An exhibition of CalMac memorabilia and artefacts spanning 130 years of the company’s history has proved popular in its first summer on North Uist.
The collection has been running at Lochmaddy Post Office and belongs to local port assistant John MacDonald.
Objects include two fascinating books of MacBrayne tours from 1903-1910, which are the equivalent of the company’s modern day Go Explore and Go Days Out brochures.
Various tickets for routes around the Hebridean network are on show, along with old crockery and serving dishes marked with the CalMac crest.
There is also a section about arrangements that the Royal Navy had with CalMac ferries for spotting and reporting enemy shipping during the Cold War in the 1970s.
Mr MacDonald, who has worked with CalMac for 10 years, has been amassing his special collection for more than two decades and the items on display represent a small fraction of his full collection.
He has gathered the items from junk shops and book shops, as well as eBay, and is often offered pieces from an owner who wants to see them cared for.
The oldest item in his collection is a tour book from 1886 which belonged to a Catherine Kinnear, but this is not on show as it is too fragile.
Mr MacDonald said: “I will collect anything and everything CalMac-related. Items which many would throw away, like timetables or tickets, give us a real insight into even the recent past. It’s interesting to see how things have changed.
“Pieces like the tour books really take us back to the steamer age and have great illustrations of many of the places we still serve – some have changed a lot, others remain very similar to the images of 100 years ago.
“I’ve been CalMac-mad since childhood and I plan to carry on collecting. I also collect anything related to companies which CalMac bought over like MacCallum Orme Co Ltd and I hope that, one day, my collection will find a home in a museum.”