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Falls of Cruachan railway station
Falls of Cruachan railway station is a railway station located at the foot of Ben Cruachan in Scotland. This station is on the Oban branch of the West Highland Line, originally part of the Callander and Oban Railway. It is sited between Taynuilt and Loch Awe, sited 52 miles 69 chains (85.1 km) from Callander via Glen Ogle. ScotRail manage the station and operate all services.
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70 m
Awe Hydro-Electric Scheme
The Awe Hydro-Electric Scheme was the penultimate scheme developed by the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board. It centres around Loch Awe, in Argyll and Bute, on the southern edge of the Scottish Highlands. It consists of three power stations, two conventional hydro-electric stations, and the Cruachan power station, the first large pumped storage scheme built by the Board. It was completed in 1965.
153 m
427 m
Falls of Cruachan derailment
The Falls of Cruachan derailment occurred on 6 June 2010 on the West Highland Line in Scotland, when a passenger train travelling between Glasgow and Oban hit boulders on the line and derailed near Falls of Cruachan railway station, after a landslide. There was a small fire (which was soon put out with fire extinguishers) and one carriage was left in a precarious position on the 50-foot-high (15-metre) embankment. Sixty passengers were evacuated, some with minor injuries; eight of those were hospitalised as a precaution. However, no people were killed. In addition to blocking the line, the incident also caused the closure of the A85 road below the rail line. Both the road and the rail line were closed for a week.
1.4 km
Cruachan Power Station
The Cruachan Power Station (also known as the Cruachan Dam) is a pumped-storage hydroelectric power station in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK. The scheme can provide 440 MW of power and produced 705 GWh in 2009.
The turbine hall is located inside Ben Cruachan, and the scheme moves water between Cruachan Reservoir and Loch Awe, a height difference of 396 m (1,299 ft). It is one of only four pumped storage power stations in the United Kingdom, and is capable of providing a black start capability to the National Grid.
Construction began in 1959 to coincide with the Hunterston A nuclear power station in Ayrshire. Cruachan uses cheap electricity generated at night to pump water to the higher reservoir, which can then be released during the day to provide power as necessary. The power station is open to visitors, and around 50,000 tourists visit it each year.