A Gnat on the Flannans

This image, courtesy of the Northern Lighthouse Board, shows a Gnat in action on Flannan Isle. Richard Evans explains: 'This three-wheeled vehicle was used by the 'keepers in the 1960s to ferry gas bottles and stores from the landing-stage up the steep incline to the lighthouse. It replaced the trolley running on tramlines along the same track, with ascent and descent controlled by a pulley-guided wire powered by a winch at the top. The tramlines were ripped up and the track smoothed to let the Gnat's small pneumatic tyres run on it. Production of the Gnat - a four-stroke, 400cc, cross-country vehicle by Aimers McLean of Galshiels - began in the late '60s and continued for ten years.'

Scottish Islands Explorer - always devising ways of getting around islands