Glenfinnan Viaduct Viewpoint

The Glenfinnan Viaduct carries the West Highland Line’s Mallaig extension across the head of Glen Finnan in 21 concrete arches, reaching 30m high and 380m long. Built between 1897 and 1901 by Robert McAlpine and Sons, known as Concrete Bob for his use of mass concrete, it is the longest concrete railway bridge in Scotland, and it owes its fame today to two things that have nothing to do with engineering: it is a regular backdrop for the Jacobite steam train, and it appears in four of the Harry Potter films as the route of the Hogwarts Express.

Next to the Glenfinnan Monument, a tower commemorating the raising of the Jacobite standard by Prince Charles Edward Stuart in 1745, the National Trust for Scotland runs a visitor centre and a car park. The Trust gives the walk to the viaduct from Glenfinnan station, along a hillside path, as 2km; from the visitor car parks it is a 15-minute flat walk beside the River Finnan to see it from below, or a five-minute climb with steps to the viewpoint above them, so this is a viewpoint reached on foot rather than from the car door.

Glenfinnan sits on the West Highland Line to Mallaig, west of Fort William, so it is reachable by ScotRail as well as by road on the A830, and the Trust puts the station 1km from the visitor centre. Timing a visit to coincide with a train crossing, the summer Jacobite steam service or a regular ScotRail train, takes planning and is not guaranteed, since operating days and timetables vary. The stop suits anyone driving the Road to the Isles and anyone travelling without a car, since the train stops here. A visitor whose whole trip depends on photographing a steam train should not rely on it, because the timetable and the weather can each undo that. Where the day is fixed and the crossing is not, Steall Falls in Glen Nevis near Fort William does not depend on a timetable.