a much smaller construction cost, and the commitment was now far beyond what the line was likely to produce in income. Public policy wished to encourage the fishermen of the West Coast in the area, but Fort William was not considered a suitable fishing port, on account of the long passage required up Loch Linnhe. Financial arrangements seemed to be in place when the Mallaig Extension Bill was passed on 31 July 1894, but the promised Government Guarantee Bill required for the subsidy was not put forward, and for the time being nothing was done. On 7 May 1895 the guarantee was finally forthcoming: a 3% guarantee on £260,000 of capital with a grant of £30,000 to improve the harbour at Mallaig and make it suitable as a fishing harbour. The line opened on 1 April 1901. The Invergarry and Fort Augustus Railway opened for traffic on 22 July 1903. Promoted by local people it had obtained its authorising Act of Parliament in 1896. At one time it had looked as if it might extend throughout the Great Glen, but this ambition was cut back. It joined the West Highland Railway at Spean Bridge station, and the line was worked by the Highland Railway from 1903 and the North British Railway from 1907. The population of Fort Augustus was 500. Branches around the Campsie Hills Early on, in 1848, the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway had opened a branch line to Lennoxtown from near the present-day . This was extended in 1866–1867 by the Blane Valley Railway to a station near Killearn. In 1877–1879 the Kelvin Valley Railway was opened from to ; the dominant traffic was iron ore and smelted iron from the ironworks at . North of the Campsie Fells the independent Forth and Clyde Junction Railway opened in 1856 from Balloch to Stirling, passing through largely agricultural terrain. The company leased its line to the NBR in 1866, but stayed in existence, simply receiving and distributing the lease charge, until the grouping of the railways in 1923. This left a gap between the "Killearn" station and the Forth and Clyde line, and after some years the Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway was authorised to close the gap and extend to Aberfoyle. The line opened in 1882, but the company lost money and sold its line to the NBR in 1891. The Blane Valley Railway was absorbed by the NBR