Description
A railway water tower with cast-iron tank, constructed in 1903 at Kentallen Station (to the rear of Station Cottage) by the Callander and Oban Railway Company as part of the Connell Bridge to Ballachulish branch line extension (operational 1903–1966).
The water tower has a rectangular base of red brick with paired round-arch openings on either side. The base is topped with a concrete slab supporting a cast-iron water tank by the Anderston Foundry, Glasgow. The tank has rounded corners and a curved lip, and a repeating geometric pattern to all four sides. The capacity is 2500 gallons.
Adjoining the north elevation is a small maintenance store with a textured render and a lean-to roof. The store has a stove flue pipe that rises through the roof, above the height of the tank.
Historical development
The Callander and Oban Railway Company / Caledonian Railway began construction of the 27.5-mile Ballachulish branch line in 1898. Completed in 1903 with eight station stops, it was one of the last branch lines to be built in the UK, making extensive use of concrete in its construction.
The 1903 water tower at Kentallen Station is shown in historic photographs dating from around 1920 (Canmore).
The branch line was not as commercially successful as hoped, due to cheaper imports, the impact of two world wars and the rapid increase in road-based haulage. The Ballachulish slate quarries closed in 1955. The water tower remained operational when the branch line closed in 1966 and survives largely intact (2024).
Statement of Special Interest
The Kentallen Station Water Tower meets the criteria of special architectural or historic interest for the following reasons:
- As a good representative example of a railway water tower, with a distinctive moulded cast-iron water tank indicative of its early 20th century date of manufacture.
- As a very rare, in-situ survival of a largely intact railway water tower, retaining its original tank.
- For its contribution to our understanding of locomotive engineering and operations during the era of steam-hauled rail travel.
Architectural interest
Design
Railway water towers typically consist of a stone or brick base supporting a large cast-iron water tank, located on or near the rail platform. They were used to replenish the water stored in the tender of passing steam-locomotives (1840–1968).
At Kentallen, water was piped into the tank using gravitational force from a natural water source higher up the hillside. The water was then fed down to a water column located on the station platform. The tank also supplied water to the domestic buildings at the station.
The tank was made by the Anderston Foundry Company of Glasgow (1850-1963) using patent moulding machines. The company became one of the largest manufacturers of ironwork products to the railway industry, having over 1600 employees by 1914 (Graces Guide).
While the water tower at Kentallan is of a modest and functional design, the moulded cast-iron tank is notable for its rounded corners and curved lip, and sectional decorative pattern to all four sides, indicative of its early 20th century date of manufacture. The paired brick arches with rounded engineering brick dressings to the base also reflect its period of construction.
Setting
The former Kentallan Station and its associated steamer pier are located on the east shore of Loch Linnhe, around four miles west of Ballachulish.
The water tower is prominently sited on rising ground to the rear of Station Cottage. Later 20th century housing is situated to the west and the south of the water tower.
Station Cottage is one of an adjoining pair of simple, single-storey station worker's cottages, built in 1903 by the Oban and Callander Railway and now extensively altered. Other components of the former railway station setting at Kentallen have also been significantly reworked or are no longer extant following the closure of the station in 1966. The 1903 station building has been extended as a hotel complex, with loss of station platforms, track-bed, signal box and bridge.
While the early 20th century station buildings have been altered, the setting continues to provide a level of associated context for the water tower.
Historic interest
Age and rarity
Water towers were an essential functional component of the railway network during the era of steam-hauled rail travel.
Hundreds of water towers of various designs were installed at or between stations across the UK rail network between around 1840 and 1950 (Barton, 2003). Earlier water towers (1840-1870) were often more ornate than later examples.
Complete railway water towers that retain their cast-iron tanks, like this 1903 example at Kentallen, are now exceptionally rare in Scotland. This is because the tanks were often removed from their sites and scrapped after steam locomotive services ended in 1968.
A listed example is located at the Bo-ness Railway Museum in West Lothian (LB22337). A further rare example of a water tower with a rusticated stone base that retains its tank (2024) is at Alnabreac in Caithness, ten miles from the nearest public road.
Social historical interest
Kentallen Station and associated pier was a distribution point for slate from the nearby Ballachulish slate quarry. Local tradition recalls how quarry workers stopped at the water tank to access fresh water to wash on the way home (information courtesy of a member of the public 2024).
Kentallen Station was also an important, albeit short-lived, interchange for both local and tourist travel between Argyll and Lochaber in the early-mid 20th century (Miers, 2008).
The intact water tower, which is one of the few surviving railway buildings of the former branch line, contributes to an understanding of the role of the branch line (1903-1966) in the economy of the local area, and also helps convey an understanding of locomotive engineering and operations during the era of steam-hauled rail travel.
Association with people or events of national importance
There is no association with a person or event of national importance.