Working in the Mallaig railway

"The Railway was a big employer: people forget the number of people that were employed: three men per section of one and half miles all the way to Fort-William!

Each station had its porter, station master, signal man as well as relief for each of these jobs. The engine drivers, firemen and guards were all local"... "Mallaig was really busy all year around because of the herring fishing from October to February. (There would be a lull), then the summer season started. Every train that came to Mallaig was packed with people.

With so many coaches coming in and the crossing points in Glenfinnan, Lochailort and Arisaig not long enough, there would be a lot of manoeuvring! It made keeping to time very difficult"... "It was all team work: you made use of all the gradients. You shovelled hard going uphill, you kept the steam up and you made use of the downhill to recover steam pressure. The steam engine was not like a diesel or a petrol engine, it was more like a living thing!"... "We did a lot of shunting down the Point.

As there was no herring landed on Mondays, it was the day the Herring Girls did their washing and clean the sticks they hung the kippers on. They used to come to the steam engines and (we would give them hot water and coal). Of course we had the most plentiful supply of kippers in exchange, everybody wanted kippers!"

Adapted from Built upon Herring, A history of Mallaig and its fishing history, Mallaig Oral History Project, 2010

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