Kentallen railway station

Kentallen
Hotel and restaurant on the site of Kentallen station, in 2005
General information
Location	Highland Scotland
Coordinates	56.6747°N 5.2439°W / 56.6747; -5.2439
Grid reference	NN013583
Line	Ballachulish branch line
Platforms	2
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Callander and Oban Railway
Pre-grouping	Callander and Oban Railway operated by Caledonian Railway
Post-grouping	LMS
Key dates
24 August 1903	Opened
25 May 1953	Closed
24 August 1953	Re-opened
28 March 1966	Closed
Location

Kentallen was a railway station at the head of Kentallen Bay, which is on the southern shore of Loch Linnhe in the Highland council area of Scotland. It was on the Ballachulish branch line that linked Connel Ferry, on the main line of the Callander and Oban Railway, with Ballachulish.

History

This station opened on 24 August 1903. It was laid out with two platforms, one on either side of a crossing loop. There were sidings on the east side of the line.

The station was temporarily closed from 25 May to 24 August 1953 when flooding washed away a bridge. It was then closed by the British Railways Board in 1966, when the Ballachulish Branch of the Callander and Oban Railway was closed.

The station had been the location of an LMS caravan in 1935 and then two caravans from 1936 to 1939. A camping coach was also positioned here by the Scottish Region from 1953 to 1965.

Preceding station	Historical railways			Following station
Duror Line and station closed		Callander and Oban Railway Ballachulish Branch Caledonian Railway		Ballachulish Ferry Line and station closed

Present day

Following closure, the station building was converted into a hotel and restaurant, now the Holly Tree Hotel. The building, designed in the Glasgow Style by James Miller or Robert Wemyss with Formans & McCall as engineers, retains many original features; the signal box was replaced by a restaurant and the platform was incorporated as an internal corridor. Holiday lodges have been built over the infilled trackbed at the southern end of the former platforms.

Signalling

Throughout its existence, the Ballachulish Branch was worked by the electric token system. Kentallen signal box was located on the Up platform, on the east side of the railway. It had 24 levers.

References

Sources

• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
• Hurst, Geoffrey (1992). Register of Closed Railways: 1948-1991. Worksop, Nottinghamshire: Milepost Publications. ISBN 0-9477-9618-5.
• McRae, Andrew (1997). British Railway Camping Coach Holidays: The 1930s & British Railways (London Midland Region). Vol. Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part One). Foxline. ISBN 1-870119-48-7.
• McRae, Andrew (1998). British Railways Camping Coach Holidays: A Tour of Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. Vol. Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part Two). Foxline. ISBN 1-870119-53-3.
• Miers, Mary (2008). Western Seaboard: An Illustrated Architectural Guide. Rutland Press. ISBN 978-1-873190-29-6.

Further reading

• Fryer, Charles (1989). The Callander and Oban Railway. Oxford: Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-8536-1377-X. OCLC 21870958.
• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.

External links

• Holly Tree Hotel – current occupant of the station building
• Kentallen station on navigable 1954 map
• Ballachulish Branch (Callander and Oban Railway)