Aberfoyle Railway cycle track

Cycling the old Aberfoyle to Buchlyvie Railway Line from Appletree Luxury Cottage Croftamie

Aberfoyle to Buchlyvie  - 6 miles

The former railway line is level with big skies and great views. Idyllic on a sunny day.

A beautiful day at the weekend so we took the bikes up to Aberfoyle and rode south along the former railway track to the former Bucklyvie Station - a distance of about six miles.
Aberfoyle itself is about fifteen minutes drive from Appletree luxury self-catering cottage in Croftamie.  A little longer if you take the picturesque back road from Drymen to Gartmore.

If you don't have a bike Aberfoyle Bike Hire has a great selection of cycles - including electric bikes

Aberfoyle main carpark is fifteen minutes drive from Appletree Cottage and was the site of Aberfoyle railway station - the line's terminus.

The cycle ride starts from the main car park in Aberfoyle.  This area is the site of Aberfoyle Railway Station.   There are 125 parking spaces and there may be a small parking charge.

Aberfoyle Slate

Just to the north of Aberfoyle lie the former Aberfoyle Slate Quarries (featured in the Bridge of Death scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  A mineral line ran from the quarries alongside what is now Duke's Pass then down a steep rope incline to arrive at Aberfoyle Railway station.  The slates were then transferred to railway trucks and shipped all over Scotland.   The roof of Stirling Castle is supposed to be Aberfoyle Slate.

The start of the route at the east end of the car park. is easily identified by a railway signal and a blue sign giving the distances to various places along the line.
The first part of the route is tarmac and runs between birch trees which grow over the former goods sidings.
At this early stage there are a few walkers and cyclists but further along the track things become quite.
For much of the journey to Gartmore, the first former station which is about two miles from Aberfoyle the track runs between the main road and the early stages of the River Forth - which joins the sea on the east coast of Scotland by Edinburgh and Leith.

Railway buffs will spot the remains of the locomotive turntable on the right-hand side of the path as well as a set of not entirely complete buffers.  A goods loading platform can also be discerned under the foliage.

The outline of the locomotive turntable can be discerned poking through the fallen foliage.

Remains of railway buffers

Bridge over the Allt Vingen burn leads to a pretty row of former railway cottages.

Aberfoyle to Gartmore

Airborne cyclist at BMX track next to the railway path, Aberfoyle.

At the eastern end of the former railway yard we cross a wooden bridge over the Allt Vingen burn and pass a row of pretty cottages built for workers on the railway. 
Aberfoyle is a great place to bring the family.   As well as the large play park next to these cottages there is a BMX. cycle park, a golf course, boating on Loch Ard and the treetop experience of Go Ape just a mile north up famous Dukes Pass.  Not to mention the excellent Maggie's Kitchen on the Main Street.
After the cottage and the play park the route takes close to the shore of the River Forth in its early stages - having started its course a mile to the west at the end of Loch Ard.
It takes the river another 29 miles (47km) to reach the North Sea.

The River Forth only a mile old in its early stages after leaving Aberfoyle. Only another 26 miles to the sea!

The cycle track is level, even, wide and peaceful. What more could you ask for?

A bee has been painted on the track near Aberfoyle

Cycling between the lines of trees it is a pleasure on the smooth surface.  There is plenty of room for walkers and cyclists to pass and although the route roughly follows the main road there is little traffic noise.
Every few hundred yards small pieces of artwork laid onto the tarmac decorate the path bringing a sense of cheer.

After a couple of miles our trek crosses a road near Gartmore.  This quiet road between the main road and the village is the only road we cross on our journey.

More artwork...

...and more still. There are many such pieces along the route.

 As we arrive at the bollards by the side of the road there are two features.
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On the right-hand side of the track is the remains of pillbox defence structure.  One of thousands built across the country during WW2 many by the Local Defence Volunteers which later became the Home Guard aka Dad's Army.  
This building is in better condition than many of the others of the same style and vintage.

Sustrans Cycle Route 7

Sustrans Route 7 way marker

On the left is the way marker for the Sustrans Cycle Route 7. of which our trail today is part.
Cycle Route 7 takes a 542 mile long circuitous route from Sunderland in the north east of England via Carlisle, Kirkcudbright, Ayr, Glasgow, Dumbarton, Killin, and Aberfeldy to Inverness in the north of Scotland.  Quite a journey!
More about the route can be found on the Sustrans website where they reckon the complete Sunderland to Inverness journey can be completed in 46 hours and 32 minutes.  I think I would take longer - just looking at the fantastic vistas along the way!
​www.sustrans.org.uk/find-a-route-on-the-national-cycle-network/route-7.
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Gartmore Railway Station

We cross the road to re-join the railway path.  Here is the site of Gartmore Station.  
Gartmore Station was actually situated 1.3 miles from Gartmore village in an area known as Cobleland 
There are few if any signs of ever having been a station here other than a short cobbled section at the entrance to the former railway yard.  A station house has been converted into a modern dwelling.
Gartmore station, used as a filming location in the feature film Geordie (1955) starring Bill Travers and Alastair Sim.  It is here Gordie is seen mounting a train to take him on the first part of his journey to the Melbourne Olympic Games where he is to compete in the hammer throwing event. (Sorry, spoiler there!)
The station closed in January 1959, about a year before passenger services ceased on the  route and  eight years before the Aberfoyle line closed completely.  More about that later.

Standing close to where Gartmore Station platform would have been looking south to the bridge carrying the A81 road. Note the bridge has been built to span two tracks.

Immediately after Gartmore Station site we pass under a bridge carrying the A81.  After going through the bridge the tarmac comes to an end and the track is unsurfaced - although still easy to cycle on.

More about the Strathendrick Aberfoyle railway

The railway between Strathendrick and Aberfoyle was built as an extension to the Blane Valley Railway.  Authorised on 12 Aug 1880 it was completed less than two years later opening on 1 Aug 1882.  
One of its main reasons for existence was to transport slate from the Aberfoyle Slate Quarry tramway terminus to locations throughout Scotland.
The passenger service from Aberfoyle to Glasgow took an hour and a half calling on the way at Gartness, Buchlyvie, Balfron, Killearn, Dumgoyne, Blanefield, Strathblane, Campsie Glen, Lennox Town and Kirkintilloch before finally arriving at Queen Street Station.
The line was never a huge success.  Its estimated build cost was £52,000 and in the first three months of operation the receipts were £138, £88 and £32 respectively (August, September and October).  So not very profitable.
Trippers visiting the Trossachs, continuing their journey to either Inversnaid or over the Dukes Pass to Loch Achray and Loch Katrine  boosted numbers substantially in the summer months before the 1920s.
However the railway suffered in a similar way to the Forth and Clyde Junction Railway (between Stirling and Balloch), with which it shared tracks for part of the route, in that the stations were often a considerable distance from the village which they purported to serve.
Particularly Gartmore, Buchlyvie and Balfron.  The villages were tiny enough and the rail service sparse so it must have been hard to attract passengers.
As with many railways, road competition gained the upper hand and starved the route of passengers.  The line finally closed go passengers in 1951 with total closure from Campsie Glen to Aberfoyle taking place in October 1959. 
More can be discovered about the Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Line here: www.railscot.co.uk/companies/S/Strathendrick_and_Aberfoyle_Railway/

Gartmore to Buchlyvie Station

After Gartmore the views open out quite a bit with the Campsie range of hills in the distance to the south.  
Forestry plantations lie on either side of the track but as they have been recently felled there is not the interruption to the view as there might otherwise have been.

The line is almost dead straight and level between Gartmore and Buchlyvie Station. The Campsie hills loom in the distance.

Bridge over the Forth

The path from Gartmore Station south is almost dead straight and level
In the distance on the right-hand side we can see Gartmore House - a large former country house which hosts many activity holidays.
​Soon we cross over the River Forth, still a meandering, picturesque small channel at this stage.  A wooden footbridge has replaced the original iron railway bridge and is wide enough to cycle over comfortably.

River Forth in its early stages viewed from the bridge

Bridge over the Keltie Water built over the previous bridge, the abutments of which have started collapsing into the water.

A mile or so later we come to another bridge.  This time over the Keltie Water, a tributary of the Forth flowing down from the hills in the west.
This bridge replaces a previous one, the abutments of which have partly collapsed into the water.  Interestingly the current replacement bridge is built straight on top of the first bridge without any apparent effort to remove it.
Shortly after the bridge over the Keltie Water the line starts to veer to the right and heat towards the west.  We are able to see some of the buildings in the village of Buchlyvie in the distance.

Buchlyvie Station

Just before Buchlyvie Station we come to where the junction was between the Aberfoyle Railway and the Forth and Clyde Junction Railway (closed to passengers 1934 and closed completely late 1950s..   There's little to see now but the divergence of the routes can be easily discerned.  The junction initially having its own signal box was somewhat reduced in leaner times, being eventually controlled by the signal box at Buclyvie Station.
At the former site of Buchlyvie Station the station house survives as a private dwelling behind a high beech hedge.  It is however possible to make out that the design of the building is almost identical to many of the former station buildings on the former Forth and Clyde Junction Railway.

Looking east at the point where the Aberfoyle branches away to the left from the Forth and Clyde Railway to Stirling which continues to the right of the signpost.

Buchlyvie Station house, 1.3 miles from Buclyvie, survives as a private dwelling, its architecture similar to many station houses on the Forth and Clyde Junction Railway line.

Our journey from Aberfoyle had taken us the six miles along the track to the former Buchlyvie station.  Keeping an eye on the time we decided not to cycle the 1.3 miles along the back road into Buchlyvie Village but to turn and retract our steps (or perhaps wheels) to Aberfoyle for a welcome ice cream before returning to Appletree Cottage.