The Great Central Railway was rightly described as ‘The Last Main Line’ when it opened in 1898 and after that only a handful of branches and a linking section of the Southern Railway's ‘Withered Arm’ were constructed. One such short branch was opened in 1899 to serve what was at that time one of the Army's most important barracks in Scotland – Fort George.
Fort George lies on a promontory on the southern shore of the Moray Firth and is the finest example of eighteenth century military engineering in the British Isles. Although an army base, it has never been attacked or indeed fired a shot in anger. Its origins lie in the Jacobite Rising of 1745-46 when the Stuart dynasty's hopes were finally dashed and defeated during the brief battle at nearby Culloden by the English and Scottish troops of the London-based Hanoverian government. Thereafter numerous ruthless containment measures were implemented by the Government, one of which was the construction of Fort George, intended to be the main garrison fortress in the Scottish Highlands – it was named for the then King, George II. Although based literally at the water's edge its strongest defences are on the landward side of the promontory on which it stands because any future Jacobite assault was assessed as likely to come from that direction.
In time it became a recruiting and training base for the Army when Highland regiments were raised to fight for the Empire. Nowadays it has a dual identity, like Edinburgh Castle, as a historic site and a military base. In the first rôle it is open to visitors and administered by Historic Environment Scotland while as a military establishment it is currently the home of 3 SCOTS – the Black Watch, 3rd Bn. The Royal Regiment of Scotland. Apart from the fort itself the nearest village is Ardersier, previously known as Campbelton but renamed in accordance with GPO wishes to avoid the frequent misdirection of mail to Campbeltown in Argyllshire. Both the village and fort are just in Inverness-shire.
An advertisement in the Aberdeen Journal in March 1849 indicates that a steamer, The Duke of Richmond, sailed from Invergordon every Friday morning at 6.00am for Aberdeen and Edinburgh, calling en route at Findhorn, Burghead, Banff, Lossiemouth, Cromarty and Fort George in both directions (but hopefully not actually in that sequence) – if the weather permitted. In November 1852 it is shown as returning from Granton on Tuesday mornings to reach Invergordon on Wednesday morning and Inverness in the afternoon. By January 1853 there was a new ship, The Queen, The Duke of Richmond having been transferred to the Orkney service.
The railway comes (nearby)
I he Inverness & Nairn Railway seems to have been very successful for in its first year it was reported that the trains weretrains. Excursion trains were operated to what was then known as Fort George station, even though it was a few miles from the Fort itself. The intention was for visitors to make their way to the Fort when military Reviews were held.
