The second half of the 1980s saw considerable changes on the 122¾-mile long West Highland main line between Glasgow Queen and Fort William (opened in 1894) and the 42-mile-long extension between Fort William and the west coast port of Mallaig which dated from 1901.
Notable among the changes was the introduction of Class 156 Super Sprinter units which brought to an end (with the exception of the overnight London sleeper) regular locomotive-hauled passenger working and changed forever the character of this most delightful and picturesque route. The advent of the Haymarket (Edinburgh)-based Class 156s from Monday 23rd January 1989, also brought to an end the last surviving example of mixed train working on Britain’s railways, two or three tank wagons with fuel oil for the Mallaig fishing fleet being regularly conveyed on a late afternoon, service from Fort William, returning empty attached to an early evening working in the opposite direction.
The introduction of Radio Electronic Token working under which trains were controlled by radio signalling from a centre at Banavie, just over two miles out of Fort William on the Mallaig line, resulted in most of the signal boxes on the West Highland main line to Glasgow over Rannoch Moor, and also on the Mallaig and Oban branches, being closed with considerable savings in staffing costs. Many of the boxes were located at station passing loops on these largely single track routes, the abolishing of token exchange at crossing places and the removal of semaphone signals also contributing to some of the line’s character being lost Concurrently with the introduction of radio signalling, single-manning of passenger services was also implemented, there being no requirement for a second man (driver’s assistant) one of whose main roles was token exchange at the various passing places.
On the positive side, however, the steam-hauled ‘West Highlander’ service between Fort William and Mallaig, first introduced in 1984 and then in its third summer season, again proved very popular with tourists, contributing considerably to the line’s revenue, while the ‘Royal Scotsman’ luxury train with vintage coaches (which was also steam-hauled to Mallaig), added to the lines’s attraction during the summer season, the charter train designed mainly for the overseas market being an innovation dating from 1985.
In the midst of these changes the scenic grandeur of rugged mountains, lochs, fast-flowing burns and lovely countryside remained unchanged, travelling on both the main line from Glasgow to Fort William and on the Mallaig extension being delightful at any time of year. Early summer, with its often fine, fresh, clear days and long hours of daylight, is particularly appealing and on Thursday 12th June 1986, a friend and I travelled on the ‘West Highlander’ from Fort William to Mallaig on one of its first runs of the season.
Half an hour before departure time on that disappointedly wet, breeezy and rather cool morning intending passengers for the 11.05 ‘West Highlander’ were flocking to the station where one of the two booking office positions was allocated exclusively for the sale of tickets for this train (which from 22nd May to 25th September ran every Thursday while during the peak season from late June to early September it also ran on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays). Fares for the almost two-hour journey through majestic terrain with steep gradients to tax the locomotive were unchanged from the previous year (during which the ‘West Highlander’ had increased the line’s summer revenue by 45 per cent) ie £9 adult return (£4.50 child) or £6 single (£3 child) and seats could be reserved in advance at any major station by means of the then newly introduced computerised reservation system.
Shortly after half past ten the empty stock was propelled into Platform 2, one of the station staff using a loudhailer to warn against attempting to board before the coaches had come to a halt (and also advising that reservations should be checked to ensure that the correct allotted
