The West Highland Line is one of the world's most celebrated train journeys, a whistle-stop tour through the highlights of Scotland's landscape, including its highest mountain (Ben Nevis), largest and deepest lochs (Loch Lomond and Loch Morar), and some spectacular viaducts.

Thousands of tourists make the trip north from Glasgow to Mallaig or Oban every year, but not all break the journey with a stop, and that's a pity, because the route is dotted with elegant green and cream Victorian stations, and they repay a close encounter.

At just over five hours each way, the complete West Highland Line may be a long haul for a day trip from Glasgow, but the journey to Crianlarich takes less than two hours, and to Rannoch, less than three - and both have interesting tea rooms. Even if you venture no further than the platform, the timetable allows plenty of time for refreshment and some exploration before the return connection.

On the West Highland Way walking route, and in the shadow of three Munros, Crianlarich is a hiker's haven and the line's junction point, where, if you're lucky, you can see a passing steam train stopped to take on water while ordering your bacon roll or homemade carrot cake and cuppa from the friendly, canteen-style tea room.

There has been a refreshment room here for over a hundred years, and you get a lovely sense of that history reading the telegrams and advance telephone orders of early passengers that are displayed on the wall. Typical dining requirements included "ham and eggs and tea," and "cold meats".

The sense of the past informing the present is even stronger when you reach Rannoch, one of the country's most remote stations, after crossing the bleak and beautiful, deer-studded expanse of Rannoch Moor.

The railway's passage across this inhospitable terrain was fraught with obstacles from the start in 1889, when engineers sent to map the route across the moor became lost in a storm, and construction of the line, which seemed set to sink into spongy peat bogs, was only possible thanks to a new technique of floating the track on a raft of brushwood and wool and a bed of ash and rubble.

The station, which eventually opened in 1894, sits in isolation on the edge of the moor, and hosts a waiting room exhibition and a signal box museum, as well as the tea room, which was first opened by Eunice McLellan, the resident stationmaster's (probably lonely) wife, in 1985.

Today, the owners are Helen McColl and her husband Steve, a retired British Rail director and one-time signalman who has found a new direction for his passion for the railway.

It's a bright and welcoming place, in keeping with the station's tone, with a quirky teapot collection, books and railway posters for sale, and Helen's excellent baking to enjoy - particularly recommended are the apricot shorties, and scones, generously filled with whipped cream and fresh raspberries. On the lunch menu, a brie, apple and ligonberry Panini looked tempting.

There's even outside seating, and though some visitors might feel they have already spent too many hours of their lives clutching a cup of tea while shivering on a platform waiting for the next train, when you are surrounded by the wildlife, inhaling fresh air in a loch-filled, mountain-framed landscape, it's a very different experience from the daily commute.  

Info: Crianlarich Station Tea Room, open 7.30am - 4pm Monday to Saturday, 11am - 4pm Sunday. Rannoch Station Tea Room , open 10am to 6pm Monday to Friday from Easter to October, and other times, e.g. evenings, by arrangement.

Getting there: Scotrail services from Glasgow Queen Street to Mallaig and Oban call at Crianlarich. The Mallaig service calls at Rannoch. See the Scotrail website for details.

Mini menu: Crianlarich: cup of tea, £1.20. bacon roll, £2.20. Rannoch: pot of tea and homemade scone with berries and cream, £4.25.