Lochaber Aluminium Works
Location type
WorksName and dates
Lochaber Aluminium Works (1929-)Served by the West Highland Railway.
Served by the Lochaber Narrow Gauge Railway.
Description
This is the only remaining aluminium smelter in the United Kingdom. This smelter was built by contractors Balfour, Beatty & Co Ltd to the east of Fort William, opening in 1929.
The works uses Hydro power, reservoirs at Loch Treig and Loch Laggan providing the head of water to power the turbines. To maintain the pipes, values and reservoirs the construction railway, the Lochaber Narrow Gauge Railway, was retained until the 1970s.
Alumina is delivered by rail to the works, imported through North Blyth Alcan Terminal and travelling by the West Highland Railway for the last part of its journey - a traffic which has kept freight on the line long after other traffic such as timber have abandoned it.
Slabs of aluminium now travel south by truck having formerly travelled by train.
The works remains in operation, unlike the nearby Kinlochleven Aluminium Smelter.
The Lochaber Smelter is owned by the Liberty House Group , who also own the Dalzell Steel Works in Scotland.
Tags
Aluminium worksAliases
Lochaber Smelter Fort William Smelter,Fort William Aluminium WorksExternal links
Canmore site recordNLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
| Nearby stations Banavie Fort William Banavie Pier Fort William [1st] Corpach Loch Eil Outward Bound Gairlochy Spean Bridge Locheilside Roy Bridge Invergloy Platform Ballachulish (Glencoe) Ballachulish Ferry Kentallen Fersit Halt | Base Camp Bridge 53 Pipes D, E Lochaber Smelter Shed Bridge 52 Pipes A, B, C Lochaber Aluminium Smelter Ground Frame Lochaber Carbon Factory Tom-na-Faire Depot Lochy Viaduct [Fort William] Inverlochy Footbridge Fort William Junction Yard Portals Tourist/other Inverlochy Farm Level Crossing Old Inverlochy Castle Ben Nevis Distillery Tom na Faire Viewpoint |
| Location names in dark blue are on the same original line. | |
Chronology Dates
| / /1925 | Lochaber Narrow Gauge Railway Construction of line by Balfour, Beatty & Co Ltd begins. The line facilitates construction of the Lochaber Aluminium Works and the considerable hydro scheme powering it with a pipeline running east to Loch Treig and Loch Laggan. |
| / /1929 | Balfour, Beatty & Co Ltd Completes construction of the Lochaber Aluminium Works and its hydroscheme and tunnels. |
| 07/08/1932 | West Highland Railway Loch Treig Tunnel and diversion opened. The line was re-aligned at a higher level as the Loch became a reservoir, part of the Lochaber Aluminium Works scheme. |
| 11/04/2011 | North Blyth Branch (Blyth and Tyne Railway) GB Railfreight hires Deltic 55022 Royal Scots Gray to operate the North Blyth Alcan Terminal to Lynemouth Aluminium Works short distance run. (The locomotive also made the run to the Lochaber Aluminium Works near Fort William.) |
News items
| 22/09/2021 | Lochaber aluminium recycling plant approved [BBC News] |
