Highlands - Loch Eil Outward Bound

[RJ]

I regularly travel across the UK on rail trips and a few weeks ago I covered all the Highland lines I hadn't done before (Kyle of Lochalsh, Mallaig to Fort William, Oban) in one day. The Fort William to Mallaig leg was a moderately eventful journey but one thing piqued my interest.

Loch Eil Outward Bound has a short platform. It was a four carriage train and a booked stop and we did indeed stop. I was in the rear carriage and the queue to get off the train stretched all the way to the back - many got on at Locheilside and I guess about 60 people wanted to get off. So I was surprised when we set off again shortly. It didn't look like anybody got off as the platform was empty. I heard no announcement other than on approach to the stop so none the wiser to what happened. The passengers were surprised.

We did stop at Corpach where they all got off then we set off again. I do wonder what happened to those passengers given the next train back to Loch Eil Outward Bound wouldn't have been for another 5 hours and 20 minutes. Not sure how many taxis there are in Corpach either. As a large number appeared to be ramblers maybe they just walked back. I'd hazard a guess Abellio has the local bus firm on speed dial but curious as to what the normal procedure is for calls not made on lines with this level of service.

I assume there was some sort of technical issue with the leading carriage - the train was struggling a bit with progress and it became apparent at least one of the engines was shut off - the coolant tank was being watered with a can at Fort William!

Being from the suburbs of South London the way things are done elsewhere on the network is of interest. Oban also caught me by surprise as the concept of a station closing between trains during the day was a new one on me - and I caught a glimpse of one of the recently converted bike carriages.

 

[Unstoppable]

Loch Eil Outward Bound, Locheilside, Lochailort and Beasdale for a 4 car is middle door operation only or if it is a 2 car it is rear door operation. Normally the conductors give audible announcements informing passengers various times of these short platformed stations and how to alight. There is normally extra dwell time at these stations too. Seems very surprising to me. Potentially a technical fault with the PA? As for the coolant tank being filled is there not a possibility this was the toilet water being refilled? This is a normal occurrence

 

[Aictos]

As for the coolant tank being filled is there not a possibility this was the toilet water being refilled? This is a normal occurrence

Just a note here but when a train is being tanked eg being refilled with fresh water, this fresh water isn't just used to flush the toilet but also for the sinks to wash your hands.

So to be more precise, it's the fresh/clean water tank that's being refilled, I should know as it's a job I did within the last 9 months.

 

[driverd]

As for the coolant tank being filled is there not a possibility this was the toilet water being refilled? This is a normal occurrence

Quite normal in the hot summer months on the sprinter fleet. Easy way to tell the difference is coolant goes in on the body side inlet, roughly half way down the carriage. If it was done by watering can, it will have been a coolant top up. When the engine is low on coolant it'll idle and produce no power, so this would certainly tally with the OPs original comments.

 

[fgwrich]

Quite normal in the hot summer months on the sprinter fleet. Easy way to tell the difference is coolant goes in on the body side inlet, roughly half way down the carriage. If it was done by watering can, it will have been a coolant top up. When the engine is low on coolant it'll idle and produce no power, so this would certainly tally with the OPs original comments.

The watering can - The usual feature of most 153 cabs!

 

[VideozVideoz]

I regularly travel across the UK on rail trips and a few weeks ago I covered all the Highland lines I hadn't done before (Kyle of Lochalsh, Mallaig to Fort William, Oban) in one day. The Fort William to Mallaig leg was a moderately eventful journey but one thing piqued my interest.

Loch Eil Outward Bound has a short platform. It was a four carriage train and a booked stop and we did indeed stop. I was in the rear carriage and the queue to get off the train stretched all the way to the back - many got on at Locheilside and I guess about 60 people wanted to get off. So I was surprised when we set off again shortly. It didn't look like anybody got off as the platform was empty. I heard no announcement other than on approach to the stop so none the wiser to what happened. The passengers were surprised.

We did stop at Corpach where they all got off then we set off again. I do wonder what happened to those passengers given the next train back to Loch Eil Outward Bound wouldn't have been for another 5 hours and 20 minutes. Not sure how many taxis there are in Corpach either. As a large number appeared to be ramblers maybe they just walked back. I'd hazard a guess Abellio has the local bus firm on speed dial but curious as to what the normal procedure is for calls not made on lines with this level of service.

I assume there was some sort of technical issue with the leading carriage - the train was struggling a bit with progress and it became apparent at least one of the engines was shut off - the coolant tank was being watered with a can at Fort William!

Being from the suburbs of South London the way things are done elsewhere on the network is of interest. Oban also caught me by surprise as the concept of a station closing between trains during the day was a new one on me - and I caught a glimpse of one of the recently converted bike carriages.

I’m interested in how you managed all those lines in 1 day. Did you have a car to shuttle you between Kyle line and Crianlarich?

 

[alangla]

Doable: 0857 off Oban to Crianlarich, swap to 1021 to Mallaig for 1338 (I’m guessing there might be some exchange of crew, so this could well be a “safe” connection, albeit tight), change for Calmac to Armadale then either a bus(es) or taxi to Kyle for the 1713 to Inverness.
In more normal times, you could even do it as 0520 off Oban -> Sleeper-> Jacobite to the ferry.

 

[VideozVideoz]

Doable: 0857 off Oban to Crianlarich, swap to 1021 to Mallaig for 1338 (I’m guessing there might be some exchange of crew, so this could well be a “safe” connection, albeit tight), change for Calmac to Armadale then either a bus(es) or taxi to Kyle for the 1713 to Inverness.
In more normal times, you could even do it as 0520 off Oban -> Sleeper-> Jacobite to the ferry.

Im not convinced. Let’s see what the AP says about his journey!

 

[RJ]

I’m interested in how you managed all those lines in 1 day. Did you have a car to shuttle you between Kyle line and Crianlarich?

This is how my day went

0822 Aberdeen to Inverness 1036 (Class 170)
1056 Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh 1335 (Class 158)
Transfer Kyle of Lochalsh to Armadale (Kyle Taxi Company, £45)
1445 Armadale to Mallaig 1510 (CalMac ferry)
1601 Mallaig to Fort William 1728 (Class 156)
1750 Fort William to Oban 1923 (Scottish Citylink bus 918)
2039 Oban to Helensburgh Upper 2250 (Class 156)
2332 Helensburgh Central to Glasgow Queen Street (Class 334)

I did the Far North lines on a RailUK forum meet 15 years ago and Dumbarton to Fort William on a GBRF railtour in early 2018.

Thanks for the interest - I might start logging these journeys in the reports section with commentary and a "drama" section, because there's always something that happens on these trips!

 

[VideozVideoz]

This is how my day went

0822 Aberdeen to Inverness 1036 (Class 170)
1056 Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh 1335 (Class 158)
Transfer Kyle of Lochalsh to Armadale (Kyle Taxi Company, £45)
1445 Armadale to Mallaig 1510 (CalMac ferry)
1601 Mallaig to Fort William 1728 (Class 156)
1750 Fort William to Oban 1923 (Scottish Citylink bus 918)
2039 Oban to Helensburgh Upper 2250 (Class 156)
2332 Helensburgh Central to Glasgow Queen Street (Class 334)

I did the Far North lines on a RailUK forum meet 15 years ago and Dumbarton to Fort William on a GBRF railtour in early 2018.

Thanks for the interest - I might start logging these journeys in the reports section with commentary and a "drama" section, because there's always something that happens on these trips!

Thanks for the detail! Did you not cringe at the £45 Kyle taxi?! I’m not sure I would have been able to swallow that! I also assume you booked it in advance? Not sure how reliable or easy it is to call for a taxi in such a remote area since there’s probably only one choice!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

It's some 22 miles from Kyle of Lochalsh over to Armadale on Skye, so £45 for the taxi is not totally unreasonable, IMHO.

Think there's also more than one taxi firm serves Kyle, it's comparatively quite a big, strategically located, place in the area, but obviously a good idea to book in advance and maybe check prices.

 

[RJ]

Thanks for the detail! Did you not cringe at the £45 Kyle taxi?! I’m not sure I would have been able to swallow that! I also assume you booked it in advance? Not sure how reliable or easy it is to call for a taxi in such a remote area since there’s probably only one choice!

To be honest I booked it about an hour before arriving. I did baulk a bit, but considering I've found legitimate ways to zero or substantially discount the price I pay for just about everything in life, sometimes I just accept such outgoings rather than shop around. Not a standard way of doing things but there you go!

 

[SeanG]

There is/was a bus from Armadale - Kyle in the middle of the day which made it easy to do sleeper to Fort William, train to Mallaig, ferry to Armadale, bus to Kyle, train to Inverness, train back to Glasgow or Edinburgh (or sleeper to England) in a (long) day.

 

[InOban]

Just out of curiosity, why did you walk down from Helensburgh Upper to Central rather than complete the WHL?

 

[CdBrux]

To try to answer the original question as many years ago I did a residential course at the Outward Bound centre. I would guess the people who got on and then got off at another station were not going to wait for the train to return but hike back

 

[RJ]

Just out of curiosity, why did you walk down from Helensburgh Upper to Central rather than complete the WHL?

On a personal mission to pass through all stations in the UK and it was a time-efficient way to cover the Helensburgh Central branch. Seemed like a nice place - I was on the phone to a friend who lived near there years ago who was giving me a rundown of the area

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Sep 2021 ==

To try to answer the original question as many years ago I did a residential course at the Outward Bound centre. I would guess the people who got on and then got off at another station were not going to wait for the train to return but hike back

No doubt most, if not all of them were ramblers so maybe they just adjusted their plans accordingly. The people stood next to me in the rear carriage were definitely trying to get off at Outward Bound but the aisles were rammed full of people.

 

[VideozVideoz]

It's some 22 miles from Kyle of Lochalsh over to Armadale on Skye, so £45 for the taxi is not totally unreasonable, IMHO.

Think there's also more than one taxi firm serves Kyle, it's comparatively quite a big, strategically located, place in the area, but obviously a good idea to book in advance and maybe check prices.

It wasn’t the distance, it was the cost. 22 miles for £45 is reasonable but I still don’t like the look of the bill.

Yes Kyle is one of the bigger places in the area, and strategically important.... but it’s still small!

 

[dmu fan]

Just a note here but when a train is being tanked eg being refilled with fresh water, this fresh water isn't just used to flush the toilet but also for the sinks to wash your hands.

So to be more precise, it's the fresh/clean water tank that's being refilled, I should know as it's a job I did within the last 9 months.

How long did it take to fill the tank? On what type of unit? Please

 

[Carlisle]

How long did it take to fill the tank? On what type of unit? Please

Most types of unit that are tanked on a routine basis take around 5 minutes at most

 

[Aictos]

How long did it take to fill the tank? On what type of unit? Please

When I did it for a number of months, it depended on a number of factors eg state of tank itself, is it completely empty or full? When was it last tanked? What type of train it is as some connections are easier to reach them others eg some coaches are 23m while some are 20m so obviously the 20m coaches are easier to reach them it depended on how many toilet tanks needed to be done, the length of the train for example a 12 car would take longer then a 2 car etc... Not to mention how much water there is in the water Bowser vehicle itself and how long it takes to fill it but also judge your time so do you have enough water or should you refill the Bowser etc.. Also is the train going to be split or joined to another train as you cannot tank while such a move is taking place etc so as you can see there are a lot of factors at play here.

Most units tanked on a routine basis take around 5 minutes at most

Not really, it depends on a number of factors that I've gone though above because sometimes it takes a minute especially if the tank is full while other times it could take 5 minutes or longer depending on a number of factors.

I definitely wouldn't say the process takes 5 minutes simply because of the various factors in play here.

It's not a bad job but in winter, was awful as you couldn't get warm and had to wear multiple layers to keep warm.

 

[matchmaker]

There is/was a bus from Armadale - Kyle in the middle of the day which made it easy to do sleeper to Fort William, train to Mallaig, ferry to Armadale, bus to Kyle, train to Inverness, train back to Glasgow or Edinburgh (or sleeper to England) in a (long) day.

Many years ago when I was at school (early 1970s) we did Glasgow - Inverness (internal sleeper), Inverness - Kyle (train), Kyle - Mallaig (ferry - at that time there was a direct service), Mallaig/Fort William - Glasgow (train). All in 24 hours!

 

[norbitonflyer]

Many years ago when I was at school (early 1970s) we did Glasgow - Inverness (internal sleeper), Inverness - Kyle (train), Kyle - Mallaig (ferry - at that time there was a direct service), Mallaig/Fort William - Glasgow (train). All in 24 hours!

Some time around 1978 I did something similar - Lincoln - Crewe - (overnight) - Fort William - Mallaig - (ferry) - Kyle of Lochalsh - Inverness (overnight) - Glasgow - (some local track bashing) - Leeds - Doncaster - Lincoln

At least, that was the intention. As the Edinburgh portion of the second overnighter was much quieter I kipped down in an empty compartment therein, intending to move to the right portion before the train divided at Stirling. I woke up at Linlithgow.