BILL McALLISTER: Railway almost looked very different than what we have
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This is the 160th anniversary of the opening of the pioneering rail link north of Inverness – but, remarkably, it nearly started with a sea crossing between Nairn and the Black Isle.
The Inverness and Nairn Railway Company had begun in 1855 and
laying track proved straightforward on the
flat terrain between the burghs. Inverness railway station opened that November, designed by noted local rail engineer Joseph Mitchell.
But when it came to blazing a trail north, a direct route to Invergordon was seen as quite a headache. For a start, the Ness would need to be crossed, a swing bridge was required at Clachnaharry for the Caledonian Canal – and then bridges would be required to cross five more rivers.
As an alternative, it was seriously proposed that a ferry crossing from Nairn Harbour to the far side of the Cromarty Firth narrows, in the vicinity of Fortrose!
Bypassing Inverness in this way, it was argued, would allow good terrain for a railway line to Dingwall and on to Invergordon.
Fortunately, the legendary Joseph Mitchell had other ideas.
Sir Alexander Matheson, who owned and developed Muirtown Estate to open up Inverness west of the Ness, formed a company to raise £215,000 in share capital to finance the railway project. And when the committee met in Inverness in 1859, Mitchell successfully argued for a land route north.
The Inverness and Ross-shire Railway Bill was approved unopposed in Westminster in July 1860, and that September the first sod was cut.
Crossings over the Beauly, Conon, Skiach, Allt Graad and Alness rivers were designed and implemented. But Inverness railway platforms faced east towards Nairn, so the station was extended as a west-facing platform had to be built for the new route.
A new track beside the harbour, linking both routes via Welsh’s Bridge Junction was added and became known as the Rose Street Curve, which still exists today.
The US Civil War was raging in 1862 when Colonel Yolland, of the British Board of Trade, approved the first section on June 10 – and the following day the stretch from Inverness to Dingwall was officially opened.
Bunchrew and Lentran were the first scheduled stops. Many may find it curious that Bunchrew had its own station, but it actually continued open for passengers until 1960 and for goods trains for four years after that.
Hassle with landowners over route lines and compensation meant the line was not extended to Invergordon until 1863.
The line was extended to Meikle Ferry in 1864 – where passengers then caught a ferry to travel by road to Dornoch. That dubiously multi-travel option only lasted five years.
In October 1864, the line was continued to Ardgay, 57 miles from Inverness and four years later the Sutherland Railway Company extended the track to Golspie. Six more years and Thurso and Wick joined the rail revolution, although via a circuitous route because of landlords’ interference which even today takes as long from Inverness as an Edinburgh-Tenerife flight!
Beauly railway station opened in 1862, closed 98 years later but reopened 20 years ago.
Inverness station was further extended in 1865 and again 12 years later when the platforms became 500 feet long. In 1870 a new line from Dingwall to Kyle of Lochalsh offered Invernessians a historic direct rail route to Skye.
Clachnaharry actually had its own station in 1868 but it closed in 1913.
The Black Isle is railway- free today but once you could actually catch a train from Inverness to Fortrose. The 15-mile branch track from Muir of Ord opened in 1894, with stations at Redcastle, Allangrange, Munlochy, Avoch and Fortrose. The latter station closed to passengers in 1951 and was shut down nine years later.
The opening of the railway north was a massive social and economic advance for Inverness and the Highlands. And to think it might have been a sea crossing!
- Sponsored by Ness Castle Lodges.
