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Located approximately 60 miles west of Inverness on the North West coast of Scotland is the sleepy little village of Kyle of Lochalsh. It is the terminus of the Kyle of Lochalsh line running from Inverness and serving the once busy village close to the Isle of Skye - just across the water.
As the line took more than 4 years to construct, the Highland Railway finally opened the station on 2nd of November 1897. It formed the extension of the Dingwall and Skye Railway from Stromeferry. The line took so long to build due to the challenging nature of the terrain through which it passed. With 29 bridges and 30 tunnels along its length the line was, at the time, one of the most expensive routes in the UK costing £20.000 a mile to build equivalent to 2.5 million Pounds a mile in today’s money.
The station is built on a short pier extending into Loch Alsh with a wide island platform with station buildings in a chalet style. Either side of which are the endings of the line, together with some goods sidings which can still be seen today. Just up the line, visible from the station, is a small signal box and originally there was a small loco shed at the station which has since disappeared. There was also a 90 foot turntable nearby, removed in 1977.
Access to the station is via a steeply sloping road down from the main street above.
The station was a busy site up until the 1970’s with connection to the Outer Hebrides via a ferry service. A new ferry terminal was constructed at Ullapool which saw the Kyle ferry service withdrawn, as the new port was much closer to Stornaway at only 43 miles as opposed to 71 miles away.
The line from Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh is primarily single track and with the introduction of RETB (Radio Electronic Token Block) working the signal box became somewhat redundant as no physical tokens or exchanges were requires and so closed in 1984. It is interesting to not that RETB was first developed and used on this line, with subsequent adoption of the system in other countries even as far away as Australia. The signal box has now been converted into a holiday cottage.
Although there are still two platforms the majority of services use the western platform, facing the Skye road bridge, Platform 1.
Access to the sidings and the tracks to Platform 2 are via ground frame points, that also provide for the run-around loop - used for switching locomotives from one end of the train to the other, no longer needed as all trains are now DMU’s with cabs at both ends of the train. There is some traffic from timber trains (trains carrying timber, NOT trains made of wood) that use the loading bank siding. The station is adjacent to the piers that in previous times were where the ferries to the Ise of Skye departed from, providing the onward link to the island. But in October 1995 the rather lovely Skye road bridge opened signalling the end of the ferry service.
We hope you have enjoyed this short video about this remote little station in the North West of Scotland. Please like share and subscribe for even more.
Credits:-
Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.o...
Disused Stations (www.disused-stations.org.uk)
Some photographs in this presentation are from www.disused-stations.org.uk
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