. During the planning process noted above I had identified the distance between Glenfinnan and Lochailort at being around 9 miles, which wasn't doable by walking in the 2 1/4 hours I had between trains. The buses on the route were also very inconveniently timed. The issue was I needed to pick up both shacks now because I didn't have any extra time to fit them in later. So my solution was to walk uphill back past the station, perch myself on a little junction in the road and start sticking my thumb out at northbound cars. I had doubts about this working even though I had read positive things when researching this idea. I needn't have worried as maybe after about 5 minutes a car pulled up and the lovely driver told me she lived near Lochailort. How lucky..
So I jumped in and we had a great chat about what I was doing and other related topics while we drove the scenic 15 minutes towards the station. Initially she dropped me off at the hotel just south of the station, but while on the way she had told me about an old, derelict requisitioned house just down the road which I figured I had enough time to go check out. So I jumped back in the short distance to have a little look at the very run down but interesting building. Then it was back up the hill to Lochailort station itself, complete with gravel platform and bus stop shelter, where as usual I was the only person boarding. There was one man on the platform who didn't board and at least a few people who got off though. Anyway I was pleased as I'd managed to score both stations and have a good little adventure on the way. At last I was finally heading to Mallaig as 156500 and 156499 had popped up again to carry me and seemingly the rest of Scotland to the end of the line.
True to expectations there was very little of Mallaig to see although it did look like a pleasant place. I enjoyed lunch while sat on the rocks looking out over the Small Isles and further enjoying the peace that this part of the world had to offer. Soon though it was time to set off on my walk to Morar station. I wouldn't have needed any map to work out that I needed to walk down the one road here, the A830, towards and then into the village and onto Morar station. This station had a building housing a local newspaper, complete with a canopy and benches to shelter from the rain. I bumped into someone up here whp noticed my GWR ticket wallet and we got talking. He was from Birmingham and had made the journey up here several times by rail but had actually travelled up by motorcycle on this occasion. I got the impression he knew what he was talking about when it came to the railway, maybe he is on the forum??
Now it was time to make my longest journey yet as I took a seat back on the 156s all the way towards Helensburgh, a trek on a normal day but even more so while alone with no phone. So I did the best thing I could and dozed off, waking up over Rannoch Moor which was very strange to say the least. In my original plan this evening I was going to pick up two odd shacks on the Helensburgh Central branch as well as Helensburgh Upper. However owing to the phone situation I decided to bail at Dumbarton instead and visit a big Tesco that I remembered was there from my visit a couple years ago. Clearly my memory is failing me as it was actually an Asda but on the plus side it was 24 hours, so I was in no rush to pick up a new, unfortunately quite bad phone that at least does the job. Then it was to Charing Cross with 334005/334007 (oddly also a required station, given how many I've done up this way) to arrive at my hostel for my first proper nights sleep in a bed for a few days.
Day 3: Sunday 30/07/23
I had amended my plan for this morning to accommodate the previous evening's alteration, the idea being to catch the first Helensburgh train at 0827 and then walk to Upper for the first Oban. This plan also fell to pieces as I discovered on waking that the first Oban was in fact cancelled.. or so I thought, but a bit of research revealed a way in which I could still complete my target of all the Oban branch stations, helped by the fact that Oban itself was the one station I didn't need to visit. As a bonus, I even now had time to recover the two shacks missed out yesterday. So I started my morning with 334038/334008 to Craigendoran, a single platform where I awaited the same sets to return to take me to Cardross. Here it was over the footbridge for the +2 onto 334030 to Helensburgh at which point a much needed breakfast was sourced from Greggs. Another nice surprise in the form of a square sausage bap which I'd somehow forgotten was a thing up here..
I then walked up the hill to Helensburgh Upper. The next northbound was only around an hour later owing to the interesting service pattern on Sundays - there are three northbound trains before the first southbound and the diagrams meant that the 0903 from Glasgow (the cancelled train) didn't return until 1704 from Oban. This meant that in the middle of the day there was still enough time to do each station but there would have to be an extra spanner thrown in the works soon enough. Anyway it was 153373/156499 that turned up to take us all towards Oban. Originally my plan was to get off at Loch Awe and walk to Falls of Cruachan. However I alighted at Falls of Cruachan instead and waited for the southbound about 20 minutes later. The station itself was interesting with a plaque for Anderson's Piano, the interesting arrangement of the signals here designed to set them all to danger in the event of rock fall on the line. Besides that there was not a great deal to it. A busy 156457 was up next back down the line where I really did alight at Loch Awe. This was a very nice little station with a wonderful view of the loch after which it is named, as well as an old carriage situated just by the line.
I paid a visit to the little shop just down the road before heading north along the busier A85, stopping to look at the Loch Awe bridge before continuing to Dalmally. I had enough time to go beyond the station into another little local shop for a much needed drink and then onto Dalmally station. This is one of my favourites in the area as it has a lovely building with an assortment of memorabilia on the platform, as well as having a beautiful backdrop. I didn't have long to enjoy it though for 156500 was back again. This time it was taking me to Taynuilt, a station which is sometimes a passing point. Indeed on my original plan I was supposed to alight here for a +4 to head back south, however given that that was the train I alighted back at Falls I was a bit off plan here. Instead it was time for the aforementioned spanner to be dealt with. I wandered out into the village, past a mostly-knocked-down hotel and to a little junction where I once again found myself attempting to flag down cars driving towards Oban.
I realised this would probably be a bit trickier than my last attempt as the traffic was quieter and there were not so many tourists as in Glenfinnan (I had it in my head that they may be more likely to stop, but in hindsight I'm not so sure.) After about 15-20 minutes I was wondering if I would even be successful. However, I'd spotted a Network Rail car take the turning towards the station earlier but didn't think much of it until it came back out heading my way. I wasn't even going to bother trying but thought "why not" and tried flagging it. Amazingly the guy actually stopped and said he was off to Connel Ferry and so in I got - not sure there was anyone more appropriate to pick me up! Once again we had a good chat about various things and when we reached Connel Ferry I learned about the bridge which used to carry the line towards Fort William. I mentioned I was going to have a little walk up there but that was made unnecessary as we took a little detour to drive over the bridge and back before I was dropped at the station. Once again the kindness of people in this part of the country never ceases to amaze me
Besides that Connel Ferry consisted of, you guessed it, the usual gravel platform and bus stop shelter, but I sat outside to await the return of 156499/153373 where I now needed to work out how to complete my remaining shacks. I should have been bailing at Tyndrum Lower and waiting an hour for the next southbound, but as this was the cancelled train this wasn't going to work and walking between the Tyndrums wasn't an option at this time either. It turned out, though, that I'd made an oversight in my planning here. I had planned to go to Arrochar & Tarbet, take a bus up to Ardlui and join the 1951 northbound train to Crianlarich, where the Oban portion would split from the Mallaig and I could continue to Upper Tyndrum, scoring the shack on the tenuous change of headcode rule which I was unhappy about but saw as a necessity and simply a motivation to come back. However by simply staying on the train I was on to Arrochar & Tarbet, there was an earlier bus I could take to Crianlarich to do it properly, head south and make the cross platform connection at Ardlui which I knew was possible due to the way the token exchanges work.
So that's exactly what I did, staying on the train to Arrochar & Tarbet. I had a booked 12 minutes to do a 12 minute walk onto the bus, but we arrived 3L so I was walking very quick towards the (actual) bus stop. I started legging it halfway there out of gut instinct; turning the corner just before the junction and seeing the bus go past early, I thought I'd messed up. By chance though the driver had stopped to let someone off and was moving some of the hold luggage around. I surprised her a bit by turning up and asking for a single to Crianlarich but the important bit was that I'd made it and could now enjoy the little road journey back up the line. The coach was nice albeit expensive (£9.50!) but I wasn't bothered. I hopped off at Crianlarich and headed onto the island platform for a little wait.
Soon enough 156453 arrived, 156500 attached and we were off to Ardlui, actually arriving at 1958 but it didn't matter because that train departed before the 1951 did, so I was never in danger of missing it. 156457/156493/156450 took me back to Crianlarich once more where 156457 detached and took me to Tyndrum Lower, my final Oban branch station. Then it was a short uphill stroll to Upper Tyndrum to join the sleeper again, with 66739 and 73968 back in charge to Glasgow Queen Street finally arriving at 2320. I was hoping the locos might have swapped over as it was a new week but it looks as if it had been that pair for quite a while so I'm not surprised they returned. Anyway it was great to have pieced together a new plan for the day, after altering my original due to the cancellations, and still manage what I wanted and recover what I missed the day before. It's a rewarding feeling, but what isn't is knowing that I'd be back in only 6 hours to go up all over again. I had a quick bit of food before catching a few hours of sleep..
Day 4: Monday 31/07/23
Time for my final day and I was once more carrying both of my bags, although this was okay because I had no actual station walks planned for today. All that I needed to do was finish off the main route as far as Fort William. For that reason I found myself back at Queen Street for the 0520. 156453 was here for the run up to Garelochhead, where surprise surprise I was the only person to alight. I had half an hour here before once again it was back onto the sleeper for the run up to Rannoch. I wish I could've spent a bit longer at Rannoch station but I was changing immediately to head back south, this time with 156450 to Bridge of Orchy for one of my longer festers at a station without walking, from 0905 to 1048. Here is the only point on the whole trip where I was attacked by midges, having to keep moving where I was sitting to avoid them and the fact that it was raining non stop did not help. I didn't realise there was a hostel on the station which I found pretty interesting, although I didn't see anyone actually staying there.
The wait actually passed pretty quickly, as they usually do when I have books to read (fittingly set in and around Fort William) and in no time at all 156458/156445 were there to take me to Tulloch. This was another station I liked as it had a proper building which looked like a private property, but it really was in the middle of nowhere. It was not quite as in the middle of nowhere as the next, and last, station I needed to visit, which I had semi-deliberately saved until last. It was 156450/156499 which arrived after about 40 minutes to take me the 10 miles to Corrour, the remotest station in the UK, as well as the highest, and most importantly my final West Highland station. And what a place to end the adventure at. Not being a person to like making assumptions, I was reserving judgment until I actually visited but sure enough it wins my favourite UK station award by miles. It was exactly my ideal kind of place, just being completely isolated from everything. The isolation feel was slightly spoiled by the number of people there but that was okay, I was one of them after all!
I had 3 hours to explore so I signed the guest book in the station house and then set off on a little walk towards Loch Ossian which I had spotted in the distance. Along the way I got talking to a guy from Bremen who was staying in the hostel and we had a nice mile or so walk together discussing various things. We parted ways at the parting of ways of the paths.. and I set off back towards the station and this time crossed the line to go to the rail summit signs. Once I was back at the station I spoke to another person, this time a Dutch woman who was in Scotland for 6 weeks travelling around. It was great to talk to plenty of people on this trip, especially since I was alone most of the time, and almost everyone I encountered was very friendly. In no time at all 156450 and 156499 were back for the last time to take me to Fort William where I had one last little explore of the town proper. It has to be said I was a little bit disappointed by the actual town there; I think it's overshadowed by most of the other places in the area, but it was nice enough for a wander and to grab some food.
I'd thought the surprises were over for the trip but on boarding the sleeper I was happy to discover I'd got the accessible double room which was huge and a welcome luxury after one night on a bench and two in a small hostel bed. I went to sleep pretty early and woke up at about 5am...
...but I was still in Scotland! As this was the night of the attempted Royal Mail robbery at Lockerbie, so this slightly messed up my plans to get back home as we were over 3 hours late. I ended up bailing early at Crewe and heading home via Birmingham instead of London, but the good news is that I'll get a full refund on the sleeper journey. After all that I was still back before midday, in good time to jump straight into a 10 hour shift
So that concludes my Scottish adventure, which I'm so glad I finally got to go on having waited so long to head to that part of the world. I find it an extremely rewarding feeling when a plan goes well, especially one as luck-based this one transpired to be, and I would go back that way in a heartbeat. Probably when I can come to do the Jacobite..
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed
Every Station on the West Highland Line
Premise: I'm a shack scratcher which involves trying to get on or off a train at as many stations as possible. I have pretty similar rules to most, those being that just stopping does not count, and jumping on and off the same service also does not count (except in certain circumstances such as termini where the train changes headcodes.) I first tried to plan a trip to the WHL 4 years ago which went wrong when the line was closed to a landslip, and I never got round to planning a return until now.
Planning: As a little insight as to how I tend to plan these trips, I first take the map of the stations I want to cover and add the distances by walking between them all, before researching buses or other ways to get between them, and then take this into account when working out which stations to jump on and off at. Sometimes the walks aren't exactly the most appropriate or the bus connections too tight but I find it useful to have the info to hand as plans can often change when out and about (as indeed they did in this case.) Here's the sort of thing I mean:
Given I had 4 days off work I came up with a plan to hopefully, with a little luck, attack every station from Helensburgh Upper and up. I'm a bit of a risk taker so there were some interesting connections/transfers between stations that I had planned but we'll get to those...
Day 1: Friday 28/07/23
Most of the first day was taken up by the long journey north, starting with 390131 on the 0730 Euston - Glasgow. Nothing eventful really until reaching Glasgow Central where the +21 connection onto the lunchtime Oban/Mallaig thankfully made. I trusted this as the 0730 seems like quite a reliable service with plenty of allowance on the approach into Glasgow; indeed we stopped for a good few minutes waiting for a southbound Avanti to clear our path in. I had enough time to go via Tesco for some supplies before finding a seat on the trio of 156s (477, 458 and 456) to head north. As expected, this service (and indeed many others on the trip) were very full of tourists, many of whom were from countries far and wide on Interrails and the like.Having previously only travelled the route to Oban on the GBRF 2021 tour I wasn't too familiar with the route but it certainly lives up to its reputation as the most scenic rail journey in the UK, and possibly my favourite worldwide which is not something I say lightly having covered a few other candidates in various countries. This was only the first part of the line too, and I wasn't even going to make it to Mallaig on this day. We worked our way up to Crianlarich where 156477 split off to head towards Oban and we were left to continue. This is where the first of quite a few surprises of the trip occurred as I looked out of the window at Upper Tyndrum and thought I spotted a familiar face on the platform. As it turned out, it was a friend of mine from Cornwall who I hadn't seen in over a year and who just so happened to also be visiting Scotland at the same time as me..
So it was nice to have some company for the journey over Rannoch Moor, past the famous Corrour station and Loch Treig before reaching Fort William itself. I stayed on board as we reversed and set off on the Mallaig extension, running past Loch Eil before alighting for my first new station at the aptly named Locheilside.
Locheilside is, like many of the stations in this area, very basic with just a bus stop style shelter and the usual gravel platform. The A830 road right outside the station was quiet as expected which made me happy for reasons we will get to shortly. As expected I was the only passenger to alight, and indeed the only one to request the next train to stop. 156500 and 156499 had arrived in after I'd had just a 20 minute wait, to take me back to Banavie station. This was more interesting as it is the location of Banavie Signalling Centre which controls all of the RETB (Radio Electronic Token Block) signalling on the lines north of Helensburgh. It was a pleasant station and just outside it was the famous "Neptune's Staircase" set of canal locks.
I had an explore of this area before walking into the village of Caol and its Co-op for some dinner. Then I turned back on myself and walked besides the canal to reach my third station of the day at Corpach. I loved the view along the loch from this level crossing station and sat outside for the ~45 minutes I had before 156458 & 156456 returned from Mallaig to take me the short distance to Fort William itself. This service is timetabled to arrive in at 1937 with the southbound Highlander leaving at 1950, however I believe the connection is held if the train is late.
I joined the seated coach at the front of the sleeper as it was time to head towards Roy Bridge, with 66739 leading 73968, both working in multi albeit the 73 mostly doing ETS work.
While en route I decided for some reason to switch my walk around and get off at Spean Bridge, a station with a nice looking restaurant in the building. Unfortunately I did not pay visit as I set off on the 3.6 mile walk besides the A86 towards Roy Bridge. This was not the most ideal road to walk down with it mostly lacking a pavement, but as it was so quiet this didn't really bother me; I have walked down far busier roads with little more trouble. It was a pleasant walk with the peace being broken part way by the Royal Scotsman passing by with 66743 & 66746 in charge, a nice surprise as I wasn't expecting it and indeed we would cross paths a few times over the next few days. Soon enough I was at Roy Bridge featuring all the standard West Highland attributes such as basic shelter, single gravel platform and just enough midges to be mildly irritating without causing too much nuisance. Here I joined the last northbound train of the day with 153377 and 156476. It was nice to catch up with the 153 as it feels like so long since they worked down a bit closer to home. Following a reversal at Fort William I was the only person to alight at Loch Eil Outward Bound at 2235.
Here it was time for one of my more stupid/brilliant ideas (delete as appropriate) as while researching the trip I noted the stupid prices of accommodation in the Fort William area. I'm normally indifferent to staying in places like hostels and actually had one booked in Glasgow for the next two nights, but I didn't want to fork out loads of money for a room up here when I wouldn't even get to use it for very long being as I planned to catch the first possible train at about 7am. That was why in addition to my normal bag I had been lugging round a sleeping/bivvy bag all day which I bought a couple years ago to use for wild camping and never actually got round to using. I deliberately chose this station to finish the day as I had noticed it had a proper shelter, i.e. not a bus stop sort of thing but proper walls and a roof. There was a bench that ran around the edges which I simply lay down on and enjoyed the peace, for I would have been extremely surprised to encounter anyone at these hours in this remote-ish location. It rained during the night (if it hadn't I would've been tempted by the forest) but it didn't bother me as I enjoyed a nice night's sleep in the great outdoors...
Day 2: Saturday 29/07/23
...until I was woken up by my alarm around 6:20 where I had plenty of time to sort out my stuff before the 153/156 returned on the first southbound service. A little under 9 hours fester at a shack is probably a new record for me, if you could call it a fester, but I wasn't too tired. Anyway it was time for breakfast in Fort William, at which point I had a minor crisis in the station just after picking up my sleeper ticket for the Monday night. My phone screen had not been in the best of conditions prior to the trip but I'd neglected to get a new phone before going, a decision which backfired as I once again dropped my phone and this time the screen was almost completely useless, with just the bottom half working. I jumped on the first northbound of the day, where I was joined by my friend who had decided to come with me for the first two stations of the day. It was the return of 156456/156458 for the 30 mile trundle to Beasdale station. On the journey I tried without success to order a new phone before mine completely gave up the ghost and the screen stopped working, so I was now without a phone at all (which is also why I borrowed the pictures for these two days from the internet. ) Perhaps a bit stupidly I elected to carry on my day as normal as I was confident I knew my plan well enough and figured there would be opportunity later on to deal with the situation..As I'd come to expect, we were the only people to alight at Beasdale, and I saw no one else use the station when I passed it several times later on. This also had a proper waiting shelter but not a great deal else, so we set off for the 3.7 mile walk towards Arisaig. This was one of the tighter walks in the plan as we only had 74 minutes to do it in and it was a hilly one, not helped by being slightly late and the weather not being able to make up its mind about whether it wanted to rain or not. I guess that's typical Scottish weather for you though. Approaching Larichmore Viaduct we saw the Royal Scotsman pass over again and we had a mild panic about whether it would block the crossing at the station, which of course it did not, allowing us to reach the southbound platform in time for the same 156s once more. Setting off from the westernmost station in Great Britain, Arisaig, we had another enjoyable journey to the World Famous Glenfinnan station, for the World Famous Glenfinnan Viaduct.
My friend was continuing south all the way to Glasgow so I said farewell and set off for a walk down into Glenfinnan itself, joined by many people off to see the viaduct and the monument. Unfortunately there would be no Jacobite to watch come over the bridge so I sat down on the Loch Shiel shore and took a little while taking in the view which was stunning as ever, further solidifying this region as my favourite in the UK. It was places like this and views like this which really made the semi-pointless project of visiting all these stations worthwhile for me, as I had expectations for the trip but felt like they were being exceeded in almost every corner.
Sadly I could not sit there forever as it was time for another first for me. During the planning process noted above I had identified the distance between Glenfinnan and Lochailort at being around 9 miles, which wasn't doable by walking in the 2 1/4 hours I had between trains. The buses on the route were also very inconveniently timed. The issue was I needed to pick up both shacks now because I didn't have any extra time to fit them in later. So my solution was to walk uphill back past the station, perch myself on a little junction in the road and start sticking my thumb out at northbound cars. I had doubts about this working even though I had read positive things when researching this idea. I needn't have worried as maybe after about 5 minutes a car pulled up and the lovely driver told me she lived near Lochailort. How lucky..
So I jumped in and we had a great chat about what I was doing and other related topics while we drove the scenic 15 minutes towards the station. Initially she dropped me off at the hotel just south of the station, but while on the way she had told me about an old, derelict requisitioned house just down the road which I figured I had enough time to go check out. So I jumped back in the short distance to have a little look at the very run down but interesting building. Then it was back up the hill to Lochailort station itself, complete with gravel platform and bus stop shelter, where as usual I was the only person boarding. There was one man on the platform who didn't board and at least a few people who got off though. Anyway I was pleased as I'd managed to score both stations and have a good little adventure on the way. At last I was finally heading to Mallaig as 156500 and 156499 had popped up again to carry me and seemingly the rest of Scotland to the end of the line.True to expectations there was very little of Mallaig to see although it did look like a pleasant place. I enjoyed lunch while sat on the rocks looking out over the Small Isles and further enjoying the peace that this part of the world had to offer. Soon though it was time to set off on my walk to Morar station. I wouldn't have needed any map to work out that I needed to walk down the one road here, the A830, towards and then into the village and onto Morar station. This station had a building housing a local newspaper, complete with a canopy and benches to shelter from the rain. I bumped into someone up here whp noticed my GWR ticket wallet and we got talking. He was from Birmingham and had made the journey up here several times by rail but had actually travelled up by motorcycle on this occasion. I got the impression he knew what he was talking about when it came to the railway, maybe he is on the forum??
Now it was time to make my longest journey yet as I took a seat back on the 156s all the way towards Helensburgh, a trek on a normal day but even more so while alone with no phone. So I did the best thing I could and dozed off, waking up over Rannoch Moor which was very strange to say the least. In my original plan this evening I was going to pick up two odd shacks on the Helensburgh Central branch as well as Helensburgh Upper. However owing to the phone situation I decided to bail at Dumbarton instead and visit a big Tesco that I remembered was there from my visit a couple years ago. Clearly my memory is failing me as it was actually an Asda but on the plus side it was 24 hours, so I was in no rush to pick up a new, unfortunately quite bad phone that at least does the job. Then it was to Charing Cross with 334005/334007 (oddly also a required station, given how many I've done up this way) to arrive at my hostel for my first proper nights sleep in a bed for a few days.
Day 3: Sunday 30/07/23
I had amended my plan for this morning to accommodate the previous evening's alteration, the idea being to catch the first Helensburgh train at 0827 and then walk to Upper for the first Oban. This plan also fell to pieces as I discovered on waking that the first Oban was in fact cancelled.. or so I thought, but a bit of research revealed a way in which I could still complete my target of all the Oban branch stations, helped by the fact that Oban itself was the one station I didn't need to visit. As a bonus, I even now had time to recover the two shacks missed out yesterday. So I started my morning with 334038/334008 to Craigendoran, a single platform where I awaited the same sets to return to take me to Cardross. Here it was over the footbridge for the +2 onto 334030 to Helensburgh at which point a much needed breakfast was sourced from Greggs. Another nice surprise in the form of a square sausage bap which I'd somehow forgotten was a thing up here..I then walked up the hill to Helensburgh Upper. The next northbound was only around an hour later owing to the interesting service pattern on Sundays - there are three northbound trains before the first southbound and the diagrams meant that the 0903 from Glasgow (the cancelled train) didn't return until 1704 from Oban. This meant that in the middle of the day there was still enough time to do each station but there would have to be an extra spanner thrown in the works soon enough. Anyway it was 153373/156499 that turned up to take us all towards Oban. Originally my plan was to get off at Loch Awe and walk to Falls of Cruachan. However I alighted at Falls of Cruachan instead and waited for the southbound about 20 minutes later. The station itself was interesting with a plaque for Anderson's Piano, the interesting arrangement of the signals here designed to set them all to danger in the event of rock fall on the line. Besides that there was not a great deal to it. A busy 156457 was up next back down the line where I really did alight at Loch Awe. This was a very nice little station with a wonderful view of the loch after which it is named, as well as an old carriage situated just by the line.
I paid a visit to the little shop just down the road before heading north along the busier A85, stopping to look at the Loch Awe bridge before continuing to Dalmally. I had enough time to go beyond the station into another little local shop for a much needed drink and then onto Dalmally station. This is one of my favourites in the area as it has a lovely building with an assortment of memorabilia on the platform, as well as having a beautiful backdrop. I didn't have long to enjoy it though for 156500 was back again. This time it was taking me to Taynuilt, a station which is sometimes a passing point. Indeed on my original plan I was supposed to alight here for a +4 to head back south, however given that that was the train I alighted back at Falls I was a bit off plan here. Instead it was time for the aforementioned spanner to be dealt with. I wandered out into the village, past a mostly-knocked-down hotel and to a little junction where I once again found myself attempting to flag down cars driving towards Oban.
I realised this would probably be a bit trickier than my last attempt as the traffic was quieter and there were not so many tourists as in Glenfinnan (I had it in my head that they may be more likely to stop, but in hindsight I'm not so sure.) After about 15-20 minutes I was wondering if I would even be successful. However, I'd spotted a Network Rail car take the turning towards the station earlier but didn't think much of it until it came back out heading my way. I wasn't even going to bother trying but thought "why not" and tried flagging it. Amazingly the guy actually stopped and said he was off to Connel Ferry and so in I got - not sure there was anyone more appropriate to pick me up! Once again we had a good chat about various things and when we reached Connel Ferry I learned about the bridge which used to carry the line towards Fort William. I mentioned I was going to have a little walk up there but that was made unnecessary as we took a little detour to drive over the bridge and back before I was dropped at the station. Once again the kindness of people in this part of the country never ceases to amaze me
Besides that Connel Ferry consisted of, you guessed it, the usual gravel platform and bus stop shelter, but I sat outside to await the return of 156499/153373 where I now needed to work out how to complete my remaining shacks. I should have been bailing at Tyndrum Lower and waiting an hour for the next southbound, but as this was the cancelled train this wasn't going to work and walking between the Tyndrums wasn't an option at this time either. It turned out, though, that I'd made an oversight in my planning here. I had planned to go to Arrochar & Tarbet, take a bus up to Ardlui and join the 1951 northbound train to Crianlarich, where the Oban portion would split from the Mallaig and I could continue to Upper Tyndrum, scoring the shack on the tenuous change of headcode rule which I was unhappy about but saw as a necessity and simply a motivation to come back. However by simply staying on the train I was on to Arrochar & Tarbet, there was an earlier bus I could take to Crianlarich to do it properly, head south and make the cross platform connection at Ardlui which I knew was possible due to the way the token exchanges work.So that's exactly what I did, staying on the train to Arrochar & Tarbet. I had a booked 12 minutes to do a 12 minute walk onto the bus, but we arrived 3L so I was walking very quick towards the (actual) bus stop. I started legging it halfway there out of gut instinct; turning the corner just before the junction and seeing the bus go past early, I thought I'd messed up. By chance though the driver had stopped to let someone off and was moving some of the hold luggage around. I surprised her a bit by turning up and asking for a single to Crianlarich but the important bit was that I'd made it and could now enjoy the little road journey back up the line. The coach was nice albeit expensive (£9.50!) but I wasn't bothered. I hopped off at Crianlarich and headed onto the island platform for a little wait.
Soon enough 156453 arrived, 156500 attached and we were off to Ardlui, actually arriving at 1958 but it didn't matter because that train departed before the 1951 did, so I was never in danger of missing it. 156457/156493/156450 took me back to Crianlarich once more where 156457 detached and took me to Tyndrum Lower, my final Oban branch station. Then it was a short uphill stroll to Upper Tyndrum to join the sleeper again, with 66739 and 73968 back in charge to Glasgow Queen Street finally arriving at 2320. I was hoping the locos might have swapped over as it was a new week but it looks as if it had been that pair for quite a while so I'm not surprised they returned. Anyway it was great to have pieced together a new plan for the day, after altering my original due to the cancellations, and still manage what I wanted and recover what I missed the day before. It's a rewarding feeling, but what isn't is knowing that I'd be back in only 6 hours to go up all over again. I had a quick bit of food before catching a few hours of sleep..
Day 4: Monday 31/07/23
Time for my final day and I was once more carrying both of my bags, although this was okay because I had no actual station walks planned for today. All that I needed to do was finish off the main route as far as Fort William. For that reason I found myself back at Queen Street for the 0520. 156453 was here for the run up to Garelochhead, where surprise surprise I was the only person to alight. I had half an hour here before once again it was back onto the sleeper for the run up to Rannoch. I wish I could've spent a bit longer at Rannoch station but I was changing immediately to head back south, this time with 156450 to Bridge of Orchy for one of my longer festers at a station without walking, from 0905 to 1048. Here is the only point on the whole trip where I was attacked by midges, having to keep moving where I was sitting to avoid them and the fact that it was raining non stop did not help. I didn't realise there was a hostel on the station which I found pretty interesting, although I didn't see anyone actually staying there.The wait actually passed pretty quickly, as they usually do when I have books to read (fittingly set in and around Fort William) and in no time at all 156458/156445 were there to take me to Tulloch. This was another station I liked as it had a proper building which looked like a private property, but it really was in the middle of nowhere. It was not quite as in the middle of nowhere as the next, and last, station I needed to visit, which I had semi-deliberately saved until last. It was 156450/156499 which arrived after about 40 minutes to take me the 10 miles to Corrour, the remotest station in the UK, as well as the highest, and most importantly my final West Highland station. And what a place to end the adventure at. Not being a person to like making assumptions, I was reserving judgment until I actually visited but sure enough it wins my favourite UK station award by miles. It was exactly my ideal kind of place, just being completely isolated from everything. The isolation feel was slightly spoiled by the number of people there but that was okay, I was one of them after all!
I had 3 hours to explore so I signed the guest book in the station house and then set off on a little walk towards Loch Ossian which I had spotted in the distance. Along the way I got talking to a guy from Bremen who was staying in the hostel and we had a nice mile or so walk together discussing various things. We parted ways at the parting of ways of the paths.. and I set off back towards the station and this time crossed the line to go to the rail summit signs. Once I was back at the station I spoke to another person, this time a Dutch woman who was in Scotland for 6 weeks travelling around. It was great to talk to plenty of people on this trip, especially since I was alone most of the time, and almost everyone I encountered was very friendly. In no time at all 156450 and 156499 were back for the last time to take me to Fort William where I had one last little explore of the town proper. It has to be said I was a little bit disappointed by the actual town there; I think it's overshadowed by most of the other places in the area, but it was nice enough for a wander and to grab some food.
I'd thought the surprises were over for the trip but on boarding the sleeper I was happy to discover I'd got the accessible double room which was huge and a welcome luxury after one night on a bench and two in a small hostel bed. I went to sleep pretty early and woke up at about 5am...
...but I was still in Scotland! As this was the night of the attempted Royal Mail robbery at Lockerbie, so this slightly messed up my plans to get back home as we were over 3 hours late. I ended up bailing early at Crewe and heading home via Birmingham instead of London, but the good news is that I'll get a full refund on the sleeper journey. After all that I was still back before midday, in good time to jump straight into a 10 hour shift
So that concludes my Scottish adventure, which I'm so glad I finally got to go on having waited so long to head to that part of the world. I find it an extremely rewarding feeling when a plan goes well, especially one as luck-based this one transpired to be, and I would go back that way in a heartbeat. Probably when I can come to do the Jacobite..
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed
