Kyle of Lochalsh Line
The Kyle of Lochalsh Line is a railway line in Scotland. It connects Inverness with Kyle of Lochalsh, where it branches off only in Dingwall of the Far North Line.
History
After 1855, the first train of the Highland Railway had reached the Inverness train station, the desire grew in the north and west Highlands located after a rail link. 1865 received the Dingwall and Skye Railway permission to build a route across the Highlands. The section from Inverness to Dingwall Inverness after three years adopted by the Highland Railway and Ross- shire Railway had opened with the support of the Duke of Sutherland in 1862.
The distance between Dingwall and Stromeferry was opened on 5 August 1870. In Stromeferry a connection was made by steamer to the Isle of Skye and the Outer Hebrides, this is also where the main traffic route of significance revealed. Another cause for the construction were the wishes of various wealthy Landadeliger who wanted to achieve their situated in the Highlands estates and lodges better. In the years before the First World War, the passengers had in first class accordingly a stake of up to 20%. The greatest demand, therefore, reached the tourist traffic before 12 August of each year, the designated as the Glorious Twelfth official start of the grouse shooting. Some stations such as Achnashellach or Duncraig were first used exclusively for the residents of nearby estates and were not publicly available. Freight traffic, however, did not develop as hoped, plans for the implementation of fishing boats between the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean were not realized, although there is a extra-wide track distance had already been provided in Garve Railway Station.
The Dingwall and Skye Railway was taken over in 1880 by the Highland Railway. The small spa town of Strathpeffer, the largest town between Dingwall and Kyle of Lochalsh, had only received a station far away due to the resistance of landowners. The Highland Railway opened in 1885, therefore, the Strathpeffer Branch, a short spur route that branched in Fodderty Junction of the Kyle of Lochalsh Line. The former railway station of Strathpeffer was renamed aft Need.
1893 began the Highland Railway to build the extension of Stromeferry to Kyle of Lochalsh, with which the sea could be considerably shortened to Skye. The extension was officially opened after four years of construction on 2 November 1897. The route of the steep and rocky south shore of Loch Carron turned out to be very costly. The track is, as well as the parallel A890, repeatedly threatened on this section of rockfall and therefore equipped with the relevant catch fences and grilles and a rockfall gallery. Despite this shortening the sea route the completion of the West Highland Line to Mallaig in 1901 led to a decline in traffic.
In 1923 the Highland Railway in the course of implementation of the Railways Act 1921 in the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS ) on. In 1948 the LMS part of British Railways (BR ). The short Strathpeffer Branch was set in 1955.
Under the 1963 Acting Chairman Richard Beeching developed British Railways plans to rationalize and restructure the UK rail network, which became known because of the associated extensive line closures as the Beeching Axe. The Kyle of Lochalsh Line was thus the late 1960s, setting a candidate. First, the closure has been postponed, as in Stromeferry for the North Sea oil rigs for an assembly plant was built along with a railway connection in the course of the construction of the oil industry, the Loch Kishorn Oil Platform Construction Site. Due to the inadequate road connecting the operation was dependent on the rail link. The 1975 went into operation work proved however as an economic failure and was closed in 1982 again. At this time, the Tourism had already discovered the plane passing through scenic parts of the Highlands railway and still existing plans for setting were finally placed in the drawer.
To reduce the remaining high operating costs, the Kyle of Lochalsh Line as changed the Far North Line 1985 token from the hitherto extant rod fuse on the radio Electronic block in which the driver via radio one driving to the nearest train station requests. The common central management for both routes is located in Dingwall. The course will be set by the driver. The operation of the line comes from so without local dispatcher.
With the dissolution of British Rail took over 1997 ScotRail, a subsidiary of National Express Group passenger rail traffic on the Kyle of Lochalsh Line. 2004 moved the franchise from National Express to FirstGroup who market it as First ScotRail.
Route description
The Kyle of Lochalsh Line is single track throughout. Crossing opportunities exist west of Dingwall in Garve, Achnasheen and Strathcarron. The previously existing sidings in aft Need, Achanalt, Loan crossing, Achnashellach and Stromeferry were already closed no later than the early 1980s.
Vehicle use
The Kyle of Lochalsh Line was initially operated with older locomotives of the Highland Railway. In 1882 then the wheel arrangement 2'B came specifically for the track built Tender locomotives used, which is very well established and have been referred to as " Skye Bogies ". They remained on the track, complemented by other 2'B - types of the Highland Railway until the 1930s. The LMS eventually brought her widespread from 1934 Standardlok LMS Class 5 "Black Five" the wheel arrangement 2'C used, which dominated the use of vehicles by the end of the steam era. British Railways began around Inverness very early with the Verdieselung, so that in 1961 the last steam locomotives disappeared from the scheduled use on the Kyle of Lochalsh Line. They were replaced by diesels in classes 25 and 26 From 1980 locomotives of the class were predominantly 37 to use. Until the 1960s led the noon train from Inverness to Achnasheen a dining car that was there passed the turn.
In the late 1980s the locomotive-hauled trains were replaced by railcars. The Class 156 were first used after a few years replaced by the currently used Class 158.