NBR power to absorb the entire WHR undertaking, and this became effective on 31 December 1908. The West Highland Railway had a book value of £2,370,000. Invergarry and Fort Augustus In 1895 an Invergarry and Fort Augustus Railway was proposed: it was a truly local scheme for a line 24 miles in length, serving a district with almost no population. Although built as a single line railway, land was taken for double track, against the day when traffic developed so as to require that. Its Bill was submitted to Parliament in November 1895. There had long been suspicion between the Highland Railway and the North British Railway about presumed attempts to gain control of the Great Glen: the Highland might attempt to reach Fort William and demand running powers to Mallaig; or the North British might seek to reach Inverness and run from Glasgow via Spean Bridge. Such lines had indeed been proposed in past years. Even the Caledonian Railway might get control of the line and acquire running powers to Mallaig. The Highland Railway saw the Fort Augustus line as a way for the NBR to reach Inverness, whether or not the scheme was sponsored by the NBR, and the Highland opposed it in Parliament, but the line secured its authorising Act on 14 August 1896. This renewed open hostility between the NBR and the Highland Railway and both proposed new schemes for a line between Inverness and Fort Augustus. The Highland Railway appeared to be gaining Parliamentary support at first (in the 1897 session), but eventually both schemes were thrown out. The Fort Augustus line was built on a lavish scale, with magnificently decorated structures, through difficult terrain. Work began on constructing the line in 1897, but it was not until 22 July 1903 that the line opened. Contrary to expectation, it was the Highland Railway that operated the line at first; it was far detached from the Highland system, and the arrangement was a political gesture rather than a pragmatic commercial move. In fact the Highland Railway withdrew in 1908 and the North British Railway took over. The financial position of the line was hopeless and when cash injections from wealthy landowners dried up, the NBR withdrew its trains in October 1911. Following intervention from the County Council, trains resumed operation on 1 August 1913 and the NBR acquired the line on 30 August 1914. Passenger operation