Talk:West Highland Line

History of the Line

I understand that this rail line has some very interesting history, particularly regarding the difficulties of getting rail over peat bogs. If someone can put something on the page about the engineering history of this line, I would greatly appreciate it.

Is this really a mainline? I've never heard it described as such. I've only heard it referred to as 'the West Highland Line'.

I have seen it referred to as both. The West Highland Line page acts a redirect for people who know it by this name. (Our Phellap 16:11, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC))

Oban Line part of WHL?

Historically, the railway to Oban was not part of the West Highland Line, but has come to be regarded as such since the partial closure of the original Callander & Oban Railway in 1965, after which all trains to Oban were routed via the WHL as far as Crianlarich.

Strike-out Craigendoran (Upper)

Probably the best thing to do as it is now closed to West Highland trains, however it acknowledges it existence on the route.

-- Stewart 15:26, 22 September 2006 (UTC) Craigendoran (Upper) == Is presently closed to West Highland trains, however the platform still exists (under the weeds and with its entrance blocked at the foot of the stairs) There are moves afoot locally, to push for reopening it as there is growing development at this end of Helensburgh including the local secondary and a recently built Waitrose. There are also recent local attempts to get other stations on the West Highland Line, in the Helensburgh area, reopened. Decisions on several are presently pending.(see Whistlefield, Shandon and Rhu below)

Local Stations to Arrochar

Whistlefield, Shandon and Rhu (or Row) were closed in the mid 1960's along with Craigendoran (Upper). Is there a place for them in this article?

-- Stewart 15:28, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

A "former stations" section perhaps. Laurel Bush 17:56, 22 September 2006 (UTC).

They should be listed, but struck out in the same manner as Craigendoran. 81.79.155.131 18:14, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Copied from Talk: Helensburgh Upper railway station.

Helensburgh Upper railway station article has been reverted to include the Closed Craigendoran Station. Consideration is to be provided for the closed station between Helensburgh Upper and Arrochar.

One way would be to include a Disused Line box as has been added for the Glasgow Central Railway closed stations - for example Glasgow Green railway station. Then closed station could be listed with strike-out on the West Highland Line page and the closed stations at Faslane, Rhu (Row) etc, could be covered.

Stewart 18:59, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Reference

I have a possible reference

Thomas J., 1970, The West Highland Railway,(revised edn) Pan Books, London. (First published 1965 by David & Charles)but I don't know how to add a Wiki article.

Ndangerfield 08:25, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

History and Current Operations

History of the line is now provided at West Highland Railway. This includes the closed stations, and the original terminus at Banavie Pier. --Stewart 08:48, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Gorton Crossing

There was no mention of the former passing place on Rannoch Moor at Gorton Crossing (OS Grid Ref NN 395 479), so I added a single line to include it. It's still there (see http://www.flickr.com/photos/93042849@N00/6146515901/). Geograph has a few photos of the location too http://www.geograph.org.uk/browse.php?gridref=NN4643&gridsquare=NN&eastings=39&northings=47&setpos=Show+%3E. Someone might like to add it to the diagram?

The diagram on this article deliberately shows only stations that are currently open. The West Highland Railway article has historical details, including a diagram that does show Gorton.–Signalhead ^< T > 00:18, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

Accidents and Incidents

I cannot believe that the only incident of note was on the ex-Callendar and Oban section of this route in June 2010. For completeness sake either the other relevant incidents since the route became established (and I would say that should be when the C&O was closed east of Crainlarich in 1965) or incidents should be removed. At the moment the section is very selective in its content. --Stewart ^{(talk | edits)} 19:06, 18 June 2010 (UTC)

There have definately been more incidents than this. Only a few years ago there was an incident at Loch Awe-side where a train was derailed, but spared from the water by trees in the way.(see Wikipedia article " Falls of Cruachan derailment ")

Edit the route diagram to read distances in miles.

I would like someone who has the time to convert a load of numbers to go and edit the route diagram located at Template:West_Highland_Line so that the distances are in miles as opposed to Km because the UK primarily measures distances in miles. I tried to edit it myself but it just takes too long so I gave up. Either convert the Kms to Miles or add a second collum for miles so both units can be shown. Slender (talk) 23:34, 22 August 2020 (UTC)

Mileages on this route are not simple, there are several zero points, negative mileages and even descending distances:

West Highland Line

Point	Miles:chains	Point	Miles:chains	Zero point
Glasgow Queen Street High Level	0:02	Cowlairs West Junction	1:67	Queen Street ticket hall
Cowlairs West Junction	8:26	Maryhill Park Junction	5:51	High Street via Hyndland
Maryhill Park Junction	4:40	Dunglass Junction	13:40	Queen Street HL
Dunglass Junction	113:46	Dumbarton East Junction	116:00	Carlisle
Dumbarton East Junction	15:51	Craigendoran Junction	22:76	Queen Street HL via Maryhill
Craigendoran Junction	-0:01	Crianlarich Junction	36:31	Craigendoran Junction signal box
Crianlarich Junction	0:00	Lower Crianlarich Junction	0:44	Crianlarich Junction
Lower Crianlarich Junction	30:23	Oban	71:44	Callander
Crianlarich Junction	36:31	Fort William Junction	98:65	Craigendoran Junction signal box
Fort William Junction	98:65	Fort William	99:37	Craigendoran Junction signal box
Fort William Junction	0:05	Banavie Junction	1:27	Fort William Junction signal box
Banavie Junction	0:00	Mallaig	39:39	Banavie Junction

see Quail vol. 1 maps 6, 7, 21, 22. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 07:17, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

Why not ease reading and comparing by using the same order in table and diagram?

Why not have the items in the table and the diagram in the section "The route in detail" listed in the same order and in the same direction (from top to bottom)? Now one starts with Glasgow and the other ends with it, which makes comparison harder than necessary.Redav (talk) 10:37, 20 February 2021 (UTC)

The diagram is oriented with north (roughly speaking) at the top, as is conventional for maps. The table begins at Glasgow because that is the beginning of the route - most travellers over this route are tourists, who typically start at the Glasgow end. Also, as shown by my description of the mileages in the previous thread, the railways regard Glasgow as the start of the route. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 12:59, 20 February 2021 (UTC)