The Highland Railway as a Company is long-gone. Many of its routes area still in use, others have been abandoned. This thread will hopefully cover the majority of the Highland's lines. ...

H.A.Vallance notes that in the years prior to the coming of the railways to the North of Scotland there was a series of different initiatives intended to improve transport links. The first were the roads built by General Wade (250 miles of military roads) which “were quite unsuited to the requirements of trade operating under peace-time conditions.” [17: p11] The biggest contribution to raid development was made by Thomas Telford. He “was appointed to survey for new roads and for the improvement of existing highways. In the course of … 17 years he constructed about 920 miles of road, and built some 1,200 bridges.” [17: p11] But it was the coming of the railways to the Highlands, that most effectively addressed the regions transport problems.

Earlier articles about the Highland Railway network can be found here:

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/04/01/th ... le-branch;

and here:

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/03/23/th ... er-branch;

These two articles cover the Strathpeffer Branch and the Fortrose Branch respectively.

Trains Illustrated No. 18 which was published in 1976 focussed on The Highland Railway. [1] The introductory article, ‘Highland Retrospect’, was written by Paul Drew. [1: p4-11]. The linked article starts from Drew's article to begin looking at the Highland Railway's network.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/05/01/th ... ay-part-1/

Further articles will follow in due course. ...

The Highland Railway’s Fort George Branch

This short branch was established to bring a railhead closer to Fort George.

The featured image in the linked article shows Highland Railway No. 29 at Fort George Railway Station in Ardersier in charge of a train of four wheel coaches.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/05/03/th ... rge-branch