Visit Rannoch Station

Visit Rannoch Station and you will find the reason for the existence of the station at a lonely outpost on the West Highland Railway. This well maintained station has a handful of trains each day stop to drop off or pick up passengers en-route to either destination, north to Fort William or south to Glasgow.

Standing alone on Rannoch Station platform, or better still on the bridge over the track, you start to gain a sense of the way much more of Scotland used to be. Look back towards Pitlochry and the most striking feature is the pointy outline of Schiehallion, the Fairy Hill of the Caledonians. To the distant west are the mountains of Glen Coe and the Black Mount, on the further side of the moor. South-east is the northern side of the Glen Lyon Hills. North-west, past Rannoch Forest, is the equally treeless and still more lonely Ben Alder Forest. It's a wide-open landscape, and a beautiful if slightly desolate one.

On your trip out to Rannoch station from Loch Rannoch, you will cross over Rannoch Moor, a vast, empty expanse in the middle of the Highlands. The railway runs across it, & that is about the only sign of mans intrusion in the area. Stunningly Desolate, is the best way to describe it. There is really nowhere to compare with Rannoch Moor, which extends south and west from Rannoch Station. It is a peaty, lonely plateau full of lochs and lochans whose extent is difficult to comprehend.

For the outdoor enthusiast there is trout fishing on Loch Laidon and wildlife to view, as well as rambling and hillwalking. For the more sedentary, a trip on the West Highland line gives the opportunity to relax and enjoy the views go by, all the way to Mallaig on the West coast, connections permitting.