The Kyle of Lochalsh Line was opened in 1870 to connect the ferry terminus at Stromeferry on Scotland's west coast with Dingwall and Inverness on the east coast. It had been intended to reach Kyle of Lochalsh but the company ran out of money, and the Highland Railway would open an extension to the Kyle in 1897 to improve transport links for the fishing industry. At the time, the extension was mile for mile the most expensive railway ever built in Britain. The line passes through some of the most dramatic and beautiful scenery in Britain and although it was marked for closure by Doctor Beeching, its importance to the isolated communities it serves led to a reprieve and in 1980 it was featured by Michael Palin in Great Railway Journeys of the World. In this book, Ewan Crawford uses a mixture of contemporary and period images to bring the history of the line and its landscape to life.
