Old Photographs Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway Argyll Scotland

Old photograph of the Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway in Argyll, Scotland. The Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway was a 2 ft 3 in narrow gauge railway in Argyll, between Campbeltown and the coal mining village of Machrihanish. Construction of the Railway began in November 1905. The work was completed in 1906 and the railway opened on 18 August 1906. It was an immediate success, attracting 10,000 passengers in its first three weeks of operation and replacing the horse drawn tourist carriage traffic in Campbeltown. In the years leading up to the First World War the railway thrived on a mixture of coal and passenger traffic. After the war, competition from new motor buses began to reduce the railway's profitable tourist trade. By 1931 the summer tourist trade had dwindled significantly. Although passenger trains did run in early 1932, the railway was failing and it abandoned passenger services in May 1932. By November 1933 the railway had been wound up and in May 1934 the last trains ran, assisting in the scrapping of the line.

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