There was a 19th century proposal for a public railway to Dunvegan and Portree which never came to fruition. A later proposal was the Hebridean Light Railway which was promulgated by the Hebridean Light Railway Company. It intended to operate on the Scottish islands of Skye and Lewis. [8] The Skye line was to have connected the port of Isleornsay (for ferries from Mallaig on the Scottish mainland) and the port of Uig on the north-west coast of the island, from where ferries would have sailed to Stornoway on Lewis. Another line was then proposed to link Stornoway to Carloway, the second settlement of Lewis. Branch lines were also proposed to Breasclete [9] and Dunvegan. [10]

The line was proposed in 1898, but was never completed. Records of the proposals are held in the National Archives at Kew. [11]

Although these schemes never came to fruition, at least six industrial railways have existed on Skye and adjacent islands at one time or another. These include:

The Loch Cuithir to Lealt Diatomite Railway – Details of this line can be found here. [5]

The Talisker Distillery Tramway – This short 23″-gauge tramway opened in 1900 and closed in 1948. Details can be found here. [6]

The Skye Marble Railway – Soon after the turn of the 20th century a line was opened between the Kichrist Quarries in Strath Suardal and Broadford Pier/Quay. Different sources say that this was initially either and aerial ropeway or a horse-worked tramway. Whatever form the initial arrangements took, by the end of the first decade of the 20th century, it was operating as a steam-hauled 3ft-gauge railway which for a short while (certainly no more than 4 years) employed a Hunslet 0-4-0ST, originally built in 1892 and previously used on the construction of the County Donegal Railway and various other contractors projects. This line is covered in more detail in the article which can be found here. [7]

The Raasay Iron Ore Mines and Their Railway – the railway operated from 1913 to 1919. [1][2]

More can be discovered about Raasay’s railway here. [12]

The Quartzite Quarry at Ord (opened in 1945) was equipped with a 3ft-gauge railway along which wagons were pushed by hand to a loading embankment. A short article can be found here. [13]

Storr Lochs Hydroelectric Power Station (opened in 1952) which included a standard gauge electric cable railway which still routinely carries spares and supplies down a 1 in 2 gradient. Another short article can be found here. [14]

Other railways on Skye or on adjacent islands? One source commented that Skye had thirteen different railways/tramways open at one time or another. I have only been able, so far, to identify the ones listed here. Should others be aware of more historic rail sites on Skye, I would be interested to hear. Maybe that source intended their list to include the abortive schemes mentioned at the head of this article? One particular proposal, which never came to fruition, has imaginatively been taken as the basis for the story of the fictitious Highland Light Railway Company. [15]

References

1. https://www.isbuc.co.uk/Sights/Rail.php, accessed on 13th April 2025.
2. https://www.hows.org.uk/personal/rail/incline/sky.htm, accessed on 13th April 2025.
3. https://geoscenic.bgs.ac.uk/asset-bank/action/browseItems?categoryId=1118&categoryTypeId=1, accessed on 13th April 2025.
4. https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5761169, accessed on 13th April 2025.
5. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/05/01/the-railways-of-skye-part-1-loch-cuithir-to-lealt
6. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/05/03/the-railways-of-skye-part-2-the-talisker-distillery-tramway
7. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/06/02/the-railways-of-skye-adjacent-islands-part-3-the-skye-marble-railway
8. Direcleit; a’spaidsearachd agus a’meòrachadh: Hebridean Light Railway Company; on Direcleit.blogspot.com; via https://direcleit.blogspot.com/2010/11/hebridean-light-railway-company.html?m=1, accessed on 23rd April 2025.
9. Tom ………; Railways of Lewis & Harris | Isle Ornsay; on Hlrco.wordpress.com. 5 October 2010; via https://wp.me/p153uL-81, accessed on 23rd April 2025.
10. Tom ……….; Isle Ornsay | General ramblings of the Hebridean Light Railway Company; via https://hlrco.wordpress.com, accessed on 23rd April 2025.
11. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/record?catid=5230967&catln=6, accessed on 23rd April 2025.
12. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/05/27/the-railways-of-skye-adjacent-islands-part-4-the-raasay-iron-mine-railway
13. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/06/03/the-railways-of-skye-and-adjacent-islands-part-5-the-quartzite-silica-quarry-tramway-at-ord
14. https://rogerfarnworth.com/2025/06/04/the-railways-of-skye-and-adjacent-islands-part-6-storr-lochs-hydroelectric-power-station
15. https://hlrco.wordpress.com/history, accessed on 1st June 2025.