Killin Railway

The Killin Railway was a locally promoted railway line built to connect the town of Killin to the Callander and Oban Railway main line nearby. It opened in 1886, and carried tourist traffic for steamers on Loch Tay as well as local business. The directors and the majority of the shareholders were local people, and the little company retained its independence until 1923.

When the adjacent main line closed in 1965, the Killin line closed too.

On 1 June 1870, the Callander and Oban Railway opened the first portion of its line. Shortage of cash meant that the original intention of linking Oban to the railway network was to be deferred for now. The line opened from the former Dunblane, Doune and Callander Railway at Callander to a station named Killin, but it was at Glenoglehead, high above the town and three miles (5 km) distant down a steep and rugged track.

The difficult local terrain prevented any question of the line to Oban passing through Killin, and local people were for the time being happy enough that they had a railway connection of a sort; indeed tourist trade was brought in to the town. The Callander and Oban Railway had in fact been absorbed by the Caledonian Railway but continued to be managed semi-autonomously. The Caledonian was a far larger concern that had money problems, and priorities, elsewhere. Nevertheless, as time went on, extension of the first line to Oban was resumed in stages, and finally completed on 30 June 1880.

The people of Killin petitioned the Callander and Oban company for a branch line, but this was refused, and when the Caledonian Railway itself was persuaded to obtain Parliamentary authority to build the branch, the Bill failed in Parliament.

In frustration, local people decided to build the railway themselves. The Marquis of Breadalbane was anxious to develop the area, and under his chairmanship the first meeting of the local railway took place on 19 August 1882, in Killin. Making a branch to join the Callander and Oban at its "Killin" station would involve an impossibly steep gradient, but a line was planned to meet the C&OR further west and at a lower altitude. Even so, the branch would be four miles (6.4 km) long with a gradient of 1 in 50. It could be built for about £18,000. At the Killin end, the line would be extended to a pier on Loch Tay, serving the steamer excursion traffic on the loch.

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Wikipedia