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Crieff
Books
Maps
of the Counties of Perth and...
Clackmannan: Aberfeldy and Crieff Sheet 5 (Stobie's Maps of
Perth & Clackmannan 1783).
The
Railways of Upper Strathearn,Crieff... Balquidder. When
a journey by motor car along the A85 from Comrie to Crieff occupies
a mere 10 minutes, it is difficult to imagine the tremendous
enthusiasm with which the people of Comrie welcomed the arrival
in 1893 of the branch line from Crieff. Comrie, along with the
other villages in Upper Strathearn between Crieff and Lochearnhead,
had been steadily increasing in size and prosperity in the second
half of the 19th century but still depended on stagecoaches
and general carriers for communication with the outside world.
This book tells of the efforts made over many decades to bring
the railway to Comrie and to continue it westwards to link with
the Callander & Oban line at Lochearnhead. All these efforts
came to nothing until, in the end, the single-minded determination
of Colonel David Robertson Williamson, Laird of Lawers, above
all others achieved that goal. When the House of Commons passed
the Crieff & Comrie Railway Act in 1890 there was cause
for much excitement. In 1905 the line was completed westwards
to Balquhidder where it joined the Callander & Oban Railway
and its promoters had great hopes of Oban being developed as
a major transatlantic port. But it was not to be. The line never
really prospered in spite of attempts in the 1930s to develop
it as a tourist route. The end came in 1951 for the Balquhidder-Comrie
section of the line and Comrie lost its rail service completely
in 1964 when the remaining section to Crieff and Gleneagles
was also closed. In writing the book the author has not only
used original material held in various archives but has also
quoted extensively from contemporary newspapers reports. These
reports vividly convey the excitement generated in villages
whose transport system had been confined to the speed of a stagecoach
or a horse-drawn cart and were now entering the modern age of
steam transport.
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