Bridges 7-15 of the Lochaber Narrow Gauge Railway.

[Alex]

I thought I'd have a look at these as trestles are not very common in the UK.

Visited in Feb 2022.

Brief history of the line from Wikipedia.

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.

As usual it was raining on and off for most of the walk and very windy.

Bridge 15

Bridges 14-12 only have abutments remaining.
Bridge 10/11 over Allt Beinn Chilanaig





Next up is bridge 9

The railway continues over some moorland. Onto Bridge 8 over Cruiadh Allt

Remains of the speeder shed built of old sleepers, now a sheep hut

Old tipper wagon used in the construction of the water tunnel.

Would be complete without an adit. Adit no 3 which goes into the main tunnel of the hydroelectric intake.

 

[TomFerry]

I do love this

 

[Roy Morton]

I thought I'd have a look at these as trestles are not very common in the UK.

Visited in Feb 2022.

Brief history of the line from Wikipedia.



As usual it was raining on and off for most of the walk and very windy.

Bridge 15

Bridges 14-12 only have abutments remaining.
Bridge 10/11 over Allt Beinn Chilanaig

View attachment 103

View attachment 104

Next up is bridge 9

The railway continues over some moorland. Onto Bridge 8 over Cruiadh Allt

Remains of the speeder shed built of old sleepers, now a sheep hut

Old tipper wagon used in the construction of the water tunnel.

Would be complete without an adit. Adit no 3 which goes into the main tunnel of the hydroelectric intake.

What a great place to visit, lost in the woods like that. Reminiscent of US mining sites

 

[Alex]

What a great place to visit, lost in the woods like that. Reminiscent of US mining sites

Indeed, there is very few trestles remaining in this country after most were replaced or swapped. Where as the Americans are big fans

 

[BikinGlynn]

Wow they look superb

 

[ElectroNick]

We'd have had even more if it wasn't for the likes of Beeching and his cronies.

We used to have the Belah viaduct over on the Stainmore line up in the Pennines which I'd have loved to have seen - in fact I'd have loved to have travelled the length of the line when it was open.

On a more happy note, Locomotion at Shildon has recently seen the restoration and return of the Gaunless bridge, which while only small, is still effectively a trestle.