Railway Walks with Julia Bradbury episode 6
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00:00Britain is a country that owes a great deal to its rail empire.
00:22For a hundred years, the railways dominated the development of this country, the network
00:27that supported a global superpower.
00:33But today, our island is home to 10,000 miles of disused lines, a silent network of embankments,
00:41platforms and viaducts.
00:46For me and many others, they've become a perfect platform for exploring the country on foot.
00:57Today, I'm in the bosom of Scotland, in an area that's known as the gateway to the highlands,
01:13and you can see why. Down there lie the lowlands of Glasgow and Edinburgh, whereas up here
01:19in the north, it's a world of mountains and locks. And that's the world I'm heading into
01:23today for my railway walk.
01:29That is Callander, a town that grew so rapidly during the Victorian age that they built this
01:33mighty cairn to celebrate the diamond jubilee of the Queen Empress. But the story of the
01:38walk goes further back than that. From here, the railway headed north into the turbulent
01:43world of Highlands, Scottish clans and Rob Roy. Today, I'm going to explore the story
01:47of how the railway line helped bring civilisation to an area so famous for its history of wild
01:53violence.
01:59On a day like today, how could anyone not be passionate about the Scottish Highlands?
02:06But until 1800, few people chose to venture to these remote parts without good reason.
02:11Today, I'm going to be walking through an area that turned itself from feared to fashionable
02:17in the space of 60 years.
02:33The first railway arrived in Callander from Dunblane in 1858. It was the plan of the Callander
02:39and Oban Railway Company to build a route through the Highlands, winding north and then
02:44west through Glenogol and Glendockard to reach the coastline at Oban.
02:52Further lines followed, including a branch line serving the villages of Killyn and taking
02:56tourists to Loch Tay. Today, the old lines have become a popular walking route and part
03:02of a massive cycle path running from Glasgow all the way to Inverness.
03:10It was in the 1800s that Callander really started to gain attention. William Wordsworth,
03:16Queen Victoria, Walter Scott and, of course, the railway all came to town. And now it's
03:23known as the eastern entrance to the new Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park.
03:31The wide streets of the 1770s were certainly well thought out, with Callander soon bustling
03:36with visitors, all demanding food, hotels and carriages to take them on from the impressively
03:42large station. But I wonder how many of those visitors ever intended to walk as far as me?
03:51This will easily be my longest railway walk. But before I set off, let's take a bird's
03:57eye view of the route I'll be following.
04:02Just like the steam trains, most of my walk is a long, steady climb up into the southern
04:06highlands. The railway followed the river upstream from Callander, aiming for the valley
04:13of Loch Lubneg. I'll be hugging the western shore of the loch, but from the air the drama
04:21of the peaks ahead is clear.
04:26North of the loch, the first village on my route is Strathire, a holiday spot for Wordsworth
04:31and, 60 years later, the first station north of Callander. Long before that, this was the
04:38home turf of the Clan MacGregor and their most famous son, Rob Roy.
04:46As the railway approached Loch Urn, the line split, with some trains forking right towards
04:51the water. The Callander and Oban railway swept left though, climbing noticeably as
04:57it rounded the corner and headed straight up Glen Ogle.
05:02Three quarters of the way up, I'll reach the signature feature of this railway, the Glen
05:07Ogle Viaduct.
05:13Over Glen Ogle Head and you enter Glen Dockard. From here it's all downhill, as I pick up
05:20the old Killin Branch line. This is where Victorian tourists would have once passed
05:25through Killin Village, on the train to reach the Pleasure Steamer, on the shores of Loch
05:31Tay.
05:37This is the site of the old station and, as you can see, it's now a lovely car park.
05:44Back in Callander, I'm meeting a gentleman at the hotel next door to the old station.
05:50He's a true local lad, that's if you overlook his Italian origins. But today, he and his
05:55many cousins in the area have become a modern day Scottish clan.
06:02Brian Lutey, a good Scottish name there. There are quite a few, actually, Italian Scots on
06:07there, or Scot-Italians, whichever way you put it.
06:08Yeah, a lot of people came over in the early 1900s, you know. Italy was very poor.
06:14Would you describe yourself as a modern day clan?
06:17Absolutely. Every way. Very Scottish. In fact, we are known in the community as the Callander Mafia, in a nice way.
06:26What was this town like as a railway town?
06:28Oh, it was totally different. I've always been mad on locomotives and trains and steam,
06:34and we used to sit on the fence and watch the trains go by. As a child, when we had
06:37the restaurant, I used to come to the station every morning with a wheelbarrow to pick up
06:41the fish that came from Aberdeen on the night train, which was also the mail train, and
06:47we would pick up the fish and take it back to the restaurant. So it brought all the fresh
06:50food and vegetables and things, and that's all gone now. It comes by lorry and van.
06:54It's all cars and lorries and...
06:55Yeah, absolutely.
06:56There's a lot of traffic, there are a lot of buses, there are a lot of cars. Was it
07:00ever busier than this?
07:01In people terms, yes. I mean, in the last year, the biggest event we had with the train,
07:07and I had a restaurant at the time, was the Coats of Paisley, the cotton people. They
07:12brought all their employees, 6,000 of them, to Calendar one day on a charter train, and
07:17it was, if you look up here, it was just like a swarm of people coming down, you know, and
07:21they just come up the main street, they're like, just cover the street.
07:24It must have been flooded, the place.
07:25It was, absolutely. But that was the great old days. They didn't come by car, they came
07:30by train.
07:32Why this as a meeting spot for you and I?
07:34Well, it was built by the McNabs, the Clan McNab.
07:37And who were the Clan McNab?
07:38They were like a local mob, and I think they were the mafia.
07:42They were the mafia of the day.
07:43Yeah, yeah, absolutely. But yeah, there was loads of Clans. There was McNabs, the McNiches,
07:47there was the McGregors of Rob Roy Oak, the famous Rob Roy. This hotel was called the
07:52Dreadnought, because Dreadnought was their Clan battle cry. Dreadnought.
07:56Dreadnought! Dreadnought!
07:57Absolutely. Rough bunch. But there's still something to remind us of it around the front
08:01of the hotel.
08:02Let's have a look.
08:09The head.
08:10Oh, who's he?
08:12He's the chief of the Clan McNiche.
08:14So they killed him, and then they thought it would be a nice idea to pop his head up
08:18there as a symbol.
08:19Yeah, they did things differently in those days.
08:21That's nice, isn't it?
08:22I'm a bit macabre, I think.
08:24Thank you very much. I might have nightmares about that.
08:27On your way, you want to follow the railway line. That's an old Ordnance Survey map taken
08:31in the 50s, which has the train on it, the line on it, and hopefully it'll help you on
08:35your way.
08:36Thank you very much. 1957! It's older than me.
08:40Not older than me.
08:42Thank you, that's really nice.
08:43Bye-bye.
08:44Thanks, Brian.
08:45Have a good walk.
08:46Lovely to meet you. Thank you for the map, appreciate it.
08:52And so my very long trek into the Highlands gets underway.
08:56A railway signal rather reassuringly marks the point where I join the old track bed.
09:02But apart from that, the walk takes you straight into the Scottish countryside.
09:10A few miles to the west of here is Loch Catrine, which was one of Walter Scott's favourite areas.
09:15In fact, there's still a steamer on the loch called the Lady of the Lake, named after his
09:19most famous poem.
09:20He was one of the first poets and writers to really romanticise about this area, but
09:25even he said that this is where beauty lies in the lap of terror, making reference to
09:30its turbulent past.
09:31We are in the Highlands, after all.
09:38For Scott and his friend William Wordsworth, the remote aspect and the unruly reputation
09:43of these parts were of great appeal.
09:47Their literary work, inspired by and even set in the Trossachs, was like a 19th-century
09:52PR campaign, drawing a new and rather upmarket crowd to Scotland's mountains.
10:01This section of the river is called the Falls of Lennie.
10:07Now, the river meanders all the way through the valley, whereas once upon a time, the
10:13railway line would have cut straight through it.
10:16And actually, this is the remaining support of a bridge that would have taken the trains
10:23straight across from here.
10:31MUSIC
10:43You emerge from the woodland into an open patch of flower-filled meadow.
10:49It feels like you've crossed the divide between lowlands and highlands.
11:00This is the southern tip of my first lock, Lock Lubneg.
11:05At five kilometres long, it's certainly not the biggest I'll encounter.
11:09But tightly packed between the peaks of Ben Ledi and Ben Vorlig, it lives up to its Gaelic
11:15name, meaning crooked.
11:25And towards the northern end of the lock, the path forces you off the railway line for
11:29a short distance.
11:32No idle diversion either, if there's very good reason.
11:42You wouldn't want to mess with these beasties, but they're actually perfectly entitled to
11:45be here.
11:46This is, in fact, the old railway line here.
11:48And when the railway closed, a lot of the farmers and local landowners were given the
11:52opportunity of buying their land back, which, of course, many of them did.
11:57Hence the lovely highland cattle.
12:01And let's face it, old railway beds aren't just good for cycle paths, they're good for
12:05tractors too.
12:19The valley bottom around the head of Lock Lubneg provides a small area of good farmland.
12:26But otherwise, it's a classic V-shaped glacial valley that brought railway passengers straight
12:31into the first highland village.
12:38Strathire is where Wordsworth chose to stay with his sister, Dorothy.
12:43He came to escape the hustle and bustle of the Lake District.
12:48You can only imagine what he would have made of the railway here.
12:51As in calendar, the old railway station of Strathire is no more.
12:55In its place, this lovely housing estate.
12:58But in its day, Strathire did win the best-kept station moniker, don't you know?
13:11Beautiful, maybe, well-kept too.
13:14But long before both Wordsworth and the railway, this part of my walk, the
13:19Balquidder Valley, was the firm territory of the clan MacGregor.
13:26In 1603, King James VI made it a crime to carry the name MacGregor.
13:32But this period did produce the clan's most famous son,
13:35outlaw and folk hero, Rob Roy.
13:41Balquidder is also the point where one railway became two.
13:45In 1905, the Calendar and Oban was joined by a line running west from here,
13:50down the valley of Loch Earn.
13:53And today, walkers and cyclists are encouraged to follow the new line
13:56for a short distance, allowing me the bonus of an extra viaduct.
14:03This must be Loch Earn Head, and there's a first tiny little glimpse
14:06of the loch just there.
14:08Now, I might have temporarily moved on to a different railway track,
14:11but I'm still on the catchily named National Cycle Route 7.
14:15Of course, lots of railway lines have been turned into cycle paths,
14:18but this one is pretty dramatic.
14:20If you wanted to, you could follow it all the way from Glasgow to Inverness,
14:24if you wanted to.
14:29And this is where I'm meeting someone who might just consider such a thing.
14:33As well as being a cycling nut,
14:35Douglas Stewart is also an access officer for the Loch Lomond
14:38and the Trossachs National Park.
14:41Have you done Glasgow-Inverness, Inverness-Glasgow?
14:44No, I haven't, no, unfortunately, no.
14:46Good. I think they must be crazy.
14:48This is the section I use most often. I really enjoy it.
14:52There aren't many people who can say that beaching did them some good.
14:55No, that's right. Controversial to the last.
14:57It is pretty spectacular, isn't it?
14:59I mean, as far as cycle routes go, there aren't very many with you.
15:02No, absolutely not.
15:03And I think one of the great things about this route
15:06is the number of viaducts that's on it.
15:08And at this time of year, it's wonderful.
15:10This is a real meeting of the ancient and the modern
15:13right at this point, isn't it?
15:15I think, as far as I understand, this was the only missing bridge
15:18in this entire section between Callander and Killin.
15:21So this was put in for the millennium,
15:24and this was the final piece in the jigsaw
15:28that meant the end of the millennium.
15:30The final piece in the jigsaw that meant that this section of the route
15:33could be up and running, and it's wonderful. I love it.
15:37It lay unused for something like 35 years,
15:41and now we've got the benefit.
15:47Douglas has agreed to push his bike for a short time
15:50while he accompanies me up Glen Ogle.
15:53From this point on, there's a good seven miles of constant ascent,
15:57and to get back onto the Callander and Oban line,
16:00there's the steepest section of the lot.
16:03Really fast, but that's a bit of a trudge on the uphill, that's for sure.
16:11You also get a great view of Tootman Rose up here.
16:14Next time you're up, you can climb them.
16:16The equivalent of the fells?
16:18That's it, yeah. One on the left is Ben Vorlach,
16:21and the one on the right is Stuka Croyne.
16:23You can do them both in a day, a long day,
16:26but they're really good fun,
16:28and to see them today with no cloud on the top is really pretty special.
16:32One for next time, or two for next time!
16:35Two for next time, yeah, absolutely.
16:38It's obviously back onto the old C&O line here.
16:41As you step back onto the Callander and Oban,
16:44you're rewarded with great views over Loch Earn,
16:47and far below the lower railway line that ran along the length of the loch.
16:57There seems to be a bit of mishap here.
17:00Yeah, Jules, this is the site of the famous landslide,
17:03which occurred in 1965.
17:05The line was scheduled for closure by Dr Beeching in October of 1965,
17:12and literally a few weeks before that date, this landslide occurred,
17:16and they conveniently, I think, used it as an excuse to shut the line early.
17:20Presumably that must have happened a lot on the lines,
17:22they must have been able to deal with it, it was just decided not to.
17:25Yeah, I think they just took the opportunity to shut the line early
17:28and save a bit more money.
17:33The steep and unstable sides of Glen Ogle
17:35were a constant problem for the managers of the railway.
17:39So too were harsh winters,
17:41when trains occasionally got stuck in snowdrifts.
17:45Passengers were known to escape on foot,
17:47using the line of telegraph poles to guide them to safety.
17:51Today it's the road on the opposite wall of the valley
17:54that deals with similar conditions.
17:57Aha! So here's our proper first view.
18:00This is it, the Glen Ogle Viaduct.
18:02What an iconic scene.
18:04It's a nice sunny day as well.
18:06And so, from an entirely unplanned landmark,
18:09you reach the railway's most famous intended landmark,
18:13the glorious Glen Ogle Viaduct.
18:25This is obviously a very different structure from the other viaduct.
18:28Yeah, interesting you mention that.
18:30This is constructed using natural stone, mortared natural stone,
18:34compared to the Kendham Viaduct,
18:36which was constructed much later than this one,
18:39and it's made of concrete.
18:41So, yeah, quite different.
18:43Really just the change in technology, if you like,
18:46between the two different construction periods.
18:48But it would have been a particular highlight, I think,
18:52on the journey from Calendar North.
18:54The passengers would have...
18:56Oh, without question, opening up like this.
18:58That's it, they would get the views, the open countryside,
19:01and I think it would have been fantastic.
19:03Part of the journey and a big part
19:05of what the railway company were selling to the public.
19:13As you reach the top of the valley,
19:15the gradual gradient becomes clear.
19:18Both the road and the railway head for the same point.
19:22A one-in-50 gradient may not sound much,
19:25but many trains required two locomotives
19:27to see them over the top of the pass.
19:30There's a little stile to cross here,
19:32and then we can get a really nice view down the glen
19:35and see the ground we've covered.
19:37Pretty good-looking. Yeah, it's fantastic, isn't it?
19:39That's us just about at the top of the glen.
19:44We're 700 feet above Calendar, where you started,
19:47and you hardly notice it, and that shows you
19:49just how effective the rail system was
19:52in dealing with the gradients.
19:54We get a really nice view from here of Ben Vorlach,
19:57which we couldn't quite see earlier on,
19:59but you can see the summit of Ben Vorlach there.
20:01Well, Doug, thank you so much for showing me everything,
20:03pointing everything out along the way.
20:05I might nick your bike!
20:10In 1870, the Calendar and Oban Railway
20:13ended right here at Glen Oglehead.
20:16There simply wasn't the money to complete the line to the coast.
20:20But over the next ten years, the railway was extended in stages,
20:24starting with the route west along Glen Dockard.
20:29And in 1886, after much local campaigning,
20:32the area acquired a new station.
20:37These ruins in the modern area of Forrest
20:39are all that remain of Killin Junction.
20:42It was built exclusively as an exchange point
20:45for passengers and goods arriving on a new branch line.
20:48Up until now, I've been walking along
20:50the old Calendar and Oban Railway line,
20:53but the directors of C&O didn't fancy extending the line to Loch Tay,
20:57so that was left to the locals to build and manage their own,
21:00which they did, and it was known as the Killin Branch.
21:09My final stretch of railway walk
21:11follows one of the most remarkable lines
21:13to feel the weight of the beaching axe.
21:17For four miles, a small engine
21:19would have rattled down the slope to Killin.
21:22In 1886, it changed lives in this highland village overnight.
21:28And the Victorians duly flocked,
21:30packing into specially chartered rail trips.
21:34The shores of Loch Tay could now be reached from London.
21:39But how many of those visitors
21:41would have stopped to thank the local people of Killin?
21:44For they were the folk who'd gathered together,
21:47planned and paid for this unique addition to the rail network.
21:53And for centuries, one family has been at the heart of Killin life,
21:57the Clan MacNab.
21:59Hello, James. Hello. Lovely to meet you. How are you? Very well.
22:02So I'm rather honoured to have persuaded the 23rd Chief
22:05to meet me as I arrive in his hometown.
22:08Try and explain to me a little bit about the territorial nature
22:13of life as part of a clan.
22:16Hundreds of years of ups and downs.
22:20I don't think you could ever call the MacNabs a powerful clan.
22:24They were a relatively small clan.
22:26And they had great propensity for fighting on the losing side, too.
22:33We eventually became...
22:40..rather subservient to the Bedorban Campbells.
22:43In fact, they became the dominant people in this area.
22:48So they were your rivals?
22:50We were rivals sometimes, but...
22:54..we married quite a lot of them, so...
22:57Interrelations? Interrelations.
22:59What's it like to be in this area now, these days?
23:02And the railway, of course, has long since gone.
23:05Well...
23:08..as the councillor at the time, there was...
23:12..I don't know what it was called, a board of inquiry
23:15to discover why they were essential for the community.
23:21Because Mr Beeching said what lines were uneconomical.
23:27And so I had to give evidence at that board of inquiry,
23:32and the main thing we were worried about was getting over Glen Ogle.
23:37It used to get terribly blocked with snow,
23:41and the only feasible way in those days, very often, was to go by train.
23:48What about you personally?
23:50What impact did the dissolution of the railway have on you?
23:54As I own the land on either side of it,
23:57under the titles of the railway,
24:00it was the adjacent landowners who had first call on the thing.
24:07So I bought it.
24:09So you bought the railway?
24:11I bought the railway.
24:13What's left of the McNabs now, here?
24:15Well, this island behind us here, Garbinis,
24:20and that island which I'm going to take you on to, Inchbury,
24:25and that is what is left of the McNab lands in McNab hands.
24:30McNab lands in McNab hands.
24:32That's not easy to say. Let's go and have a look.
24:36Having controlled lands throughout Glen Dockard,
24:39the Clan McNab can now lay claim to just two small islands.
24:44They sit surrounded by the stunning Falls of Dockard,
24:48a sad but very proud marker to a grand history stretching back to 950.
24:55And you have to presume that the island of Inchbury, at least,
24:59will forever remain in Clan hands.
25:04Now, here we are.
25:07This is the burial enclosure.
25:12And you see what is supposed to be
25:16Nish's head, the gory head of a savage, the crest of...
25:21Which is the crest that you have on your ring.
25:23Yeah.
25:24Here we are. This is the enclosure,
25:27which has a gate into it and the two windows.
25:30Yes.
25:31And you can see there's 15 chiefs are buried in here and...
25:37But all McNabs.
25:38All McNabs.
25:40This is my great-uncle's grave and a great-aunt,
25:44who I succeeded.
25:47My father's ashes are below there.
25:51And where will you be buried?
25:53I hope you have to pick a place where there aren't too many rocks.
25:58And I hope it will be there.
26:01That will be your spot?
26:02I have probed. I think it's all right.
26:05You think it's all right?
26:07And if you look this way, there's the viaduct and...
26:12The railway.
26:13Back to the railway.
26:14And the railway is behind those trees there.
26:17It is a beautiful little island, James. It really is.
26:20Well, it is.
26:22I hope it's many years before you have your final rest here,
26:26but it is a lovely place to end up.
26:29Thank you very much.
26:32Two adjacent rivers stand between me and my final destination of Loch Tay.
26:42The Dock Ark is crossed by the grand stone viaduct
26:45that overlooks the resting place of so many McNabs.
26:51Then there's the River Lochy.
26:56Where I step off the railway for the final time.
27:05The bank of the river leads you to the most complete view
27:08down the entire length of Loch Tay.
27:26Well, it's taken quite a lot of effort to get here,
27:30but there it is, finally, Loch Tay,
27:33stretching out in front of me.
27:39This is the view the Victorians would have flocked to see,
27:43packed into railway carriages.
27:46They would have disembarked from the train over there,
27:50only yards from a pier that no longer exists,
27:53and then they would have stepped on board a steamer that no longer exists.
28:01For visitors back then, the gateway to the Highlands
28:04was no longer a place to fear.
28:06Scott and Wordsworth had piqued their interest,
28:08and then the railway finally convinced them
28:11that this was no longer a place of tribal clan violence.
28:15And when you look up into the mountains today,
28:18you can still feel and imagine those scenes.
28:22And even Dr Beeching can't change that.