Glen Falloch Halt railway station was a remote rural railway station in Glen Falloch,
Stirlingshire,
Scotland. Opened in 1946 by the LNER, it was located in Glen Falloch on the
Ardlui side of the viaduct, but reported out of use by around 1948.
History
The
West Highland Railway opened the line to passengers on 7 August 1894; later it was operated by the
North British Railway
The North British Railway was a British railway company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, and from the outset the company followe ...
, 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
The Scottish Region (ScR) was one of the six regions created on British Railways (BR) and consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) and ex-London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) lines in Scotland. It existed from the creation o ...
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 ...
.
Glen Falloch Halt or Platform had a single platform and was opened by the
LNER in 1946, but it closed around 1948. Records show that it was not opened as a standard railway station for the general public and it was not listed in the 1948 British Railways (Scottish Region) timetable. The
RCAHMS refer to the halt as being temporary.
Well built 'slab' of concrete construction and a gravel surface, the curved single platform remnants are still present. It had a name board reading 'Glen Falloch', a single lamp for lighting and a small shed was present as a shelter or store. A footpath ran from the halt to the Drovers Inn at Inverarnan.
Loch Sloy scheme and the WWII Prisoner of War camp
After World War II many German and Italian ex-prisoners stayed in Scotland, and it is recorded that a small prisoner of war (POW) camp had been located at Glen Falloch, where a lot of forestry work was carried out. German and Italian POWs had been involved in the early stages of the construction of the Sloy Hydro-Electric facility between
Loch Sloy and
Inveruglas, on the west bank of Loch Lomond.
Construction at the Loch Sloy project began in May 1945, under the auspices of the
North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board, and it was completed in 1949, dates that largely coincide with the known use of Glen Falloch Halt located near the old POW camp.
Glen Falloch Halt may have been used by men building the aqueducts and tunnels that collected water from the Glen Falloch burns and carried it to Loch Sloy. The near by station of
Inveruglas was a similar but larger station with sidings, a passing loop, etc and was built in connection with the Loch Sloy hydroelectric scheme.
The prisoners-of-war were carried from
Faslane Platform near Faslane Junction and
Whistlefield to
Inveruglas or Glen Falloch.
The West Highland Line
See also
*
Inveruglas railway station
*
Whistlefield railway station
References
Notes
Sources
*
*
*
* {{cite book, last=Ransom, first=P.J.G., year=2004, title=Loch Lomond and the Trossachs in History and Legend, location=Edinburgh, publisher=John Donald Pub., isbn=0-85976-586-5
Former London and North Eastern Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1946
Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1948