Christmas Gift Ideas
On the Iron Road to the Isles
By John Hunt and James Shuttleworth
NOW firmly ensconced as one of the Great Railway Journeys of the World – doubtless enhanced by the popularity of Harry Potter – the operation of scheduled steam trains over the West Highland Line from Glasgow to Fort William and on to Mallaig is an established part of Scottish tourism and a must for many tourists.
With BR reintroducing steam in 1984, and the operation by the West Coast Railway Company post-Privatisation, under the well publicised title of the‘Jacobite’, the steam service runs most months from Easter to Christmas, providing wonderful opportunities for photographing the line in all seasons – and all weathers!
Co-author John Hunt is well known as a footplate crew member at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and also on the‘Jacobite’service, as both driver and fireman.
James Shuttleworth first sampled a run over the line to mark its centenary to Fort William in 1994, the following year returning as project manager (as well as undertaking many other tasks in the intervening years) for the newly relaunched‘Jacobite’service, as part of the West Coast Railways operation.
Both, therefore, are well placed to pen this pictorial tribute to a majestic railway.
With some useful historical background on the construction of the line, which opened to Mallaig in 1901, pictures of the ‘50s and‘60s era remind us of the classes which worked the
