Whistlefield: Whistlefield station (built to serve Portincaple on the shore of Loch Long) the Whistlefield Store (now the 'Green Kettle Inn') and stationmaster's cottage. The narrow road bridge to the right will be familiar to many.
Ewan Crawford Collection //

Whistlefield Halt

Location type

Station

Names and dates

Whistlefield (1896-1960)
Whistlefield Halt (1960-1964)

Where: Argyll and Bute, Scotland
Opened on the West Highland Railway.

Description

This was a single platform station with a station building different to others on the line designed by James Miller, more akin to those on the Callander and Oban Railway. It was an unsuitable location for a station with a cramped location and the line on a gradient.

Despite being included in the Act for the West Highland Railway the station did not open with the line. With local pressure (including from the powerful local landowners the Colquhouns) it opened in 1896 to serve Portincaple and the surrounding district, a small station with a short coal and goods siding and no signalling. The siding was on the east side of the station, approached from the south. There were hopes to carry fish traffic. Whistlefield Hotel was a little to the south of the station. The Whistefield Store and Tea Room (now the Green Kettle) was opened afterwards, closer to the station.

Portincaple is at a much lower level on the east bank of Loch Long (the west side of the line). A road formerly ran downhill directly from the railway bridge to the village (the road has since been realigned). Plans to develop a connecting service to a pier at Portincaple, the loch already being served by steamers, and run ferries to Loch Goil failed to come to fruition. These were quite extravagant, there was consideration of a funicular.

Traces of the steps up to the station from the road below can be found, but nothing remains of the station itself. The platform (rebuilt 1925) was timber. Railwayman's cottages remain in use as houses.

The station was to the south of the road bridge with a platform on the west side of the line.

Local

Visit Scotland - Green Kettle

Tags

Station

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67




Nearby stations
Garelochhead
Faslane Port
Shandon
Faslane Platform
Glen Douglas Halt
Rhu
Helensburgh Upper
RNTR Arrochar Pier
Helensburgh Central
Helensburgh Ticket Platform
Craigendoran Pier
Arrochar and Tarbet
Craigendoran Upper
Craigendoran
Gourock
Garelochhead Viaduct
Finnart Oil Terminal
Finnart Viaduct
Faslane Locomotive Shed
Faslane Port Ramp
Tourist/other
Loch Long
Garelochhead Pier
Bull Hole
St Michael^s Chapel
HMNB Clyde
Belmore Level Crossing
Glen Mallan Jetty
RNAD Coulport
Carrick Castle
High Balernock Level Crossing
Location names in dark blue are on the same original line.


Shunting instructions


A sign survived at Whistlefield until recent years. It read (the underscores represent missing letters):

Owing to the steepness of the gradient at Whistlefield station no shunting is to be done on the main line unless the engine is at the Garelochhead end of the wagon and further _ trains arriving pas_ must stop at the platform unless the continuous brake _.


Intriguingly the station was located just south of a very short section of counter gradient. The line generally climbs from Garelochhead to Glen Douglas Halt but here there is a short section of falling gradient.


Chronology Dates

01/05/1896West Highland Railway
Whistlefield opened.
14/06/1964West Highland Railway
Craigendoran (West Highland, high level), Rhu, Shandon, Whistlefield and Glen Douglas closed as the local service from Craigendoran to Arrochar and Tarbet is withdrawn.

Books

All Stations to Mallaig!: West Highland Line Since Nationalisation
Argyll and the Highlands Last Days of Steam

Argyll and the Highlands' Lost Railways

Ben Nevis and Fort William, The Mamores and The Grey Corries, Kinlochleven and Spean Bridge (OS Explorer Map)

History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands: West Highland Railway v. 1

History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands: West Highland Railway v. 1

Iron Road to the Isles: A Travellers and Tourist Guide to the West Highland Lines

Iron Roads to the Isles: A Travellers and Tourists Souvenir Guide to the West Highland Lines

Mountain Moor and Loch on the Route of the West Highland Railway

On West Highland Lines

Railway World Special: West Highland Lines

Rannan Rathad Iarainn nan Eilean =: The West Highland Line

Road To The Isles Dvd: Part One The West Highland Line Between Crianlarich to Fort William, From the Drivers Cab Of A Class 37, With The Caledonian Sleeper
The Mallaig Railway: The West Highland Extension 1897-1901 (RCAHMS Broadsheet)
The New Railway: The Earliest Years of the West Highland Line

The Story of the West Highland

The Story of the West Highland: The 1940s LNER Guide to the Line

The West Highland Railway

The West Highland Railway (Railways of the Scottish Highlands)

The West Highland Railway 120 Years

Trossachs and West Highlands: Exploring the Lost Railways (Local History Series)

Victorian Travel on the West Highland Line: By Mountain, Moor and Loch in 1894

Walks from the West Highland Railway (Cicerone Guide)

West Highland Line: Great Railway Journeys Through Time

West Highland Railway
West Highland Railway (History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands v. 1): West Highland Railway v. 1
West Highland Railway: Plans, Poltics and People