Cromarty Branch Destination

[Millisle]

I have been reading The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain James C Dunn RAMC, documenting the experiences of 2/Royal Welch Fusiliers to which he was Medical Officer from late 1915 until spring 1918. Highly recommended. The following is from page 414 of the Abacus 1994 edition in which he describes his journey to home leave on November 9 1917:

'The train left Bailleul at 2, and was two hours reaching Hazebrouck, 7 1/2 miles. A man explained that we had an "engine of 120 horse-power, but 119 of the blighters is dead." The single-line railway is of our building; the material was lifted from our own Black Isle. It makes a loop through Arques and Wizerne, and carries 70 trains a day.'

I should imagine that was rather heavier traffic than it would have seen if ever used in its original location. I wonder if Dunn's mention is the only surviving record of its provenance.

 

[Gloster]

This would presumably be the line along the north side of the Black Isle from Conon to Cromarty. After years of dilatory progress, by 1914 six miles of track had been laid and two more miles of earthworks completed for the nineteen mile line. The track was lifted in 1915. (Source: The Highland Railway, Vallance, David & Charles, 1985, which suggests that the track had been laid from the Cromarty end.)

 

[Millisle]

There are still visible earthworks coming out of Cromarty. I used to live not far away in Nairnshire. The necessary equipment I have always assumed must have been brought in by sea as otherwise it is difficult to see why one would start from the end not rail connected.