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Description

This is the terminus of the line from the junction at Dingwall, trains starting from Inverness. It enjoys an impressive location on the former steamer pier with a backdrop (as seen from the north) of mountains, such as Sgurr na Coinnich, on the Isle of Skye seen over Loch Alsh. The station is in the middle of the southern part of the village, which developed around the station. This terminus replaced the further east station at Stromeferry.

Opening of the line directly led to the expansion of Kyle of Lochalsh, although the village, a pier and the ferry to Kyleakin already existed at the end of a road from Erbusaig.

The station building is a single storey, wooden and built in the Swiss Chalet style (reminiscent of the West Highland Railway built around the same time). There are two platforms - that to the west has a loop and that to the east a siding in parallel with it. The station was designed by Murdoch Paterson.

Formerly the quaysides were rail served and some track and turntables remain embedded in the pier's cobbles and concrete. There was a major track rationalisation around 1984 when the signal box closed.

Kyle Shed was to the north and there were sidings to an Admiralty pier to the east of the station.

The pier was served by steamers to Skye and other islands. The slip, to the west, was later used for roll on - roll off ferries to Kyleakin on Skye. The pier is no longer regularly used by ferries to the Outer Isles, Ullapool now being used instead.

The Highland Railway owned the nearby Lochalsh Hotel.

To the north, on the east side of the line, the signal box still stands, now in use as rentable accommodation. Kyle of Lochalsh Signal Box Accommodation . It was replaced by RETB operated from Dingwall in 1984.

The Kyle Line Museum is based in the main station building.

Waterside Seafood Restaurant is located in the station building.

In the Great War mines were trans-shipped from vessels which had crossed the Atlantic from the United States and taken east by the Kyle line, taken over for this purpose by the Admiralty in 1918, to US Naval Base 17 near Invergordon where the assembly of the mines was completed. These mines were used in the Northern Barrage, a minefield laid between the Orkneys and Norway.

In the Second World War the flow was in the reverse direction on the railway. Mines assembled in Britain were transferred here for use in the minefield laid between the Orkneys, Faeroes and Iceland.

Local

Highland Council - Kyle Harbour

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