Explained: The phantom Highland steam railway line that never was...
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LOST railways evoke fascination and nostalgia in equal measures – speaking to a time when steam ruled the tracks and branch lines echoed to the sound of the approaching whistle.
Many of these long since forgotten tracks met their fates at the hands of the infamous Dr Beeching – whose report into the future of the railways in the 1960s singularly failed to anticipate the network's surge in passenger numbers of the 21st century.
But while many of these branches met their fates in the post-war years, not all of them had quite such a prosaic end.
Read more: Explained: The legend of the A9 Soldier's Head landmark
And in the case of one long since forgotten Highland branch, it never even welcomed a single passenger.
Welcome to the story of the phantom railway line that never was... but came agonisingly close to reality.
This is the tale of the Cromarty and Dingwall Light Railway.
Wait a minute, a railway, in Cromarty?
Yes, you heard that right, the Black Isle wasn't just meant to be home to one branch line, but a second that would have run along its northern shores to the historic burgh town.
But, while the Fortrose branch along the south coast did see the light of day, the one that almost linked Cromarty to the Far North Line was a case of 'so close, but no cigar'.
And even though it never welcomed a single locomotive there is still physical evidence of it on the ground and in historic maps even today!
Inauspicious beginnings?
Its tortuous tale begins in 1897 when a track running from Dingwall to Cromarty was proposed as part of a wider effort to increase the scope of the Highland rail network.
Indeed, it was a busy time for the Highland railways, with the Kyle of Lochalsh line finally completed in the same year – after the final section from Stromeferry to Kyle welcomed its first passengers.
Originally foreseen as crossing the River Conon near Alcaig, the route of the proposed new Black Isle track was ultimately altered so the line would connect with the existing network at Conon Bridge instead, and so avoid the need for a new river crossing of "considerable size".
A Light Railway Order authorising the creation of the line was granted in the summer of 1902 but negotiations with the Highland Railway to allow the new company to run its trains on their track from Conon to Dingwall delayed construction.
And, when work finally began it – somewhat paradoxically – started at the Cromarty end of the line... a literal line to nowhere stranded many miles from the rest of the network.
What happened then?
Well, work was very slow and the company had to seek Extension of Time Orders, first in 1907 and again in 1910.
But by summer of 1914 a full six miles of track had been laid down at the Cromarty end of the line, and other preparatory work such as cuttings at Drumcudden and a bridge near Cullicudden Farm were under way.
Six miles down. Sounds like progress... almost there?
Alas no, for although six miles had been laid, work on a further two was in progress and maps of the time were already including the route of the future track on them (see below) – that still left 11 miles remaining to build... in 1914.
And that year was absolutely key as to why the line has faded into history.
For when World War I broke out that autumn, work was suspended, and as the conflict ground on, valuable resources like metal were needed to fuel the war effort.
About a year after hostilities started, the existing steel track was lifted for use in other places.
And this ultimately signalled the death knell of the entire project.
Work did not resume after the war concluded in 1918, and by 1920 the project was officially dead.
A 17-mile long branch line that promised to link Cromarty to the rail network, and would have featured stations at Alcaig, Culbokie, Drumcudden, Newhall and Cromarty – as well as a host of level crossings at places like Jemimaville – was no more.
A phantom railway line, with only a few overgrown cuttings left to show that it was ever planned.
But glance at an old map of the period, such as a Bartholomew's, and the spirit of that line still lingers – enticing travellers with promises of future stations and stops that would sadly never come to be... and offering up a tantalising glimpse of what might have been, and very nearly was.
So is that then? Is that all that remains after all of that work on the ground?
Well, in a wee twist to this particular tale, surprisingly no, it isn't – and motorists travelling on the mammoth straight on the B9163 west of Resolis Primary School use a part of that railway's infrastructure every single time they drive the road... and are likely none the wiser.
For the navvies who dug this failed railway had made it as far as Cullicudden, and a bridge they built to enable the railway to cut underneath the road still exists.
The cutting that passes beneath the road has been all but completely filled in now, but the 'bridge' is still there – albeit very difficult to spot unless you happen to have an old map of the route... and know what you're looking for.
And, as the below picture gallery make clear, not all evidence on the ground has been wiped away by the passage of time.
Wee monuments, as it were, to a railway line that came so close to becoming a reality only to fall at the final hurdle...
