Pioneer dwarfs the little red Applecross on tender and Mingary duties in Tobermory Bay

In 1986 it fell to Coll to redevelop one of CalMac's most troubled routes, which the Company had tried to close only a few years before. Year-round service had ceased in 1980 but the open launches deployed for the crossing in summer, such as Applecross, were hugely unpopular and undoubtedly deterred many trippers. Under considerable political pressure, as usual, CalMac deployed the sturdy Coll. On 27^th April 1986 she enjoyed an interesting charter up Loch Etive – carrying a large mechanical digger, to Ardmaddy – and then lay at Oban for some days as extra passenger seating was fitted to her vehicle deck.

“These were of the individual rigid plastic variety, coloured brown, and totalled fifty-six,” recorded the West Highland Steamer Club bulletin that autumn. “She was also fitted with a new removable companionway from the car deck to the upper deck on the starboard side, covering the existing companionway and at a more gentle angle than it, to assist passenger access. A wider gangway door was also cut in two halves amidships on the port side of the car deck to replace the previous narrow one further forward. A green canopy was stretched across the car deck immediately aft of the ramp to afford passengers additional cover, and five large bright red lifejacket boxes were positioned forward on the car deck. She was also fully repainted, all this work being done by men from Timbacraft, to equip her for a new job – as a passenger vessel."

A new 'upgraded' Tobermory - Mingary service, where a car ferry service was impossible due to the lack of slipways on either side, was initiated. Coll obtained a certificate for 154 passengers and was of course able to give a vastly superior service to that given by the Applecross in recent years. Coll gave three timetabled return sailings daily – five in July and August – and in addition there was a special early morning return run available throughout on specific request to the CalMac office at Tobermory. Time on passage was about thirty-five minutes and the Coll proved a great success on this new venture. The service, however, remained a seasonal one and she followed the usual round of winter relief's when not occupied at Tobermory.

Naturally the cry was increasingly raised for a Tobermory-Mingary vehicular service and Coll finally opened just such a splendid facility on Monday 29^th April 1991; Government approval for the construction of suitable terminals had been confirmed the previous October. The new service, now renamed Tobermory - Kilchoan, was scheduled to give eight return sailings daily, though the early morning crossing was again by request.

Related Crossings:
SoC Crossing: Tobermory - Kilchoan