As a regular subscriber for many years to ‘Old Glory‘ which is an excellent magazine dealing mainly with Steam Vintage Preservation I was delighted to read an article about the Shale Oil Industry in our area. Colin Tyson, Old Glory Editor, has kindly given permission for the reprinting of this excellent article ‘New Shale Trail tells the story of West Lothian’s Oil -rich past‘.
If you recall, a couple of years ago the late Harry Knox gave a fascinating presentation one Monday night to the club about his research on the industry. From my point of view I had no idea about the scale of the industry & the impact it had on the area. As a result of his talk I purchased his book ‘The Scottish Shale Oil Industry & Mineral Railway Lines‘ and became much more aware of just what had once been around our site at Almondell.
This led in turn to the naming of significant features at Almondell in recognition of the heritage of the area. To remind you of this, go to ‘What’s In A Name?‘
Once we are able to go outside again I look forward to following the trail.
