Travels In Time: Isle of Mull Railway

A visit by ferry to the Isle of Mull Railway in 2010

Going back through my photos I'm visiting a railway I rode on back in 2010 which has since closed and been removed, the Isle of Mull Railway.

The 10 1/4 inch gauge line was opened in 1984 connecting the ferry terminal at Craignure to Torosay Castle. It was established as the castle owner opened the castle to the public and it closed in 2010 when the castle was put up for sale. The sale didn't go ahead and it opened a limited number of days the following year with the trains running but this was not enough to make the railway viable. Schemes to move the railway elsewhere were proposed but in the end much of the stock and material went to the Rudyard Lake Railway near Leek.

More information about the line can be found on the Wikipedia article.

Open Street Map (The course of the railway is shown on the map.)

Google Map

Craignure

I reached Craignure by the Cal Mac ferry from Oban which is well connected to the Scotrail network and combined well with a trip on the West Highland lines and the Jacobite steam train between Fort William and Malaig.

Below - The ferry jetty and Cal Mac ferry seen from Craignure station.

Below - One of the line's diesel engines seen at Craignure on an engineering train.

Below - The passenger train ready to depart.

The line was single track with a passing loop in the middle allowing two trains to pass, there were no station facilities a the passing point, only at each end of the 1 1/2 mile line

Torosay

Below - At Torosay the loco is detached and run round the train. The loop was accessed from a turntable rather than using pointwork, useful for turning a steam loco but it was a diesel running during my visit so I had the odd sight of a diesel loco with a cab in the centre being turned.