From the beach at Fairbourne you can see an avalanche shelter on the steep slope to the south. It was built by the Great Western Railway in the 1930s after landslips twice sent locomotives crashing down to the rocky seashore (1st January 1883 and 6th March 1933). The shelter is 56 metres long and made from reinforced concrete. Its sloping top deflects falling debris downwards. The aerial photo, courtesy of the Welsh Government, shows the recently built shelter in 1940.

Avalanche Shelter, Dingwall & Skye Railway

DESCRIPTION:  The Dingwall and Skye Railway was opened in 1870 but only went as far as Stromeferry on Loch Carron. It would be another twenty-seven years before the railway reached the terminus at Kyle of Lochalsh.

This was one of the most difficult parts of the line to construct and also operate. A great operational hazard were the stones and rocks constantly falling down the mountainside. In recent years the railway and the county, in cooperation, built an avalanche shelter which we're just about to enter. This covers both the road, which is a new road of course, and the railway, and the falling rocks go right across the shelter into the water. On the 16th of November, 1969, there was a particularly bad fall which blocked the railway until the 16th of March in the following year. This was the reason why the avalanche shelter was constructed at this very vulnerable point. You'll notice, ladies and gentlemen, that the rock is netted; there's a steel net over the rock to prevent small rocks from coming down onto the road