Lochaber Narrow Gauge Railway

Aluminium is found in a clay-like mineral called bauxite, whose properties were first understood in 1821. This can be refined to produce alumina by the Bayer process, which is then reduced to the metal aluminium by the Hall–Héroult process. This requires large amounts of electricity to perform the electrolysis, and the first factory in the United Kingdom where this was carried out was opened at Foyers, on the shores of Loch Ness, in 1896. It was owned by the British Aluminium Company, and as world demand for the metal rose rapidly, a second factory was opened at Kinlochleven in 1908, using water power provided by the Blackwater Reservoir. With demand continuing to rise, plans were drawn up…