Fort William — Local services in Great Britain

Excellent and well maintained railway station at the centre of Fort William. Its famous and scenic West Highland Line serves Mallaig to the Northwest, where you can connect with Caledonian MacBrayne ferry services to Armadale on the Isle of Skye, Lochboisdale on South Uist, Castlebay on the Isle of Barra, and the small isles of Rhum, Eigg, Muck and Canna. The line to the South, which runs round the East of Rannoch Moor - ie the opposite side to the road route taken by the A82 - connects the area to Glasgow via Crianlarich, Ardlui at the head of Loch Lomond, Arrochar and Helensburgh.

Crianlarich station also connects with the line to Oban.

The Caledonian Sleeper connects Fort William directly with London Euston.

In my experience, the station staff are always friendly and helpful. The toilet facilities are very good, and you can even get a shower for a small charge.

One major attraction is the Jacobite Steam train which runs regularly between Fort William and Mallaig in the summer.

Fort William is an excellent example of a railway station which is vital to its town and plays a leading role in making its visitors welcome to the area. There are many other stations throughout the land which would do well to follow the example set by the staff and management at...

Widely regarded as one of the great railway journeys of the world, the experience is simply superb. we thoroughly enjoyed our return trip on the line. An authentic recreation of mid twentieth century rail travel on secondary British railway line, so many of which are sadly now gone forever. The train travels through superb scenery, with gradients which make one appreciate the locomotives working hard. I very much hope that this is an experience which will be available for decades to come! In which case a couple of (albeit expensive) infra-structure improvements could make it even more sensational. A longer passing loop at Glenfinnan station would avoid delay as the train waits to pull forward to pass regular Scotrail services. The restoration of locomotive turning facilities at each end would allow the steam locomotives to run chimney forwards both ways. This would not only look better, but free them from the 45mph restriction to which they are subject when running backwards. Don't let minor criticisms put you off. This is a unique and superb experience run by friendly and helpful train staff. Thoroughly...

Was really looking forward to this trip. My kids had never been on a train before so we thought we would treat them. They are too young yet to have any knowledge of Harry Potter so that wasn't a factor. The day we travelled the heat was unbearable in the carriage. There is no aircon and even with the windows open, there was no breeze. It states that there would be a trolly passing through the carriages, but none passed on either leg of the journey. When I went to the "shop" on one of the carriages I was told to come back as they were short staffed and they were serving first class, so the shop was closed. Journey was definitely too long for smaller children (2-6) when we arrived in mallaig, alot of places were close. Do not travel on the afternoon/evening train if you want to visit some of the ships in malling as they will be closed. I was looking forward to the smokehouse but it had already closed. Not much to do/see in mallaig so I personally would never go there again. It was hard to pass the few hours we were there. I would avoid this highly overpriced train ride unless your a...