This line is closed. The line ran from Connel Ferry to Ballachulish and was built to carry slate away from the Ballachulish Quarries and delivery bauxite to the Kinlochleven Aluminium Works - although this was taken on by sea and later road. Today the nearest station is at Connel Ferry. In addition to the new line various improvements to the existing Callander and Oban Railway were made, (some already planned to improve capacity), such as the enlargement of Oban station, adding of loops to reduce the lengths of the single track sections and the introduction of short double track sections at Connel Ferry and Callander (Dreadnought) to Callander and Oban Junction. Further east the line was doubled between Doune and Dunblane.
The architecture was Arts and Crafts, the stations noted for their large station buildings and surprisingly large signal boxes (contrast with those elsewhere on the line such as at Luib or Glenoglehead!).
07/08/1896 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Callander and Oban Railway (Ballachulish Extension) Act passed. (Alternative date 1/4/1896). |
/ /1897 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Authorisation of an extension further east to East Laroch, beside the Ballachulish Slate Quarries of East Laroch. |
/ /1897 | Callander and Oban Railway Expansion of Oban and Oban Station Pier authorised in connection with the opening of the Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway). Alterations to sea wall authorised. |
/ /1901 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Pier at Leitir Mhor authorised. (This was Kentallen Pier alongside Kentallen station.) |
/ /1901 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Callander and Oban Railway granted more time to complete line. |
/ /1902 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Extension of time for land purchase for the line and at Oban. |
12/08/1903 | Callander and Oban Railway Glencruitten Crossing opened at Glencruitten Summit. Opened in anticipation of the opening of the Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway). |
24/08/1903 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Line opened to passengers and goods. Stations opened at Benderloch, Creagan, Appin, Duror, Kentallen, Ballachulish Ferry, Ballachulish. For the opening Connel Ferry and Oban stations were rebuilt. Two large bridges were required Connel Ferry Bridge and Creagan Viaduct. |
07/03/1904 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) North Connel halt opened. |
/ /1909 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Charabanc service introduced between Connel Ferry and Benderloch over the Connel Ferry Bridge. |
/ /1914 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Barcaldine Siding (a halt) opened. |
/ /1914 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Callander and Oban Railway company and council finally come to an agreement to allow cars, on payment of a toll, to cross the Connel Ferry Bridge when trains are not running. |
/ /1920 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) West Laroch Siding, serving the West Laroch Quarry, closed and lifted. |
/ /1927 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Duror loop taken out. Creagan signal box closed, loop accessed via ground frames. |
14/06/1965 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Ballachulish (Glencoe) to Connel Ferry closed to goods. Traffic for the Kinlochleven Aluminium Smelter is diverted to the Lochaber Smelter (Fort William) and carried by road from there south to Kinlochleven. |
26/03/1966 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Line closed completely between Connel Ferry and Ballachulish (Glencoe). North Connel, Benderloch, Barcaldine Halt, Creagan, Appin, Duror, Kentallen, Ballachulish Ferry, Ballachulish (Glencoe) closed. |
28/03/1966 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Tracklifting begins. |
/ /1971 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) During road improvements of ~1970-72 the A828 was re-aligned and in places encroached on the trackbed between Appin and Duror. |
/ /1979 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Completion of A82 improvements with partial realignment onto the course of the line east of Ballachulish Ferry through to Ballachulish. |
/ /1991 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Realignment of the A828 for around half a mile north of the Connel Ferry Bridge onto the former trackbed. (Date approximate.) |
/10/1991 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Ballachulish station building, having been renovated, opened as doctors' surgery. |
/ /2001 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) The Creagan Viaduct is partly demolished and a new road deck placed on the piers, this saved road vehicles a five mile inland diversion road the head of the loch. |
/ /2010 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Bridge on never completed west to north curve at Connel Ferry demolished. |
/ /2013 | Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway) Ballachulish Shed demolished. |
These locations are along the line.
This is a single platform station with a shelter. There is a car park on the north side of the station. At the east end of the station is a goods loop and oil siding (both out of use). The station was once far larger and a junction.
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Also known as Connel Ferry Viaduct. Bridge or Connel Bridge is used rather than viaduct as the structure has a long span crossing Loch Etive, and the Falls of Lora, and is not a series of similarly sized arches. The bridge is 'B' listed. The metalwork is painted light grey, the approach arches are granite. The line carried a single track railway.
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This was a timber built short single platform, with shelter, at the north end of the Connel Ferry Bridge. The shelter was at the north end of the platform. It opened a year after the line itself.
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This was a two platform station. The station had a large two storey station building, typical of the line, on the southbound platform and a large size signal box, also typical of the line. An example of the main building still stands in largely unmodified form at Duror. The southbound line was the faster line, the northbound curving off at each end to form the loop.
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This was a short single platform in timber. There was also a goods siding here, approached from the south and on the east (landward) side of the line.
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This was an attractive and large structure with two girders (150ft each, 40ft over high water) crossing Caolas Chreagan the Creagan Narrows of Loch Creran, supported by a central masonry pier (the tidal race here being less than that at the Falls of Lora a central pier was possible) approached at either end by masonry arches. It was single track and carried a footway on its eastern side - ...
More detailsThis was an island platform station, which bore a strong resemblance to stations on the West Highland Railway. Access was by a subway. The northbound platform was built on a straight alignment, to allow fast running of non-stop trains, and the southbound curved.
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This was a two platform station located at Portnacroish with a passing loop and goods yard to the west. There was a two storey station building on the southbound platform, of a style which survives largely unaltered at Duror, and a large signal box which was typical of the line. The southbound line was the faster line, the northbound curving off at each end to form the loop. At the south end, ...
More detailsThis former two platform station survives as a house, the platforms being the garden. The station building is almost unaltered from the railway period, with some additions. The platforms survive. It is the most intact station surviving on the former line. A number of railway cottages also remain nearby making this an unusually well preserved location.
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This siding served the estate of the Auchindarroch House (since demolished), just to the east. The siding was closer to Duror than Duror station. It was north of an overbridge.
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More detailsThis was a two platform station alongside a pier from which interconnecting steamers operated. The main station building was on the southbound platform and still stands in much extended form. There was a smaller shelter on the northbound platform. (The building at Duror shows a less altered version of how the main station building looked.)
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This was a single platform station west of Ballachulish. The station was around half a mile south of the ferry slip, the ferry crossing now being replaced by the Ballachulish Bridge.
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More detailsThis was a timber locomotive shed on the north side of the station at Ballachulish.
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This was a two platform terminus opened at East Laroch next to the Ballachulish Slate Quarries and their tramways. Unusually a house which predated the station ended up on the platform and now, with the station gone, still stands. The Ballachulish Medical Practise is based in the former station building.
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