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Report - - Lochaber Railway between Bridges 15 and 7, Feb 2022 (Pic Heavy) | Other Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Lochaber Railway between Bridges 15 and 7, Feb 2022 (Pic Heavy)

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alex17595

Down t'pit
Regular User
History From Wiki - Because I tried to write my own and it was awful.

The Lochaber Narrow Gauge Railway was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge industrial railway. It was a relatively long line, built for the construction and subsequent maintenance of a 15-mile-long (24-kilometre) tunnel from Loch Treig to a factory near Fort William in Scotland. The tunnel was excavated to carry water for the Lochaber hydroelectric scheme in connection with aluminium production by British Aluminium. The railway came to be known colloquially as the 'Old Puggy Line'.


The railway had a number of sections including:
- Pier railway, a 1.75 mile long branch running from the main base camp to the pier on Loch Linnhe.
- Upper works railway, a 19 mile section which made up most of the line, this report is from that section.
- Portal railway, An incline connecting the sea level pier branch with the upper works railway.
- Adit 10 Branch, 0.75 mile branch to adit 10
- Shaft 7 Branch 0.5 mile long
- Trieg - Laggan branch, 3 mile branch connecting the Upper works railway to Laggan dam
- Branch to Shaft C 0.5 mile

This made for a network of around 25 miles.

The railway was orignally only to be used for construction but was kept in use for maintenence until 1977 when some of the trackbed was washed away. It was then decided to move over to road transport as the forestry people had made better roads in the area.

The explore
I had come across this railway when doing some research online and finding this website. What I really want to see were the trestles, as there isn't many of them left in the UK anymore. The weather was as expected ie. windier than dogger bank but it managed to stay dry long enough to finish my walk. The best part about Scotland is not having to worry about someone catching you wandering about where you shouldn't be.


First off is a map of what this report covers

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I started off at Bridge 15 which carried the railway at an impressive height above Allt Leachdach. I guee they chopped either end of the bridge to stop people playing on them.

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The other side of the bridge and the worst part of the day - getting over that fence

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The railway continues across the moorland

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Past a ballast pit

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Rail used as a post


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Next up is bridge 14, where only the abutments remain.

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Remains of Bridge 13 over Allt Easain with some metal plates.

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I think this is where bridge 12 was

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note the old steel sleepers in the embankment

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Over the Moors again

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Bridges 10/11 cross Allt Beinn Chilanaig

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After even moor moorland I reached bridge 9

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Lone telephone pole

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The trackbed running along the side of the hill

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Bridge 8 over Cruiadh Allt

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The cross supports are made of flat bottom rail

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alex17595

Down t'pit
Regular User
The speeder shed is built from old sleepers.

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A tipper wagon slowly becoming part of the hillside

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The entrance to adit no 3 is in a cutting under the railway

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A quick shot through the bars, the main tunnel runs a few hundred metres further in.

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Looking back up to the adit 3 tip

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tomba

28DL Full Member
28DL Full Member
Fascinating stuff! Will you please post the grid coordinates/lat-long for your map. Thanks! :)
 

tigger

mog
Regular User
Looks like a grand walk with plenty of interesting things to be found along the way.
The pressed steel plates at the site of bridge 13 may have been re-purposed as they were made by Braithwaite and are used for building water tanks normally.
 

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