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Isle of Mull Railway

railway line in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ1435806 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Isle of Mull Railway was a 10+1⁄4 in (260 mm) gauge line, 1+1⁄4 miles (2.0 km) long, which ran from the ferry terminal at Craignure to Torosay Castle, on the Isle of Mull in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. Originally it was known as the Mull and West Highland Railway (Mull and West Highland (Narrow Gauge) Railway Company Ltd). The line was marketed as Scotland's original island passenger railway. The line opened in 1983 and closed in October 2010. A limited service operated over the 2011 Easter holiday and during summer 2011. The company's lease expired in October 2011. The track was lifted in October 2012.

History

In 1975, the then-owner of Torosay Castle, David James decided to open the house and gardens to the public. Local businessman Graham Ellis, a railway enthusiast, suggested that a narrow-gauge railway might be the ideal way to transport visitors from the ferry terminal 1+1⁄2 mi (2.4 km) away, whilst also becoming a tourist attraction in its own right.

Although planning permission was granted in 1975, it was not until April 1982 that construction got under way.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Isle of Mull Railway” as railway line in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1983, 2010, 2011, 2012—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Isle, Mull and Railway can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as railway line in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, UK. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1435806. Authority coordinates are 56.464, -5.688. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1983, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Isle of Mull Railway”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Isle of Mull Railway primary sources, Isle of Mull Railway archive and Isle research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Isle of Mull Railway”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Isle of Mull Railway” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.