Mallaig-Fort William passengers

[telstarbox]

The Mallaig to Fort William section of the West Highland Line is mostly single-tracked and runs through a very remote area, and so sees four trains in each direction from Monday to Saturday (in the winter). The end-to-end journey takes 1 hour 22 minutes. The railway and A830 roads largely take the same path, but unusually it's faster end-to-end by car than by train due to the tortuous route.

I've been up to Arisaig for family holidays a few years ago which got me thinking about the rail line - what sort of passengers use the train on this section?

Does anyone commute into Fort William daily? From my recollection nearly everyone in the Mallaig/Arisaig area has a car to get around. The closest services to a "rush hour" are the 06.03 Mallaig - Fort William and 16.19 Fort William - Mallaig, with long gaps either side.

Is there much onward passenger traffic to/from Skye using the ferry at Mallaig? Is most of the traffic leisure/tourist trips?

Finally, what are the line speeds on this section?

 

[skyetraveller]

I live on the Isle of Skye and can see the terminus at Mallaig - on a calm day in the summer I can even hear the Jacobite leaving! Tomorrow I will be over on the morning ferry to catch the 1010 train down t0 Glasgow and thence on by Virgin and SWT to Devon (ok maybe not the best of ideas at present!), the connection time of 15 minutes is perfect and I know quite a few people who use this route for weekends away in Glasgow etc.
The problem comes on the way back, in the winter the morning train from Glasgow arrives at Mallaig at 1335 and the ferry goes at 1600. Over two hours in Mallaig on a wet Tuesday in November isn't great - although the Clachan bar has a roaring fire and a fine selection of beer and food! The lunchtime train is into Mallaig almost two hours too late. In the summer with a ferry every 90 minutes or so it's far better and loads of people come off the train and onto the ferry.
Even in the winter, I would say most passengers are people on holiday - I did the route end to end in both directions a couple of weeks ago and it was mainly tourists. In the summer they outnumber the locals by 200 to one. Not sure about commuters into Fort William, owing to ferry connections I've never used the early or late trains. The schools in Mallaig and Fort William are both served by buses and I know shoppers from Mallaig and Arisaig tend to use the Shiel Buses service to Fort William, on the few trips I've made by bus it's quite a club with loads of regulars and an obliging driver who knows everyone by name, stops at your front door and unloads your bags for you! Can't see Scotrail adopting that as an idea, although the staff all along the line are wonderful - helpful, friendly and unfailingly cheerful. Even in winter the conductor always announces Glenfinnan Viaduct and several times we've stopped mid-viaduct for a couple of minutes to allow everyone time to take photos. Try suggesting that on the Royal Border Bridge, for example!
The main problem for locals is the time the train takes. Mallaig to Fort William by road is about 50 minutes now that the upgrading is all finished, then 2 - 2.5 hours to Glasgow. I have done Mallaig to Glasgow city centre by car in just over three hours, but the train is five and a half. Even for one person, though, the train is often cheaper as we have the Highland Railcard which gives 50% off anytime fares.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Sorry telstarbox, just seen your question re line speeds. I think the limit from Fort William to Mallaig is 40 mph although it might be slightly more alongside Loch Eil. It's a lot lower than that though on most of the route, especially west of Glenfinnan.

 

[ainsworth74]

According to the Sectional Appendix of October 2009 it's 40mph most of the way between Fort William and Mallaig it drops to 5mph for a short spell around Banavie but for the rest of the way it's 40mph.

 

[PR1Berske]

On the way to Mallaig to make it on a camping trip on Eigg, my friends and I spotted a woman in a Morrisons uniform get on at Fort William and leave a few stops later, so there is *some* commuting

 

[Railsigns]

According to the Sectional Appendix of October 2009 it's 40mph most of the way between Fort William and Mallaig it drops to 5mph for a short spell around Banavie but for the rest of the way it's 40mph.

The permissible speed is up to 55 mph in places for Sprinter trains.

 

[ainsworth74]

The permissible speed is up to 55 mph in places for Sprinter trains.

Huh must have been reading it wrong, apologies.

 

[bailey65]

The west highland must be a difficult line to maintain due to it's extreme remoteness and difficult access along the route.

 

[pitdiver]

Used by students/delegates at the Outward Bound centre Loch Eil. Don't forget it has it's own station.

 

[jimm]

Re journey time and line speeds, I still remember a very lively run to Mallaig behind a Class 37 one morning in the early 1980s after the sleeper had been delayed on the way to Fort William.

I don't remember exactly how long it took but wherever he could get some speed up, the driver was not hanging around - we left Fort William about 30 or 35 minutes late after the post and papers had been moved between trains but were nowhere near that late at Mallaig. I walked into a shop in the village while a conversation was taking place about how late the train was going to be about several minutes after it had arrived.

 

[142094]

I used the first train ex-Mallaig in 2008 (how time flies) and there were only three people on the whole train for a good bit of the journey to Ft. William - two Russian/E. European fishermen and myself. Still, one of the best journeys I've made by rail. Will have to do it again soon.

 

[Garmoran]

The Mallaig to Fort William section of the West Highland Line is mostly single-tracked and runs through a very remote area,

I assume you mean "thinly-populated area" as the area is not remote to the users of the line

What sort of passengers use the train on this section?

Does anyone commute into Fort William daily? From my recollection nearly everyone in the Mallaig/Arisaig area has a car to get around. The closest services to a "rush hour" are the 06.03 Mallaig - Fort William and 16.19 Fort William - Mallaig, with long gaps either side.

The 16.19 certainly falls into the rush-hour bracket, as it is the most convenient train for returning to Mallaig from FW. The 06.03 ex Mallaig and its balancing working the 22.14 ex FW are by far the quietest workings, although the 22.14 is about to enter its busiest time of the year, as Christmas parties use it as a way to get home (not sure what effect the Scotrail alcohol ban will have in this case). These services used to run an hour later and an hour earlier and were then quite a bit busier - getting up for a 7am departure was a lot easier to cope with than getting up for the 06.03! The introduction of the Sprinters coincided with the opening of Mallaig High School in 1988 and meant that the flow of school traffic to Fort William ceased, so the opportunity was taken to rejig the timetable to make the trains more convenient for Fort William. Ever since 1901 passenger trains had been focussed on Mallaig because of steamer connections (until circa 1972) and school traffic. The timetable is based on 2 shifts (there are at least 3 train crews based at Mallaig) the gap between the 13.34 arrival and 16.05 departure is a gap between shifts.

Is there much onward passenger traffic to/from Skye using the ferry at Mallaig? Is most of the traffic leisure/tourist trips?

During the summer there is a fair amount of onward traffic for Skye; in the winter, as there are only 2 ferries a day, Skye passengers are mostly people who live within about 5 miles of the ferry terminal. However, the trains are used by people living on the Small Isles and in Knoydart. The 12.12 ex FW and 16.05 return are popular with day-trippers all year and can get very full in summer. The 18.15 from Mallaig carries a fair amount of traffic from Skye and the islands in summer - in winter it is used by schoolchildren and shoppers as far as Arisaig but is otherwise very quiet.

Most users at the Mallaig end of the line use a combination of bus and train. The train is highly inconvenient for most commuting to FW and useless for attending a 9 to 5 job but some people have used it for working at the Morrison's supermarket beside the station, as they are flexible enough to tailor the shifts to suit. At the FW end some mothers with small children in buggies seem to find the train more convenient than the bus for getting into FW from Corpach and Banavie.

There! Probably more than you really wanted to know :roll:

 

[VideozVideoz]

Im interested in the minute detail. Please share anymore tit-bits you may have..

 

[Essexman]

I was told by one of the sleeper staff that there is a man who lives in Knoydart and commutes to London - boat to Mallaig, train to Fort Willam, sleeper to London. TRavels down Sunday and back Thursday or Friday.

 

[Garmoran]

I was told by one of the sleeper staff that there is a man who lives in Knoydart and commutes to London - boat to Mallaig, train to Fort Willam, sleeper to London. TRavels down Sunday and back Thursday or Friday.

Coming back on the sleeper became less attractive after the Sprinters arrived: before, you just moved coaches somewhere between Glasgow and FW, out of the sleeper section and into a Mallaig coach, and got into Mallaig before midday. Now, you have a wait of at least 2 hours in FW and don't get into Mallaig until 13.34 in winter. Mon-Fri in summer it's even later, 14.10, which, for someone hoping to get a boat to Knoydart at 14.15 must be rather too close to be practical (although I suspect your traveller has other means of getting across, if he returns on a Thursday, when the mailboat does not run).

The up side of the post 1988 timetable is that it is possible to get a respectable amount of shopping time in Glasgow - I remember doing Christmas shopping using the old timetable, getting into Glasgow about 12.45 and racing around shops for 3 1/2 hours before leaving again sometime after 4.

 

[JamesM]

In my experience of these Highland line trains, giant sections of carriages can be booked by OAP style coach trips. I have often jumped on one at 11am thinking I'll be the only person on there, to find myself wedged between 60 OAP's on a daytrip as part of their autumn gold 5 day mega break.

 

[telstarbox]

Thanks for all the replies! It's great to get a bit of the line's 'character' which you can't pick up just from reading a timetable.