Twice voted the top railway journey in the world, the West Highland route to Mallaig (like the Dingwall & Skye and the Callander & Oban) accessed the remote and mountainous west coast of Scotland. The original West Highland line, described here, links Glasgow and Fort William. In the late nineteenth century, with their nearest railheads many miles away, the inhabitants of Fort William sought their own railway, approved in 1889. It was opened all at once in 1894. From the north shore of the Firth of Clyde, the line passes the Gareloch, Loch Long and Loch Lomond, before crossing desolate but...

The Kyle of Lochalsh Line was opened in 1870 to connect the ferry terminus at Stromeferry on Scotland's west coast with Dingwall and Inverness on the east coast. It had been intended to reach Kyle of Lochalsh but the company ran out of money, and the Highland Railway would open an extension to the Kyle in 1897 to improve transport links for the fishing industry. At the time, the extension was mile for mile the most expensive railway ever built in Britain. The line passes through some of the most dramatic and beautiful scenery in Britain and although it was marked for closure by Doctor...