Beasdale No 118 Tunnel: Leaving a smoke trail round the edge of Loch nan Uahm, Black 5 No.44871 builds up some speed on 11 October as it approaches the first tunnel on the 1 in 48 gradient of Beasdale Bank with The Jacobite .
John Gray 11/10/2011
Beasdale
Location type
StationName and dates
Beasdale (1901-)Station code: BSL National Rail ScotRail
Where: Highland, Scotland
Opened on the Mallaig Extension (West Highland Railway).
Open on the West Highland Line.
Description
This is a single platform station. The building adjoining the station was both a waiting room for Arisaig House and a railwayman's house, in a style typical of such buildings on the line. The building, which was derelict in the 1980s, has been restored. There is a timber waiting room on the platform.
There was a siding on the north side of the line to the immediate west, lifted in 1988.
The station was built for Arisaig House which is about a mile west and slightly closer to this station than Arisaig. (It is now Arisaig House Hotel .) The station was advertised from 1965 but did handle local traffic from the line opening.
To the east is Beasdale No 119 Tunnel. To the west is Borrodale Tunnel.
Even closer is Beasdale Bridge, a girder bridge over the A830, which is west of the station. It is a pinch point on that road, requiring traffic lights for the one lane road.
Local
Prince Charles Edward Stuart left Scotland from the shore of Loch nan Uamh in 1746 after the unsuccessful Jacobite uprising. The The Prince's Cairn was built in 1956 by the 1745 Association. The cairn is over a mile away to the east by road. See also Glenfinnan Monument.
Tags
StationExternal links
Canmore site recordNLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
Facilities
Gaelic name: Biasdale
| Nearby stations Arisaig Lochailort Morar Mallaig Lech-a-vuie Platform Glenfinnan Locheilside Loch Eil Outward Bound Corpach Kentallen Fort William [1st] Duror Fort William Banavie Banavie Pier | Beasdale Bridge Beasdale No 119 Tunnel Beasdale No 118 Tunnel Borrodale Tunnel Borrodale Viaduct Loch nan Uamh No 117 Tunnel Loch nan Uamh No 116 Tunnel Loch nan Uamh Viaduct Arnabol Viaduct Polnish House Larichmore Viaduct Tourist/other The Prince^s Cairn Borrodale House Arisaig House Polnish Chapel |
| Location names in dark blue are on the same original line. | |
Chronology Dates
| 01/04/1901 | Mallaig Extension (West Highland Railway) Line opened from Banavie (Banavie Junction [2nd]), over the Caledonian Canal and on through Banavie, Corpach, Locheilside, Glenfinnan, Lochailort, Beasdale, Arisaig and Morar to Mallaig, extending the West Highland Railway to the western seaboard. There was no official opening ceremony. |
