Scenic route
West Highland Line
Glasgow → Mallaig · Scotland
West Highland Line in pictures
Photographs by their authors, hosted on Wikimedia Commons · tap through for the licence
- Distance
- 264 km
- Fastest time
- 5 h 20 min
- Average speed
- 50 km/h
- Top speed
- 100 km/h
- Train
- Class 156 · Jacobite steam
- Countries
- Scotland
- In service since
- 1901
- Highest point
- 410 m
- Runs
- 3× daily each way (fewer Sun); Jacobite steam Apr–Oct
Figures are published values, not live data · corrections log
Regularly voted the world’s most scenic railway: around Rannoch Moor and over the 21-arch Glenfinnan Viaduct of film fame.
North of Craigendoran the line abandons the Clyde commuter belt and sets off alone across country no road dares follow. It rounds the Horseshoe Curve beneath Beinn Dòrain, floats over blanket bog on a mattress of brushwood and ash, and calls at Corrour, a platform miles from the nearest public road. Beyond Fort William comes the 1901 Mallaig Extension: concrete viaducts, white-sand beaches and the Small Isles on the horizon before the fishing boats of Mallaig.
How this line was checked
- Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 3224918 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within 42 m of them
- Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 15 m from it
- The operator publishes this line's timetable: ScotRail timetables — a place to look it up, not a check of our drawing
- Wikipedia has an article for this line
- See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it
Along the way
- Loch Long and Loch Lomond shores
- Horseshoe Curve below Beinn Dòrain
- Corrour — Britain’s highest station
- Ben Nevis above Fort William
- Glenfinnan Viaduct over Loch Shiel
- silver sands of Morar
How long is the West Highland Line?
The West Highland Line runs 264 km from Glasgow to Mallaig.
How long does the West Highland Line take?
The fastest scheduled journey is 5 h 20 min for the 264 km. That is an average of 50 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 100 km/h.
Who runs the West Highland Line?
ScotRail, with Class 156, Jacobite steam.
How old is the West Highland Line?
The line has been in service since 1901. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.
How high does the West Highland Line climb?
410 m above sea level at its highest point.
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