Glasgow to Mallaig: Great Train Journeys The departure from Glasgow has fine views over the Clyde Route The journey starts under the 1880 wrought-iron roof of Glasgow Queen Street and winds past soulless distribution sheds and suburban housing to the start of the 100-mile West Highland Railway at Craigendoran Junction. As the diesel engines growl up the bank through leafy Helensburgh, you see ships riding at anchor in the estuary before they disappear behind woods of birch and oak above Gare Loch. From Garelochhead there is a spectacular view back along the narrow loch to the south before one of those almost theatrical transitions that punctuate the route. The train burrows through a fern-clad cutting and emerges to a panorama over Loch Long where it is joined by Loch Goil. Arrochar & Tarbet station, which once supplied breakfast baskets to northbound passengers, lies between lochs Long and Lomond on a strip of land used as a portage in 1263 by King Haakon of Norway as he sought more places to raid. The views along Loch Lomond are some of the finest of the journey, the railway running along a shelf cut into the hillside above a dense canopy of trees. A summer ferry links Inveruglas with the idyllically situated Inversnaid Hotel on the opposite shore. The long climb up Glen Falloch beside the birch-fringed river ends at the junction for Oban at Crianlarich and the meeting of three glens. Once the railway has passed the end of Loch Tulla, it is 32 miles before anything more than a track is seen again. The wilderness of Rannoch Moor is majestic, one of those rare places in Britain where there has been little to upset the course of nature. The pause at Rannoch station usually sees a few well-equipped walkers alight, enough to support a tea-room in summer and the adjacent Moor of Rannoch Hotel. The shed covering the line at Cruach, north of Rannoch station, was built to protect the track from drifting snow and is unique in Britain. Views along Loch Lomond are some of the finest of the journey The people who got to know this isolation best were the few railway staff at Corrour, the highest station on the British Rail network at 1,338 feet, where an old railway carriage on the platform once served as a school attended by their 11 children. Today the only residents occupy the Swedish-designed Scottish Youth Hostel built beside the railway in 2000, where you can dine on venison from the 52,000-acre Corrour Estate. The treeless undulating peat bog continues, with lonely Loch Treig below the line to the west, until Tulloch station where the road from Kingussie joins the railway to reach Fort William. But there is one more spectacle in the Monessie Gorge, where the river is squeezed into frothing cataract. Built in the shadow of Ben Nevis, Fort William was reached by the first public train in 1894, but it was 1901 before the Mallaig extension was opened - one of the last railways to be built during the first railway age and a pioneer in the use of new methods by "Concrete Bob" McAlpine. The station is a terminus where trains for Mallaig reverse to turn west pass the end of long Loch Linnhe to run along the water's edge of Loch Eil. Trains curve round Glenfinnan Viaduct to reach the station, which now has a railway museum and a camping coach serving refreshments in summer. The panorama of mountains, dotted with sheep pounds and poignant remains of crofters" cottages, is soon complemented to the west by views over sea lochs towards the Small Isles of Muck, Eigg and Rum. The brilliant blue of the sea, edged with translucent emerald-green, reminds some of the South Seas, an impression encouraged by the sight of palms and subtropical plants growing under the benign influence of the Gulf Stream. Trains curve round Glenfinnan Viaduct Beyond Lochailort station, you see a small white church on a knoll: the deconsecrated Our Lady of the Braes. It was on Loch nan Uamh, the Loch of the Caves, that a hopeful Charles Edward Stuart landed from a French frigate in 1745, only to leave from the same spot 14 months later after the disaster of Culloden. Past Arisaig, Britain's most westerly station, and after weaving through some stone cuttings, the railway cuts across the western end of Loch Morar, Europe's deepest lake at 1,017 feet. On autumn nights, thousands of eels swim out of this loch for their extraordinary 3,000-mile journey to the Sargasso Sea to lay their eggs. Running beside beaches of white quartzite sand sometimes populated by sauntering cattle, the train slows for journey's end at Mallaig station, adjacent to the fishing and ferry harbour. The railway's history is one of many subjects explored in the nearby Heritage Centre. Once Europe's principal herring port, Mallaig is for many the place to follow the Young Pretender and take a boat "over the sea to Skye." Highlights Perhaps the most impressive moment in the journey to Fort William is just north of Tyndrum station, where the railway describes a horseshoe curve beneath the immense Fujiyama-like shape of Ben Doran while crossing two curved viaducts, the scale of the landscape making one feel very insignificant. On the Mallaig line the highlight is undoubtedly the northbound climb to Glenfinnan station across the famous viaduct, set in an amphitheatre of mountains and overlooking the Glenfinnan Monument, erected in 1815 to mark the spot where Bonnie Prince Charlie raised his standard in 1745. Booking Trains are operated by ScotRail (08457 550033; scotrail.co.uk). Since 1984 steam-hauled trains have been a regular feature of the Fort William-Mallaig line, today in the form of The Jacobite, a morning weekday train. This year it runs between May 13 and 25 October 25 and at weekends from June 22 to September 22, supplemented by an afternoon train from June 3 to August 30 (westcoastrailways.co.uk/jacobite/dates) Time The journey time between Glasgow Queen Street and Fort William is about 3¾ hours, between Fort William and Mallaig just under 1½ hours. Fort William Cost Advance fares for Glasgow-Mallaig start at £15.70 each way, so the cheapest return is £31.40. The Jacobite adult day return fare is £33, child £19 in standard class, £56 and £31 in 1st class. Prices on the Caledonian Sleeper start at £19 for a single journey. On board A seasonal catering trolley is available on some trains. The Caledonian Sleeper includes a lounge car serving snacks and drinks, and reservations are required for bikes. Compartments are comfortable if functional and equipped with a basin, and beds made up with white linen. His and hers lavatories are at the end of the carriage. Tips Packing An Ordnance Survey map to identify the lochs and mountains. If walking from a station in midge season, a mosquito repellent. Ear plugs on the Caldeonian Sleeper. What to read The standard history of the railway is John Thomas's The West Highland Railway, first published by David & Charles in 1965 and repeatedly revised. In 2005 John Donald published The West Highland Railway: Plans, Politics and People by John A McGregor. There have been various reprints of the 1894 guide By Mountain, Moor and Loch, originally published before the Mallaig line was built. A cave near Inversnaid is associated with the historical figure of Rob Roy, who appears in Sir Walter Scott's eponymous 1817 novel about the Jacobite fugitive. Rannoch Moor appears in Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Kidnapped, set in the aftermath of the second Jacobite Rising. A humorous look at wartime island life is provided by Compton MacKenzie's Whisky Galore!. Liittle has upset the course of nature at Rannoch Moor What to listen to A little bagpipe music may go a long way for some people, but Gaelic-influenced folk music has gained a wide following; try albums by Aly Bain's The Boys of the Lough, Runrig, Ossian, The Tannahill Weavers, Dougie MacLean and Findask. The soothing sound of the Gaelic harp has been woven into the music of the band Sileas and is notably performed by Savourna Stevenson and Maggie MacInnes. From 1928, Morar's Station Hotel (now known as the Morar Hotel) was chosen by Arnold Bax as an annual refuge from London where he orchestrated his compositions, notably Symphonies Nos 3-7, in which some passages evoke landscape. What to watch Two outstanding documentaries have been made about the line. In 1960 the BBC made West Highland before steam was displaced by diesels, and 10 years later the Scottish documentary filmmaker Eddie McConnell made A Line for All Seasons. Several locations between Fort William and Mallaig were used in Bill Forsyth's 1983 comedy Local Hero, starring Burt Lancaster. More recently, Corrour station was a location in Danny Boyle's film Trainspotting, and Glenfinnan Viaduct featured in three of the Harry Potter films.