Station Name: INVERGARRY[Source:
Nick Catford]
 
old1.jpg) Looking north-east towards Invergarry station in 1931. The unusual underpass is seen with its covered stairway up to the wide island platform. The goods yard with two sidings is seen on the left. old3.jpg) Invergarry station looking south-west c1930s. Note the trees deliberately planted on the platform. See how they have grown in the pictures below.
Copyright photo from John Alsop collection 19.jpg)
Invergarry station looking north-east in April 1970. The underpass is behind the photographer.
Photo by John Mann 14.jpg)
The unusual underpass under the northbound line that allowed passengers to reach the island platform.
Photo by John Mann  The ramp down to the tunnel under the track. This was originally covered as seen in the 1931 picture above. Photo by Martin Briscoe 20.jpg)
Invergarry station looking south-west in 2011; a year before restoration started.
Photo by Ian Butler  The ramp down to the subway at the end of the first day to clear the site in April 2012. Photo by Christopher Ellice 21.jpg) Clearance of the undergrowth on the platform and the southbound track has almost been completed by November 2011. Something still needs to be done about the trees which have been growing on the platform for over 80 years.
Photo by Christopher Ellice 24.jpg)
After 66 years the first track panels are laid to platform 1 on 25 March 2014.
Photo by Christopher Ellice
The trees were prepared for felling in 2013 but a year later in June 2014 they are still
there awaiting their fate. Photo by Andy Ellis  A view from June 2021 showing the current extent of the track with the replica signal cabin being constructed in the background.
Photo by Christopher Ellice Click here for more pictures of Invergarry station
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The line was unsuccessfully opposed, by the Highland Railway and the Act was passed on 14th August 1896. Construction started the following year and after a final inspection by the Board of Trade on 14th July 1903, the branch opened eight days later on 22nd July. The line was largely funded by Lord Burton and was an expensive venture, built to main-line standards, so convinced were its promoters that it would ultimately become part of a ‘Great Glen’ trunk route.
There was a station in the centre of Fort Augustus, but the line extended to a pier on Loch Ness to allow connection with steamers. Other intermediate stations were provided at Aberchalder, Invergarry and Gairlochy. A further station at Invergloy was opened on 1st July 1904. The line was single track throughout with passing places at Gairlochy & Invergarry Stations and at Letterfinlay Crossing which was planned to break the long single track section from Gairlochy to Invergarry. This crossing was never brought into use although signaling equipment was installed and a signal box built.
The line cost £350,000 to build and this cost exhausted the capital of the Invergarry and Fort Augustus Railway Co. with no money left to provide rolling stock and operate the line; so the service was initially provided by the Highland Railway who rented the line at £4,000 per year even though it was detached from its own system. The railway turned out to be a financial disaster. The villages it served were sparsely inhabited and the only forms of revenue were on Market Day and the use of the line by monks attending a Seminary nearby.
The section from Fort Augustus Town station to the pier on Loch Ness, incorporating a swing bridge on the canal, a major bridge over the River Lochy a bridge over the main road, a terminal station and pier was closed in 1906 after only three years’ use. The line was worked by the North British Railway from 1st May 1907 but between 1st November 1911 and 1st August 1913 there was no service at all, as the North British was not prepared to lose any more money and were only willing to restore a service when the line was sold outright to them. They paid £27,000 for the line and the Fort Augustus Hotel, a fraction of the £350,000 cost of building the branch. They were then able to operate the line under the North British Railway (Invergarry and Fort Augustus) Vesting and Confirmation Act of 28th August 1914.
After the First World War, the North British Railway was amalgamated into the London & North Eastern Railway, who used the line largely for freight purposes rather than passenger traffic. The passenger service was withdrawn on 1st December 1933 but the line remained open for freight with a once weekly coal train. During WW2 there was a daily freight service in connection with logging activities. The daily freight train was withdrawn in 1945 and the weekly coal train was withdrawn from 1st January 1947. There was a final special on 28th March 1947 for prospective hiring of the line by a timber merchant but this didn't happen and the track was lifted shortly afterwards. Today some sections of the trackbed are used as a logging road.
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