Softvark
Active Member
First of all some history - the 1889 proposal to build the West Highland Line into Fort William included a short branch from Spean Bridge to a lochside pier on Loch Lochy in the Great Glen. Eventually the branch was removed from the plan to calm fears by the Highland Railway however several years later an ill fated branch line was built from Spean Bridge to Fort Augustus and you can still walk part of the long dismantled line, however there was never a pier and station on the loch.
The original plans are available on the national archives for Scotland website and interestingly the original proposal doesn't quite follow the same line as the Fort Augustus branch but was actually on the south side of the river Spean for most of its route. I overlaid the plan onto a modern OS map and was able to place exactly where the pier would have been.
The original Loch Lochy layout was built by Ian Futers but when I acquired it a couple of years ago there were a few things that I thought could be improved - that was several years ago and the subsequent events are described here.
The line is set in the late 1970s, early 80s and it's assumed that local CalMac steamer services call at the pier to enable through trips to Inverness, somehow the fishing industry is still using the local processing factory, and there is another local industry off stage which allows me to run a variety of rolling stock.
So on to some photos - these were taken several years ago but they'll give you a flavour.
This is the typical WHL chalet style station building as built by Ian but with additional features by myself. The fish processing factory is in the foreground with the loch to the left.
A close up of the fish factory showing everyone hard at work.
This is a Judith Edge O6, an MMP class B tank and a Connoisseur brake. I've actually now built 4 of the MMP tanks but I can't face anymore!
This oil siding is no more. It is now a loading dock and the oil siding is located on the new extension on the other side of the bridge.
The original plans are available on the national archives for Scotland website and interestingly the original proposal doesn't quite follow the same line as the Fort Augustus branch but was actually on the south side of the river Spean for most of its route. I overlaid the plan onto a modern OS map and was able to place exactly where the pier would have been.
The original Loch Lochy layout was built by Ian Futers but when I acquired it a couple of years ago there were a few things that I thought could be improved - that was several years ago and the subsequent events are described here.
The line is set in the late 1970s, early 80s and it's assumed that local CalMac steamer services call at the pier to enable through trips to Inverness, somehow the fishing industry is still using the local processing factory, and there is another local industry off stage which allows me to run a variety of rolling stock.
So on to some photos - these were taken several years ago but they'll give you a flavour.
This is the typical WHL chalet style station building as built by Ian but with additional features by myself. The fish processing factory is in the foreground with the loch to the left.
A close up of the fish factory showing everyone hard at work.
This is a Judith Edge O6, an MMP class B tank and a Connoisseur brake. I've actually now built 4 of the MMP tanks but I can't face anymore!
This oil siding is no more. It is now a loading dock and the oil siding is located on the new extension on the other side of the bridge.
