Loan Crossing

Location type

Place

Names and dates

Luib Relief Siding (1914-1918)
Loan Crossing (1918-1922)

Opened on the Dingwall and Skye Railway.

Description

A relief siding was installed here in 1914 to assist with taking large loads up the Glencarron Bank. Long trains would be taken up in portions which were deposited here and then assembled into a single train for taking on to Achnasheen. The location was 2 3/4 miles east of Luib Summit, a little west of Loch Sgamhain. The siding was on the north side of the line, approached from the higher ground to the east by reversal.

In 1918 the location became a passing loop. The relief siding was taken out to allow a loop line to be laid on the north side of the railway. A new relief siding was laid on the south side of the line - as before it was approached from the east. The location was renamed Loan Crossing. This was a more appropriate name, Loan croft is just to the north.

A signal box opened in 1918. It was a brick building.

The crossing was installed during the Great War when the line was entirely taken over by the Admiralty to transfer dis-assembled mine parts manufactured in the United States which were landed at Kyle of Lochalsh and taken east to US Naval Base 17 at Dalmore Distillery near Alness.

The crossing was bought by the Highland Railway after the war and the relief siding was retained.

The crossing closed around 1922. The signal box's base was retained as a gangers' hut after closure.

Tags

Crossing relief siding mines Great War
06/12/2021


Chronology Dates

16/01/1919Dingwall and Skye Railway
Loan Crossing and sidings opens for Admiralty (Alternative date: 1 February 1918)
  /  /1920Dingwall and Skye Railway
Highland Railway purchases Loan Crossing from Admiralty.
  /  /1920Dingwall and Skye Railway
Loan Crossing and sidings closed.
  /  /1921Dingwall and Skye Railway
Loan Crossing and sidings lifted.

Books


Highland Railway: People and Places - From the Inverness and Nairn Railway to Scotrail

History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands: Skye Railway v. 5

Insider Rail Guide: Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh (The Insider Rail Guide)

OS Explorer Map (428) Kyle of Lochalsh, Plockton and Applecross (OS Explorer Active Map)

Rails to Kyle of Lochalsh: Story of the Dingwall and Skye Railway Including the Strathpeffer Branch (Oakwood Library of Railway History)

The Dingwall & Skye Railway: A Pictorial Record of the Line to Kyle of Lochalsh

The Highland Railway

The Highland Railway : The History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands - Vol 2

The Kyle Line: An Illustrated History and Guide

The Kyle of Lochalsh and Far North Lines

The Kyle of Lochalsh Line: Great Railway Journeys Through Time