HIGHLAND RAILWAY

The 'Highland Railway' (HR) was one of the smaller British railways before the Railways Act 1921; it operated north of Perth railway station in Scotland and served the farthest north of Britain. It was absorbed into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1923.

Contents
History
Company Officers
Chairman
General Manager
Chief Engineer
Chief Mechanical Engineer
See also
References
Further reading
External links

History



★ The ''Inverness and Nairn Railway (INR)'': 15 miles (24km) in length, was incorporated in 1854; the first train ran 5 November 1855; it was the original part of the HR;

★ A railway between Nairn and Keith opened in 1858; in 1861 this was amalgamated with the INR to become the ''Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway (I&AJR)'';

★ Two railways were to follow:


★ the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway, opened in 1863, which connected with the I&AJR at Forres, and which in turn joined the Perth and Dunkeld Railway (opened 7 April 1856) at Dunkeld, completing the main line of the HR, which itself came into being in 1865;

★ Lines to north were also being opened; all were merged with the HR by 1884:


23 March1856 the Inverness and Ross-shire Railway, Inverness to Invergordon; it was extended to Bonar Bridge in 1864;


13 April1868: the Sutherland Railway, Bonar Bridge to Golspie;


19 August1870: the Dingwall and Skye Railway, Dingwall to Stromeferry and Kyle of Lochalsh opened throughout; the


19 June1871: the Duke of Sutherland's Railway, Golspie to Helsmdale built by the Duke of Sutherland;


28 July1874: the Sutherland and Caithness Railway, Helmsdale to Wick and Thurso completed the line.


1 November 1898: the "direct line" between Aviemore and Inverness opened, reducing the journey from 60 miles (96km) to 35 miles (56km).

★ There were also several branch lines of the HR. From the south, these were:


★ the Aberfeldy branch;


★ the Portessie branch: opened 1 August1884, closed 7 August1915


★ the Fochabers Town branch: closed 14 September1931


★ the Hopeman branch: also closed 14 September 1931


★ the Findhorn branch: opened 1860, closed 1869 as being a failure


★ the Fort George branch: also closed 14 September 1931


★ the Fortrose branch: closed 1 October1951


★ the Strathpeffer branch: closed to passengers 23 February1946, closed to freight 26 March1951

★ There were two light railways opened and run by the HR:


2 June 1902: the Dornoch Light Railway, again under the auspices of the Duke of Sutherland, 7.5 miles (12km), between The Mound and Dornoch;


1 July1903: The Wick and Lybster Light Railway, 13.5 miles (21.6km). The line was abandoned on 3 April1944.

Company Officers


Chairman

1911 William Whitelaw
General Manager


★ 1865-1896 Andrew Dougall

★ 1896-1898 Charles Steel

★ 1898-1910 Thomas Wilson

★ 1911-1922 Robert Park
Chief Engineer

The Chief Engineer (CE) of the originally proposed Perth and Inverness Railway was Joseph Mitchell. He held the same post for the Inverness and Nairn railway, the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway, the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway (that is the three that merged to form the Highland Railway). He relinquished the post in 1863. The work was then carried out by a private company (which just happened to be the one run by Mitchell), an arrangement that was terminated in June 1865 when the merger that formed the Highland Railway took effect.
June 1865 - 1869 J W Buttle (with title of 'Superintendent of Permanent Way'); later CEs included Peter Wilson 1870-1874; Murdoch Paterson 1875-1897; William Roberts 1898-1913 and Alexander Newlands 1914-1922.
Chief Mechanical Engineer

Inverness and Nairn railway
StartEndEngineerNotes
December 1854May 1865Alexander AllanWorked through a local representative - his nephew William Barclay.
May 1865Dec 1865David Jonestemporary appointment
Jan 1866Jan 1870William Stroudley
Jan 18701896David Jones
1896Dec 1911Peter Drummond
Dec 1911Aug 1915F.G. Smith
Sept 19151922Christopher Cummins
1922 D.C. Urie

See also



Locomotives of the Highland Railway

References


''The Railway Year Book for 1912'', The Railway Publishing Company Ltd

Further reading



★ H.A. Vallance. ''The Highland Railway''. ISBN 1-899863-07-9.

External links



The Highland Railway Society

The Highland Railway, includes a map of the system

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