Old Photograph Steam Locomotive Helmsdale Scotland

Old photograph of a steam locomotive in the railway station in Helmsdale, Sutherland, Scotland. The station on the Far North Line opened on 28 July 1874. The station buildings were designed by the architect William Fowler. The station's passing loop is often used to allow trains in opposite directions to cross, though the points work automatically under the remote supervision of the signalling centre at Inverness in the Highlands. On 29 April 1891 there was a collision between a down mixed train from Inverness which ran into an engine which had arrived earlier. Major Marindin of the Board of Trade investigated and found that the driver Robert Lindsay deliberately ignored the signals as he would have had difficulty in re-starting the train on the rising gradient of 1 in 59.



Tour Scotland video of old photographs of Helmsdale, Sutherland, Scotland. The modern village was planned in 1814 to resettle communities that had been removed from the surrounding straths as part of the Highland Clearances. It is a fishing port at the estuary of the River Helmsdale, and was once the home of one of the largest herring fleets in Europe. The village is on the A9 road, at a junction with the A897, and has a railway station on the Far North Line. Andrew Rutherford, born 23 July 1929, died 13 January 1998, was born in Helmsdale. He was a British scholar and university administrator. He was Vice Chancellor of the University of London from 1994 to 1997. In 1953 he married Nancy Browning and they had two sons and a daughter. He died in Edinburgh. 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.

View the most recent Tour Scotland photographs.