Scotland – Thursday: Farewell to the Jacobite

The final stages of The Jacobite jnourney.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest post in the series I am doing about my holiday in Scotland. This post brings to an end the account of The Jacobite train journey.

THE LAST STAGE OF THE TRAIN JOURNEY

Once we were able to move on from Glenfinnan we encountered no further hitches and the train chugged into Fort William at 3:55PM, within a few minutes of the stated return time.

A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS
ON “THE JACOBITE”

This is unquestionably a very fine train journey, and to experience it on a steam train added something to it. However, I have to disagree with the ‘selectorate’ who named it The World’s Greatest Train Journey. Inlandsbanan in Sweden is one that I rate ahead of it, the other section of this same railway, Glasgow to Fort William, is as impressive in its own way, sweeping across a moor that sees it at one point seven miles from the nearest road, and as you will be seeing later in this series of posts the rail route from Kyle of Lochalsh to Inverness is pretty special as well.

Scotland – Thursday – Mallaig to Glenfinnan

The account of the first half of the return journey on The Jacobite.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the next post in my series about my holiday in Scotland. This post commences the coverage of the return journey from Mallaig to Fort William on The Jacobite.

EXPLANATION

Why am I covering the return journey? Because although I was still on the non-ideal side of the train, rge fact that the locomotive runs around the train to be attached to the opposite end did mean that I was facing the direction of travel for the return journey, which meant that I got more and better photos than on the outward run.

MALLAIG TO GLENFINNAN

Although we would not be stopping for long enough for anyone to disembark on this return journey we would have a stop at Glenfinnan to allow a regular service to pass us. Thus, Glenfinnan once again forms a logical break poiny.

GV1 — Glenfinnan Viaduct through the window.

Scotland – Thursday: Mallaig

The stop in Mallaig.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the next post in my series about my holiday in Scotland. This post covers the hour and a half at Mallaig that The Jacobite allows.

MALLAIG

Naturally, I commenced proceedings at Mallaig by taking the opportunity to get some photos of the train:

I had noticed the presence of a Heritage Centre close to the station. Unfortunately such is the extent to which Mallaig has embraced its status as a tourist trap that they were charging for admission, so I got nor further than the gift shop.

The rain eased sufficiently for me to explore a little further.

While on the train I had purchased a souvenir route map. In Mallaig I also bought a pictorial map of Skye and Wester Ross:

The Iron Road to the Isles — The route map.

Skye and Wester Ross 2 — Two pics of the pictorial map.

Scotland – Thursday: Glenfinnan to Mallaig

An account of the Glenfinnan-Mallaig section of The Jacobite journey.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to another post in my series about my holiday in Scotland. This post covers the second half of the outward journey on The Jacobite, ending with our arrival at Mallaig.

HEADING WEST

Although we did not stop between Glenfinnan and Mallaig, two stops before Mallaig on the regular route is Arisaig which has the distinction of being the westernmost mainline railway station on the British mainland.

ARISAIG – MALLAIG

The finish of the journey provided few photo opportunities, although travelling back the other way (a journey I had previously made on a regular train in 1993) made up for this.

Loco1 — The locomotive at Mallaig station – there are more shots of this to come in my next post, this being an aperitif.

Scotland – Thursday: Fort William to Glenfinnan

An account of the Fort William – Glenfinnan section of The Jacobite journey.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the next post in the series about my holiday in Scotland. Today we deal with the first section of The Jacobite journey, including a stop at Glenfinnan.

ON THE TRAIN

The train was full, although of course on a journey of this nature no-one was made to stand by the time we got under way exactly according to schedule. The limitations that an aisle seat facing against the direction of travel impose on photography notwithstanding I did get some pictures.

P1010023 — The first station beyond Fort William

P1010044 — The first of two shots that I got featuring the Glenfinnan Viaduct on the outward journey.

P1010046 — A view from the Glenfinnan Viaduct

P1010052 — Approaching Glenfinnan station.

AT GLENFINNAN STATION

At Glenfinnan we had a stop of about 20 minutes. There is a small museum there, but I did not venture in. Unfortunately the circular walk was too long to accomplish in the time available, so I acquainted myself with the station and augmented my stock of photos. I was not going to take any chances time wise because we had been warned when we needed to back on the train by, and such warnings need to be backed by action, i.e leaving late returners behind, if they are to have any force.

P1010055 — Ironic that the London and North Eastern should be featured here given that as you will be seeing in a later post while North we are most certainly not East.

1063 — The Jacobite at Glenfinnan station .

1067 — The Oban branch diverges from this line at Crianlarich, between Glasgow and Fort William.

Scotland – Thursday: The Preliminaries

Setting the scene for several posts about The Jacobite.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the latest installment in this series of posts about my Scottish holiday. We have reached the Thursday, on which day my parents were scheduled to look at houses in the Fort William area (about two hours drive from where we were staying) and I was hoping that The Jacobite, a steam train journey from Fort William to Mallaig, an hour in Mallaig and then back, would be available as a way to fill my day.

THE PRELIMINARIES

The advance bookings for The Jacobite had closed, but tickets were available for purchase on the day. With this in mind we set forth from Ferry Cottage at about 7:30AM. Barring the very start of it I had never previously experienced the route between Glaick and Fort William before, and although the best pictures I got of it were on the way back having mentally noted potentially good possibilities on the way down, I did get a few pictures on this journey.

P1010011 — The white spots at the top of this hill are unmelted snow.

FORT WILLIAM STATION

We got to Fort William station just after 9:30, and an inquiry at the ticket office saw me pointed to a queue for the train. I joined this queue although I was not expecting success (I was assuming ill-fortune so that I could not be disappointed, only get a welcome bonus). However, as time passed and the queue moved forward with no-one being turned away I began to speculate on the possibilities. Then came the moment when I was the next person to be served and I thought that it would be seriously rough luck to miss out at that juncture. I was duly issued with a ticket and took my place in coach C. Lady Luck’s support had been limited – although I had a seat it was an aisle seat facing against the direction of travel, which meant that taking pictures of the journey would be a challenge.

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INTRODUCTION

THE LAST STAGE OF THE TRAIN JOURNEY

A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS ON “THE JACOBITE”

INTRODUCTION

EXPLANATION

MALLAIG TO GLENFINNAN

INTRODUCTION

MALLAIG

INTRODUCTION

HEADING WEST

ARISAIG – MALLAIG

INTRODUCTION

ON THE TRAIN

AT GLENFINNAN STATION

INTRODUCTION

THE PRELIMINARIES

FORT WILLIAM STATION

A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS
ON “THE JACOBITE”