It had originally been intended to extend to Roshven, to give good access to sea-going fishery vessels, but the end point was altered to Mallaig, and this section opened in 1901.

The line never made a profit, and relied on government financial support, which was given (amid much controversy) to improve the depressed economic conditions of the region.

[1] Prior to the nineteenth century the western highlands of Scotland formed a wild tract of land, with mountainous terrain threaded by deep river valleys.

Other Scottish trunk railways were authorised in the same year, and this encouraged the promotion of increasingly wild schemes intended to be submitted to Parliament in the following session.

A government commission[note 1] appointed in March 1883, examined the plight of smallholders in the Highlands, and their investigation showed that above all transport was a pressing need.

The Highland Railway and David MacBrayne Ltd, a coastal steamer operator, were both effective monopolies on their respective businesses and naturally opposed the G&NWR.

The undeveloped nature of the area (which the railway was designed to rectify) was shown as a reason to reject the proposed line, and finally on 1 June 1883 the committee threw out the bill.

[2] The establishment of the Crofters' Commission followed this disaster, and social concern at the plight of the West Highland population was not diminished by the failure of the G&NWR scheme.

A branch was to continue to Lochailort and the south-west to Roshven, a west coast sea port intended to give access to fishing vessels and island steamers.

The truncated route passed over the estate of friendly landowners as far as Fort William, but west of that place matters were more feudal, and the Roshven extension was later abandoned in the face of their opposition.

On 30 January 1889 seven gentlemen, including Robert McAlpine set out to walk from Spean Bridge to Rannoch Lodge, a distance of 40 miles across largely trackless terrain.

There was still much to do, in particular the crossing of the boggy section of Rannoch Moor which had not yet been started, By the summer of 1893 the railway company was running out of capital, and it appeared that the work must cease, but one of the directors, Mr Renton, gave part of his personal fortune to save the scheme.

[4] Opinion had been expressed within the company that a limited opening to Gareloch at first would be preferable, but the politics of securing government support for the Mallaig line meant that no hesitation could be displayed.

[note 4] Trains started running on that day, although a formal opening was arranged for Saturday 11 August[9] by the wife of the chairman, William Hay, 10th Marquess of Tweeddale.

[2] The West Highland Railway Act 1890 included a short branch line from a junction near Fort William to Banavie, at a location adjacent to the Caledonian Canal.

[2] From 1962 until 1971 a Swindon-built cross-country DMU, normally used on the Aberdeen to Inverness main line, was transferred in the summer months to work a daily round trip from Glasgow Queen Street station to Oban via this connection.

[11] It was joined from late 1965 by all Glasgow to Oban trains, re-routed following closure of the Dunblane to Crianlarich route - initially by a landslide in Glen Ogle but officially from April 1966 [12] as part of the so called Beeching cuts.

The main line to Fort William opened during the summer season of 1894, but doing so had been expensive, involving excessive construction costs against the contractor's advice in the difficult winters of 1892-3 and 1893-4.

By now the North British Railway was the banker for the West Highland, but some pretence of independence was retained, to avoid a repudiation of the financial support by the Treasury.

Nonetheless commitments had been given, and on 28 April 1892 the NBR agreed to work the extension of 50% of gross receipts, and that it would continue to support the line when the government guarantee of 3% on capital over 25 or 30 years expired.

It was contingent on the construction bill being passed; satisfactory improvements to Mallaig Harbour had to be agreed, and NBR was to undertake to work the line for 50% of gross receipts in perpetuity.

c. clvi) passed on 31 July 1894 to authorise an extension to Mallaig,[16] but the guarantee bill was thrown out; many MPs objected to a free gift to a railway company.

Fish traffic was very important but it never reached the volumes hoped for; the harbour was difficult in certain conditions (which also limited the reliability of the Hebrides ferry service).

The Mallaig site on land was also very restricted and gave rise to complaints from the fish merchants, and delays to punctual running because of difficulty loading trains.

The area was a stronghold of conventional religious belief and the observance of the Sabbath was strictly enforced, also occasionally leading to difficulty in handling a perishable merchandise like fish.

[5] The West Highland Line of the North British Railway (as the WHR had become) settled down to a stable existence in the twentieth century, although continuing to lose money.

In 1987 Radio Electronic Token Block (RETB) was installed on all of the West Highland Railway system, except for the Fort William station area.

RETB enabled safe operation of the long single line sections without signalling staff at stations; the control centre was at Banavie.

On the Banavie branch the viaduct over the river Lochy, consisting of four 80 feet spans, required cast iron cylinders to be sunk for the founding of the piers.

Roland Paxton and John Shipway, Civil Engineering Heritage: Scotland, Highlands and Islands, Thomas Telford Publishiung, London, 2007, ISBN 978-07277 3488 4