Tyndrum is a small village in Scotland. Its Gaelic name translates as "the house on the ridge". It lies in Strathfillan, at the southern edge of Rannoch Moor.
The village is notable as a junction of transport routes. The West Highland Line railway from Glasgow splits approximately to the south at Crianlarich, with one branch heading to Fort William and the other to Oban. Tyndrum has a station on each branch: Upper Tyndrum on the Fort William line and Tyndrum Lower on the Oban line. Thus unusually there are two stations serving the same small village, only a few hundred yards apart, but about apart by rail. Indeed, Tyndrum is the smallest settlement in the UK with more than one railway station. This is partly a legacy of the history of the railways in the area, after two separate railways belonging to different railway companies were built through the village. However, the main reason is geography: splitting the line in Crianlarich allows the contours of the glen to be used to avoid very steep climbs heading north or west from Tyndrum. Roads mirror this division: the A82 from Glasgow to Fort William passes through Tyndrum, and the A85 to Oban splits off just north of the village.
Mines
Tyndrum is a former mining centre. The hamlet of Clifton is made up of the former mining cottages, and up the hillside beyond them the tailings of a former lead mine can be seen. The site of a proposed gold mine is to the south and west of Tyndrum at Cononish, above Cononish Farm. Work on constructing the mine began in the 1980s but low gold prices forced the closure of the mine before it became fully operational. In October 2011 it was announced that the mine would be reactivated. It was expected to employ 52 people and produce of gold and of silver over the next 10 years, thereby generating an estimated £80 million for the Scottish economy. Following planning difficulties, which featured in the BBC Four programme Tales from the National Parks, and a fall in the price of gold, opening of the mine was again delayed. In an update on the project released by Scotgold in May 2015, total ore reserves are now estimated at of gold and of silver. Work is continuing to update capital and operating cost estimates and include opportunities for savings. This is expected to be complete by the end of July 2015.
