Lochaber Aluminium Works

Location type

Works

Name 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 works

Aliases

Lochaber Smelter Fort William Smelter,Fort William Aluminium Works

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map


Chronology Dates

  /  /1925Lochaber 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.
  /  /1929Balfour, Beatty & Co Ltd
Completes construction of the Lochaber Aluminium Works and its hydroscheme and tunnels.
07/08/1932West 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.
11/04/2011North 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

22/09/2021Lochaber aluminium recycling plant approved [BBC News]

Books

All Stations to Mallaig!: West Highland Line Since Nationalisation
Argyll and the Highlands Last Days of Steam

Argyll and the Highlands' Lost Railways

Ben Nevis and Fort William, The Mamores and The Grey Corries, Kinlochleven and Spean Bridge (OS Explorer Map)

History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands: West Highland Railway v. 1

History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands: West Highland Railway v. 1

Iron Road to the Isles: A Travellers and Tourist Guide to the West Highland Lines

Iron Roads to the Isles: A Travellers and Tourists Souvenir Guide to the West Highland Lines

Mountain Moor and Loch on the Route of the West Highland Railway

On West Highland Lines

Railway World Special: West Highland Lines

Rannan Rathad Iarainn nan Eilean =: The West Highland Line

Road To The Isles Dvd: Part One The West Highland Line Between Crianlarich to Fort William, From the Drivers Cab Of A Class 37, With The Caledonian Sleeper
The Mallaig Railway: The West Highland Extension 1897-1901 (RCAHMS Broadsheet)
The New Railway: The Earliest Years of the West Highland Line

The Story of the West Highland

The Story of the West Highland: The 1940s LNER Guide to the Line

The West Highland Railway

The West Highland Railway (Railways of the Scottish Highlands)

The West Highland Railway 120 Years

Trossachs and West Highlands: Exploring the Lost Railways (Local History Series)

Victorian Travel on the West Highland Line: By Mountain, Moor and Loch in 1894

Walks from the West Highland Railway (Cicerone Guide)

West Highland Line: Great Railway Journeys Through Time

West Highland Railway
West Highland Railway (History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands v. 1): West Highland Railway v. 1
West Highland Railway: Plans, Poltics and People