Arisaig railway station explained

Arisaig
Native Name:Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic: Àrasaig
Symbol Location:gb
Symbol:rail
Borough:Arisaig, Highland
Country:Scotland
Coordinates:56.913°N -5.8395°W
Grid Name:Grid reference
Manager:ScotRail
Platforms:2
Code:ARG[1]
Original:Mallaig Extension Railway of West Highland Railway
Pregroup:North British Railway
Postgroup:LNER
Years:1 April 1901
Events:Station opened[2]
Footnotes:Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road
Embedded:
Embed:yes
Designation1:Category B
Designation1 Date:29 May 1985
Designation1 Number:LB326[3]

Arisaig railway station serves the village of Arisaig on the west coast of the Highland region of Scotland. This station is on the West Highland Line, measured 32miles from the former Banavie Junction, near Fort William, between Beasdale and Morar on the way to .[4] The westernmost station on the Network Rail network,[5] it is the only one of the four cardinal points of the national network that is not a terminus. ScotRail, who manage the station, operate all services.

History

Arisaig station opened on 1 April 1901. The station was laid out with two platforms, one on either side of a crossing loop. There is a siding on the south side of the line, east of the Down platform.

Opened by the North British Railway, it became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station was host to a LNER camping coach from 1936 to 1939.

A camping coach was also positioned here by the Scottish Region from 1952 to 1960, the coach was replaced in 1961 by a Pullman camping coach which was joined by another Pullman in 1966. From 1967 to 1969 there were 2 standard camping coaches here, all camping coaches in the region were withdrawn at the end of the 1969 season.

Facilities

Both platforms have benches, but only platform 2 has a specific waiting shelter (although platform 1 does have a help point). There is a car park next to platform 1, with step-free access to the platform. However, the only access to platform 2 is via one of two barrow crossings.[6] As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

Passenger volume

Passenger Volume at Arisaig[7] !!2002–03!2004–05!2005–06!2006–07!2007–08!2008–09!2009–10!2010–11!2011–12!2012–13!2013–14!2014–15!2015–16!2016–17!2017–18!2018–19!2019–20!2020–21!2021–22!2022–23
Entries and exits7,6787,2287,0867,6367,2906,1887,0767,6227,5267,3907,3947,5967,0586,2626,8866,2265,9421,0723,8024,196
The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

On weekdays and Saturdays, four trains a day call at Arisaig on the way to Mallaig or Fort William, and three of the latter go on further to Glasgow. The last eastbound train of the day connects into the overnight Caledonian Sleeper to Glasgow, Edinburgh Waverley and London Euston at Fort William on weekdays. Sunday services are less frequent, with three trains each way.[8] [9]

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Deaves . Phil . Railway Codes . railwaycodes.org.uk . 27 September 2022.
  2. Butt (1995)
  3. Web site: ARISAIG VILLAGE, RAILWAY STATION, TICKET OFFICE/WAITING ROOM AND SIGNAL BOX . Historic Scotland . 7 March 2019.
  4. Book: TRACKatlas of Mainland Britain: A Comprehensive Geographic Atlas Showing the Rail Network of Great Britain . Platform 5 Publishing Ltd . 2017 . 978-1909431-26-3 . Bridge . Mike . 3rd . Sheffield . 89.
  5. Book: Pipe . Vicki . The Railway Adventures . Marshall . Geoff . September Publishing . 2018.
  6. Web site: National Rail Enquiries - . 2022-08-29 . www.nationalrail.co.uk.
  7. Web site: Estimates of station usage ORR Data Portal . 24 December 2023 . dataportal.orr.gov.uk.
  8. eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 217
  9. eNRT December 2021 Edition, Table 218