On Thursday, for the first time in my life, I enjoyed getting up at 6:30am. We checked out of our hostel and headed for the first train of the day out of Fort William:
0742 Fort William to Crianlarich, arr 0930
Headcode: 1Y42, operated by First Scotrail using Sprinter 156478
Distance: 63 miles; walk-up price: £11.20
The West Highland line from Fort William to Crianlarich is probably my favourite section of the West Highland Line: on the All-Line Rover I didn't manage to see Fort William to Mallaig, but I did manage a return trip from Glasgow to Fort William on day 14; that post gives a pretty full account of the history of the line, so forgive me if I don't go into quite as much detail here.
The natural route for the West Highland Line to take would be to follow what is now the A82, which heads south along the coast from Fort William as far as Ballachulish, before climbing up Glen Coe and across the southern part of Rannoch Moor to Bridge of Orchy, and on to Crianlarich. However, that would have involved building a bridge at Ballachulish, and the West Highland Line was being built on a shoestring budget.
So, instead, the builders chose the cheaper option of simply building over the top of Rannoch Moor. Out of Fort William, we head north-east parallel to the road to Aviemore as far as Tulloch station, before turning south and climbing past Loch Treig, onto Rannoch Moor. Here, the route goes truly through the middle of nowhere, with some of the most beautiful, most barren, most wild scenery in the country.
Amazingly, there are not one but two stations in the middle of Rannoch Moor: we come first to the curious station at Corrour - the highest station anywhere in the country - which has no road access whatsoever. Nonetheless, about a mile from Corrour station is Loch Ossian Youth Hostel, which has become an essential base for walkers, as Corrour station is in easy walking distance of half a dozen Munros (mountains over 3000ft, of which there are 283 in Scotland).
The second station on Rannoch Moor is Rannoch station, where we meet our only road for 30 miles: however, that road comes from the east, a narrow single-track road leading towards Pitlochry and Perth. To drive from Rannoch station to Tulloch station, at the north end of the moor, a distance of 17 miles by rail, is a 76-mile, two-hour drive via the pass of Drumochter on the A9 far to the east.
At Rannoch station, we crossed paths with the sleeper train from London, which had left just under twelve hours earlier: yes, you can board a train in London at 21:15, and arrive the next morning in Fort William at 09:50. The sleeper train is nicknamed the "Deerstalker": imagine being able to go to sleep in London and wake up, having travelled nearly 500 miles, on top of Rannoch Moor. That one is definitely still on my to-do list.
It was at this point we realised just how lucky we were: we were on a train, in the middle of nowhere, looking out over the most glorious scenery in the country, under bright blue skies and blazing sunshine, right in the middle of the rush-hour in London. Very satisfying, and well worth the early start.
What is particularly nice about the trains on the West Highland lines is that they have undergone only minimal refurbishment, and they retain their low-backed seats, only coming up to about shoulder-height, thus providing everyone with a good view from the good-sized windows, something which is sadly lacking on newer trains. On this line, however, visibility is not optional, it is the reason for going on the line.
We continued south through Bridge of Orchy - where we rejoined the A82 - and Tyndrum, and got off at Crianlarich, where the lines from Oban and Fort William meet. For me, being up and outside at 9:30am is rare enough; being up, outside and having travelled 63 miles to Crianlarich was rare indeed. We had 45 minutes to wait for the next train to Oban; amazingly, this station in the middle of nowhere had a tea room, which we availed ourselves in the meantime.
1015 Crianlarich to Oban, arr 1127
Headcode: 1Y21, operated by First Scotrail using Sprinter 156493 + 156465
Distance: 41.75 miles; walk-up price: £6.80
Oban is just 100 miles from Glasgow, and though the journey takes three hours, the line is wonderfully scenic as to make day-tripping from Glasgow to Oban quite popular, and so our four-car train from Crianlarich to Oban was well-used. The line itself is less pioneering than the route to Fort William - it parallels the A85 road to Oban for most of the way - but still provides its share of wonderful scenery, past Loch Awe and Loch Etive.
An interesting feature are the Pass of Brander "stone signals": due to rockfalls, the line between Dalmally and Taynuilt, past Loch Awe, is protected by automatic signals which stop the driver if there has been a rockfall that would endanger the line. This is done using a system of wires: if rocks fall, the wires will be stretched or broken, and the semaphore signals will fall to show "danger".
The signals were installed in 1882, shortly after the line was opened, and have survived ever since. They are remarkable in being entirely mechanical, unlike most modern electrical tripwire systems, such as those installed at the end of the runways at Gatwick and Edinburgh airports (both of which have railway lines running past them). They did not, unfortunately, prevent a serious derailment in June 2010, when boulders fell below the wires; fortunately no-one was seriously injured.
At Connel, we pass the cantilever bridge which takes the road north along the coast to Ballachulish and Fort William. The name of the nearby station - Connel Ferry - betrays that originally there was no road bridge: the bridge was in fact originally a railway bridge, built in 1903 for the branch to Ballachulish; in 1914, the bridge was converted to have a parallel roadway, and when the railway closed in 1966 the bridge was dedicated entirely to road traffic.
With 20,000 people, the town of Oban is the largest on the western seaboard north of Glasgow, and is the base for the CalMac ferries to the outer Hebrides - with sailings to Castlebay and Lochboisdale taking five hours - as well as shorter ferry journeys to the nearby isles of Mull, Tiree and Coll. We spent an hour and a half looking round the town and getting some lunch, before heading back to the station for our train all the way back to Glasgow.
1256 Oban to Glasgow Queen Street, arr 1600 (actual 1618)
Headcode: 1Y24, operated by First Scotrail using Sprinter 156465 + 156493
Distance: 101.5 miles; walk-up price: £13.45
Our train took us back past Loch Etive and Loch Awe to Crianlarich, then south to Ardlui, where we hit the banks of Loch Lomond, before crossing the isthmus at Arrochar to Loch Long. We then cross another isthmus at Garelochhead to follow Gare Loch as far as Helensburgh, where we then follow the Clyde estuary through Dumbarton into Glasgow.
The four-car train was again well-loaded, but the journey wasn't quite as smooth as we had been hoping: after three stops we called at Loch Awe, where we stood for 15 minutes. The driver and conductor were evidently trying to fix a problem, which seemed to be something to do with the doors in the third carriage; eventually we proceeded, but we only got two stops further to Tyndrum Lower before stopping for another five minutes.
At this point the conductor asked all passengers in the rear two coaches to proceed forwards to the front two coaches: the problems were evidently severe enough that the rear unit could not be relied upon for safety, and so all the passengers were bundled into the front two coaches. Fortunately, the train was not too busy, and while there was quite a lot of luggage around, everyone got a seat.
By the time we got to Crianlarich, we were 17 minutes late, and holding up the next train in the other direction which had portions heading for Oban and Mallaig. The train to Mallaig formed the last train back from Mallaig to Fort William, which provided a connecting service into the sleeper train back to London, and the delay could potentially have rippled through all those services; it was amusing to think that one small door problem at a remote location in the highlands could have effects on the following morning's rush-hour services into London Euston.
Beyond Crianlarich, the journey was uneventful, in more sense than one. By now the cloud had started to roll in from the west - the weather forecast being the key factor in our deciding to travel earlier, rather than later - but it remained dry for the whole journey.
However, just south of Crianlarich, we passed from Highland council area into Argyll and Bute; the change in local authority marked a noticeable change in visibility. While Highland council have undertaken to clear as many trees as possible from the line, thus aiding visibility and making the ride more attractive, Argyll and Bute have not yet done the same, meaning any view of Loch Lomond that we had was obscured by trees.
Having made up a little time, being only 11 minutes late at Dumbarton, we then had to follow a couple of on-time stopping trains, and thus arrived in Glasgow 18 minutes late, where we proceeded to our hotel - a slightly older Travelodge, with a subtly different layout - to dump our stuff and relax for an hour or two.
For dinner, we decided to head to the nearby town of Balloch, at the south end of Loch Lomond. Of course, we decided to go and come back by different routes, using various parts of Glasgow's dense suburban network.
1756 Glasgow Queen Street to Anniesland, arr 1816
Headcode: 2W73, operated by First Scotrail using Sprinter 158735
Distance: 6.25 miles; walk-up price: £1.40
We started with the short shuttle service to Anniesland, which was delayed by ten minutes awaiting a driver. For a suburban service in the evening peak it was busy, but by no means full; the short distance is probably better suited to buses than trains, but the line survives nonetheless.
1835 Anniesland to Balloch, arr 1910
Headcode: 2E73, operated by First Scotrail using EMU 320307 + 320322
Distance: 15.5 miles; walk-up price: £2.50
At Anniesland, we joined the main electric suburban lines. There are two east-west tunnels through central Glasgow, one via Queen Street and one via Central. On the west side of the city, they join up at Partick, before splitting again at Hyndland (the next station), with two routes to Dalmuir, one via Anniesland and Westerton, and the other via Garscadden and Yoker. From Dalmuir, the line continues on to Dumbarton, before splitting for Helensburgh and Balloch. And, if you're not confused by now, there's also a branch to Milngavie which splits off at Westerton.
To cut a long story short, our route took us from Anniesland, through Westerton, Dalmuir and Dumbarton, to Balloch. The contrast with suburban lines in London was stark: while even the outer reaches of London are noticeably affluent, here prefabricated concrete structures abound, and much of the city feels poor.
Balloch, on the other hand, is a real treat: Loch Lomond is just a short walk from Balloch station. Almost no other city in the country allows you to spend just half an hour on a suburban train, walk for ten minutes, and find yourself in a National Park looking out over a beautiful loch; by now there was still a little sunshine left, and while the cloud had well and truly arrived, in fact it only added to the atmosphere.
The walk from the station to the loch and back provided us with plenty of appetite for a good pub dinner at the Tullie Inn, right next to Balloch station, which was excellent and which we'd highly recommend. If you're ever in Glasgow and want to get out of the city briefly, spend an evening in Balloch; you won't regret it.
2123 Balloch to Dumbarton East, arr 2134
Headcode: 2E64, operated by First Scotrail using EMU 320317
Distance: 4.75 miles; walk-up price: £1.65
We headed back as far as Dumbarton East, where we changed trains; we could have changed at a number of places, but we chose Dumbarton East for its views of Dumbarton Castle, a castle built on a hill perfectly shaped, with steep sides, for a fortification.
2157 Dumbarton East to Glasgow Queen Street (low level), arr 2229
Headcode: 2H16, operated by First Scotrail using EMU 334037 + 334027
Distance: 15 miles; walk-up price: £2.45
Our final train took us back to Queen Street via Dalmuir and Yoker, the other route to the one we went to Balloch on, and we arrived not in the high-level platforms we left at Queen Street but rather the underground low-level platforms.
London has had one cross-city suburban line - Thameslink - since 1988 and is currently building another in the shape of Crossrail; by contrast, the line through Glasgow Queen Street has been open since 1886, and that through Glasgow Central opened in 1896 (though it closed between 1964 and 1979).
These tunnels mean that most of the suburban trains do not simply run between Glasgow city centre and the suburbs, but rather they run through the city centre, from suburbs on one side to suburbs on the other side. This permits more than one station in the city centre, thus spreading the load and giving passengers more choice, as well as needing much fewer platforms in the city centre (albeit at the expense of tunnels).
In our case, the train we got from Balloch was heading to Springburn, and the train we changed onto at Dumbarton East started in Helensburgh Central, and was in fact heading all the way to Edinburgh via the newly-reopened Airdrie-Bathgate line.
Indeed, the complexity and density of the Glasgow suburban network led to us allowing Friday and Saturday to explore the network and try and better understand the services and their use. We got back to our hotel after a long day - nearly fifteen hours from first train to last - and decided to have a lie-in on Friday, ready for two days in Glasgow.
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