Old Photographs Railway Station Ballachulish Scotland

Old photograph of the railway station in Ballachulish, Lochaber, Scotland. This station opened as Ballachulish on 20 August 1903 with two platforms. There was a goods yard on the north side of the station. Within two years it was renamed as Ballachulish and Glencoe and renamed again in 1908 as Ballachulish, Glencoe for Kinlochleven. Apart from a short closure in 1953, this latter name remained until closure in 1966. The name Ballachulish, from Scottish Gaelic, Baile a' Chaolais, means the Village by the Narrows. The narrows in question is Caolas Mhic Phàdraig, Peter or Patrick's son's narrows, at the mouth of Loch Leven. As there was no road to the head of Loch Leven until 1927, the Ballachulish Ferry, established in 1733, and those at Invercoe, Callert and Caolas na Con were essential. The Ballachulish ferry closed in December 1975 when the Ballachulish Bridge finally opened. In 1903, a branch of the, now closed, Callander and Oban Railway, from Connel Ferry, was opened to Ballachulish. Slate from local quarries, established just two years after the infamous Glencoe Massacre of 1692, was used to provide the roofing slate for much of Edinburgh and Glasgow's skyline in the succeeding centuries. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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