Lech-a-Vuie Platform railway station (), Lechavuie or Lech-a-Vute was not constructed for public use. It stood close to the A830 road to the east of Loch Eilt near the Allt-a-Ghiughais burn and below Doire Dhamh on 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 ...

's extension to

Mallaig Mallaig (; gd, Malaig derived from Old Norse , meaning sand dune bay) is a port in Lochaber, on the west coast of the Highlands of Scotland. The local railway station, Mallaig, is the terminus of the West Highland railway line (Fort Willi ...

. It stood in between the still extant

Glenfinnan Glenfinnan ( gd, Gleann Fhionnain ) is a hamlet in Lochaber area of the Highlands of Scotland. In 1745 the Jacobite rising began here when Prince Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") raised his standard on the shores of Loch Shiel ...

and

Lochailort Lochailort ( , gd, Ceann Loch Ailleart) is a hamlet in Scotland that lies at the head of Loch Ailort, a sea loch, on the junction of the Road to the Isles ( A830) between Fort William and Mallaig with the A861 towards Salen and Strontian. ...

stations. At first it only served the needs of shooting parties on the Inverailort Estate owned by the Common-Head family, however it was later used by the army and navy during WWII and closed in the 1970s. Lech-a-vuie was 18.5 miles (30 km) from Mallaig Junction and stood at the summit of the line at a height of 379 feet (115.5 metres).

Infrastructure and working

The OS maps Sheet 61 of 1902 for

Arisaig Arisaig ( gd, Àrasaig) is a village in Lochaber, Inverness-shire. It lies south of Mallaig on the west coast of the Scottish Highlands, within the Rough Bounds. Arisaig is also the traditional name for part of the surrounding peninsula south ...

shows only a single short platform on the northern side of the railway line on a straight section of track with a short footpath leading to the nearby road. The 1908 map also marks the 'Platform' however by 1928 it is no longer annotated or drawn. No sidings or signalling are indicated. The NBR 'Internal Notice' recorded that "''A small platform has been erected 17 miles 15 chains from Banavie Junction, between Glenfinnan and Lochailort, for the purpose of enabling Sporting Parties, visiting Mrs Head of Kinlochailort to leave or join the trains. In all cases, when passengers require to be set down or taken up, previous intimation must be made to the station master at Lochailort, and it will be his duty to instruct the Driver and Guard in the case of trains going in the fort William direction, and to telephone the Stationmaster at Glenfinnan, in the case of trains going in the direction of Mallaig. Parties using the platform must pay the fares to the station beyond , and the Guard must collect the tickets from those alighting, while those to be taken up must previously possess themselves of tickets before the train arrives.''" The station may have had no lighting as the railway rule book stated that "''Trains must only call at the platform between sunrise and sunset.''"

History

The Scottish Gaelic name may have been 'Leac a' Mhuidhe', meaning 'slab of the churn'. The nearby tunnels are recorded as 'Leachabhuidh' which may have resulted in the anglicised spelling 'Lech-a-Vuie'. As stated it was a private halt used by shooting parties on the large Inverailort Estate owned at the time by the Cameron-Head family. It is recorded that the construction was linked to the agreement to sell the land as was so often the case as with Corrour for example. Inside Inverailort House is the official plaque that commemorates the Inverailort Estate's role and significance as a Special Training Centre established here in 1940, the operations of which subsequently combined with other units to form the

Commandos Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...

, and later as the Royal Marines Commando base. It was during this time that Lech-a-Vuie Platform took on a new role in relation to the training exercises for the forces personnel. The house and Inverailort Estate's 12,000 acres were requisitioned for the war effort by the government and used as a base by

David Stirling Sir Archibald David Stirling (15 November 1915 – 4 November 1990) was a Scottish officer in the British army, a mountaineer, and the founder and creator of the Special Air Service (SAS). He saw active service during the Second World War. ...

and

Lord Lovat Lord Lovat ( gd, Mac Shimidh) is a title of the rank Lord of Parliament in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1458 for Hugh Fraser by summoning him to the Scottish Parliament as Lord Fraser of Lovat, although the holder is referred ...

. A camp with barracks and an assault course was built for the 3,000 or so commandos that were trained here. In 1945 the estate was returned to the Cameron-Head family. Sporting use of the platform continued after 1945 and continued into the 1970s.

The site today

The railway line to

from Fort William is in daily use for passengers traffic and the remains of the path from the platform site to the A830 are visible as a low facing wall.

References

Notes

Sources

* * McGregor, John (1994). ''100 years of the West Higland Line''. ScotRail. * McGregor, John (2016). ''Lechavuie Platform - The Landed Interest and the West Highland.'' NBR study Group. Journal 128.

External links

Video of the West Highland Line. Mallaig to Fort WilliamVideo footage & history of Lochailort railway station
{{Historical Scottish railway companies Disused railway stations in Highland (council area) Former North British Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1901 Railway request stops in Great Britain Demolished buildings and structures in Scotland Former private railway stations