Clickable Schematic of route
[Key]
| Lealt Valley
Diatomite Railway
This line is closed. The line ran from Diatomite beds in Loch Cuithir to a factory at Invertote (more below). |
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This line ran in the north of the Isle of Skye on the Trotternish peninsula. The area has a low population and is mostly moorland. The moorland sweeps from central hills, with the Old Man of Storr and Quirang, downhill to cliffs above the sea.
The line was a 2 foot gauge tramway. In a description from 1905 the line was worked by manpower and gravity, later it appears to have had a locomotive.
It ran from Loch Cuithir (where the Diatomite was extracted from the lochbed and initially dried on wire nets) to the clifftop at Invertote where there were storehouses. At the foot of the cliff was a drying and grinding factory where the diatomite was kiln dried, ground and calcined (roasted). An extension of the line ran from the factories to the pier. A second facility carried Diatomite from Loch Valerain by aerial ropeway to Staffin Bay. Between these the Skye Diatomite company extracted 2000 tons. Today the line and works are closed and ruined and Loch Valerain is worked out.
The Diatomite was converted into kieselguhr which was used by Nobel Explosives at Ardeer to mix with nitroglycerine to make Dynamite. Diatomite has many uses and is still prepared in many parts of the world.