Banavie Pier railway station was the terminus of a short branch and was at first known as Banvie, opened by the North British Railway in 1895. The station's location was just above the impressive flight of locks on the Caledonian Canal known as "

Neptune's Staircase Neptune's Staircase () is a staircase lock comprising eight locks on the Caledonian Canal. Built by Thomas Telford between 1803 and 1822, it is the longest staircase lock in Britain. The system was originally hand-powered but has been converted ...

Banavie Banavie (; gd, Banbhaidh) is a small settlement near Fort William in the Highland Council Area of Scotland. One of the closest villages to Ben Nevis, it is about northeast of Fort William town centre, next to Caol and Corpach. It has been sug ...

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

council area,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. A new station named

was opened on the

Mallaig Extension Railway The Mallaig Extension Railway is a railway line in Highland, Scotland. It runs from Banavie Junction (New) on the Banavie Pier branch of the West Highland Railway to Mallaig. The previous "Banavie Junction" closer to Fort William was renamed ...

in 1901, still operational and now the location of the

radio electronic token block Radio Electronic Token Block is a system of railway signalling used in the United Kingdom. It is a development of the physical token system for controlling traffic on single lines. The system is slightly similar to North American Direct Traffic ...

(RETB) control centre for the

West Highland Railway The West Highland Railway was a railway company that constructed a railway line from Craigendoran (on the River Clyde west of Glasgow, Scotland) to Fort William and Mallaig. The line was built through remote and difficult terrain in two stages ...

system throughout, except for the Fort William station area. The original pier station became "Banavie Pier" and served the paddle steamers on the canal that ran to

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

and the location avoided the time-consuming passage through the eight locks of the 'staircase'.

History

The

opened the Fort William line to passengers on 7 August 1894; operated by the North British Railway, until in 1923 it became part of the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

. In 1948 the line became part of the Scottish Region of British Railways following

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

. The "Banavie Extension" was opened by the North British Railway in 1895. The opening of the pier station resulted in a considerable increase in the passenger traffic on the Caledonian Canal, the

having their own wharf above the locks. The branch was a useful link between steamers arriving at Fort William from Oban who wished to travel on the Caledonian Canal. Some freight traffic for the branch was generated from the canal in carrying grain for the distilleries that had been grown in the Black Isle and Moray and had been transported to Banavie from Inverness. The official closure date for the passenger service was 4 September 1939 however the last train actually ran on 15 September. Freight services ceased on 6 August 1951.

The Banavie Junctions

The first "Banavie Junction" was located on the

around one mile east of

Fort William railway station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Fort William Station.JPG , borough = Fort William, Highland , country = Scotland , coordinates = , grid_name = Grid ...

and was opened on 1 June 1895 when the branch line to Banavie Pier was opened. When the

opened on 30 March 1901 the junction was renamed "Mallaig Junction" however a second 'new' "Banavie Junction" then existed off the Mallaig line near the new

Banavie railway station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Banavie Station (geograph 5324117).jpg , caption = The platform at Banavie with Ben Nevis's peak covered in cloud and snow. , borough = B ...

, going out of use in 1951. To eliminate confusion in radio communication "Mallaig Junction" was renamed "

Fort William Junction , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Fort William Station.JPG , borough = Fort William, Highland , country = Scotland , coordinates = , grid_name = Grid ...

" on 27 March 1988.

Infrastructure

The station building was constructed in the standard "chalet" style. The 1899

OS map , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Ordnance Survey 2015 Logo.svg , logo_width = 240px , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_width = , picture_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = , di ...

records the station and goods yard next to the canal and shows a signal box at the then "Banavie Junction". The station building and stationmaster's house stood on the northern side of the line and the goods yard with a single siding and a weighing machine on the eastern side. A passing loop was present at the station and a siding ran off northwards parallel to the canal and a spur ran back to lie close to the steamers landing stage. The station building and stationmaster's house survive as private dwellings as does the platform. The stationmaster's house had been set back from the platform so as not to offend First Class passengers making their way to the steamers. A crane was positioned at the canal side to serve the railway goods traffic in WWII. The Railway Inspectorate noted that the branch had been laid by the contractors Lucas and Aird using used rails.

Services

Trains for Glasgow were advertised as terminating and originating at Banavie when the branch first opened. After the Mallaig Extension was opened the services to Banavie Pier were adapted to serve the steamer traffic on the Caledonian Canal with a summer service extending into early autumn and trains running every day at times, although a pattern was established of one train a day on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to Banavie Pier from Fort William and one on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from Banavie Pier to Fort William. The line had no signalling and was worked on a one engine in steam basis by staff and key. A temporary wooden shelter had been obtained for the signalman at the junction.

References

Notes

Sources

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External links

Video of the West Highland Line. Mallaig to Fort WilliamBanavie Station and radio control centre

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banavie Pier railway station Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1895 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1939 Former North British Railway stations Disused railway stations in Highland (council area)