MORE than 100 previously unpublished photos taken during the construction of one of the world’s most spectacular railway lines are at the heart of a BBC ALBA documentary that airs tomorrow night.
The collection of high-res celluloid nitrate plates, charting the creation of the line between Fort William and Mallaig were unearthed in a sale in Cornwall last year.
Ingrid Henderson, a Mallaig-born musician, raised in Fort William and who now lives and works in Glenfinnan, follows the story of the photographs, what they reveal about the people and their lives in Lochaber, and attempts to discover the artist behind the lens.
She also creates new music for the programme Song of the Track/Ceol na Loidhne as a tribute to the railway – ever-present in her life – and those who built it in the late 1800s.
Producer Annie Cheape said the photos document the dangerous conditions endured by those who worked on the line: “Many hundreds were injured while blasting through the rocks, most of them navvies from Ireland or the Scottish islands ... but alcohol was a huge problem too.
“Men died of hypothermia after drinking too much, or had accidents on Monday morning while still under the influence.
“These images also reveal the faces of the nurses who tended the injured in the make-shift field hospitals. They are smiling, look relaxed, happy and enjoying themselves.”
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