Bridge of Orchy railway station
Bridge of Orchy  | |
|---|---|
| Scottish Gaelic: Drochaid Urchaidh | |
 | |
| Location | |
| Place | Bridge of Orchy |
| Local authority | Argyll and Bute |
| Coordinates | 56°30′58″N 4°45′51″W / 56.5162°N 4.7642°WCoordinates: 56°30′58″N 4°45′51″W / 56.5162°N 4.7642°W |
| Grid reference | NN300394 |
| Operations | |
| Station code | BRO |
| Managed by | Abellio ScotRail |
| Number of platforms | 2 |
|
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries | |
| Annual rail passenger usage* | |
| 2010/11 |
 6,192 |
| 2011/12 |
 5,890 |
| 2012/13 |
5,736 |
| 2013/14 |
5,932 |
| 2014/15 |
6,024 |
| History | |
| Original company | West Highland Railway |
| Pre-grouping | North British Railway |
| Post-grouping | LNER |
| 7 August 1894[1] | Opened |
| National Rail – UK railway stations | |
| * Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bridge of Orchy from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
 UK Railways portal | |
Bridge of Orchy railway station is a railway station in the village of Bridge of Orchy in the west of Scotland. This station is on the West Highland Line. Being an island platform, access is via a subway.
History
This station opened by the West Highland Railway on 7 August 1894.[1]
The station was laid out with a crossing loop around an island platform and sidings on the east side of the station.
On 1 February 1987, the crossing loop was altered to right-hand running. The original Down platform has thus become the Up platform, and vice versa. The change was made in order to simplify shunting at this station, by removing the need to hand-pump the train-operated loop points to access the sidings.
| Preceding station | National Rail |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upper Tyndrum | Abellio ScotRail West Highland Line |
Rannoch | ||
| Upper Tyndrum | Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper |
Rannoch | ||
| Historical railways | ||||
| Tyndrum | North British Railway West Highland Railway |
Gorton | ||
Signalling
The signal box, which had 16 levers, was situated at the south end of the island platform. From the time of its opening in 1894, the West Highland Railway was worked throughout by the electric token system.
In 1967, the method of working between Crianlarich and Rannoch was changed to the Scottish Region Tokenless Block system. The Up loop at Bridge of Orchy was signalled for running in either direction and the signal box was able to 'switch out' when not required.
In August 1985, the method of working between Crianlarich and Rannoch reverted to the electric token block system. The semaphore signals were removed on 24 November 1985 in preparation for the introduction of Radio Electronic Token Block (RETB).
The RETB system was commissioned by British Rail between Upper Tyndrum and Fort William Junction on 29 May 1988. This resulted in the closure of Bridge of Orchy signal box (amongst others). The RETB is controlled from a Signalling Centre at Banavie railway station.
The Train Protection & Warning System was installed in 2003.
Station building
The station building is now used as a bunkhouse for those walking the West Highland Way.
Services
Monday to Saturday, northbound, Bridge of Orchy has three services to Mallaig and one service to Fort William (the Highland Caledonian Sleeper). Southbound, there are three services to Glasgow Queen Street and one service to London Euston (Highland Caledonian Sleeper, Saturdays excepted).
On Sundays, there is just one service northbound to Mallaig all year, with a second in the summer months only (May to late October), one service southbound to Glasgow Queen Street (two in summer) and one service (the Highland Caledonian Sleeper) to London Euston. This can also be used by regular travellers to both Glasgow Queen Street (L.L) and Edinburgh Waverley on all evenings that it runs, as it is booked to set down at both stations and carries seating coaches as far as Edinburgh.[2]
Locality
The Bridge of Orchy Hotel is opposite the end of the road down from the station.
References
Notes
- 1 2 Butt (1995), page 43
- ↑ Table 227 National Rail timetable, May 2016
Sources
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bridge of Orchy railway station. |
- Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
- Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.