Fort William railway station serves the town of Fort William, in the Highland region of Scotland. It is on the West Highland line, between Spean Bridge and Banavie, measured 99 miles 37 chains (160.1 km) from Craigendoran Junction, at the southern end of the line near Helensburgh.[4] The station is managed by ScotRail, who operate most services from the station; Caledonian Sleeper and The Jacobite, an excursion operated by West Coast Railways, also use the station.
 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The station entrance, 2017 | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Fort William, Highland Scotland | ||||
| Coordinates | 56°49′15″N 5°06′17″W / 56.8207°N 5.1047°W | ||||
| Grid reference | NN105741 | ||||
| Managed by | ScotRail | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | FTW[2] | ||||
| History | |||||
| Original company | British Rail | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 7 August 1894 | First station opened | ||||
| 9 June 1975 | First station closed | ||||
| 13 June 1975 | Present station opened[3][page needed] | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  0.140 million | ||||
| Interchange | 377 | ||||
| 2020/21 | 22,316 | ||||
| Interchange | 39 | ||||
| 2021/22 |  0.114 million | ||||
| Interchange | 197 | ||||
| 2022/23 | 0.146 million | ||||
| Interchange | 204 | ||||
| 2023/24 | 0.192 million | ||||
| Interchange | 323 | ||||
| |||||
History
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The first station was constructed by the West Highland Railway which was later absorbed by the North British Railway. They chose a site for the station alongside the town shipping pier, which required the purchase of a strip of the foreshore. The railway company bought this for £25 (equivalent to £3,500 in 2023)[5] an acre.[6] Purchase of this land displaced some people from their houses and the railway company was obliged to provide replacement housing. Other residents realised too late that the railway line cut the town off from the shore and the company responded by providing some wicket gate crossings.
It was opened by the Marchioness of Tweedale, Candida Louisa Bartolucci, wife of the chairman of the North British Railway, William Hay, 10th Marquess of Tweeddale[7] on 7 August 1894. They had departed by special train comprising two locomotives and eleven carriages from Glasgow at 8.15am, and arrived in Fort William at 1.30pm. It was sited to the west of the present station on what is now the A82 town bypass, alongside Loch Linnhe at Station Square, at the time in close proximity to then location of the former Caledonian MacBrayne bus station. The old station was a stone built construction featuring a turret and a double arched entranceway and had three platforms. Two of the platforms terminated under the platform canopy, but the third continued past the station, crossing the MacBrayne pier and terminated at the jetty just beyond.[8]
In 1970 the British Railways Board put forward proposals to re-site the station 700 yards (640 m) north of its location to allow the improvements to the A82 to be implemented.[9] The last train from the old station departed on 7 June 1975[10] and the station closed on 9 June. It was demolished immediately afterwards to permit construction of the bypass.[11]
The present Fort William station of grey concrete construction was opened on 13 June 1975.[11] The current station lies in the shadow of Ben Nevis.
Accidents and incidents
editDuring high winds in February 1980 a brick wall at the station collapsed onto the track and blocked a platform.[12]
Signalling
editSince its opening in 1975, the present Fort William station has been equipped with colour light signals. The signalling is controlled from an 'NX' (entrance-exit) panel in Fort William Junction signal box. The single line between the junction and the station is worked by the Track Circuit Block system, so no tokens are needed for that part of the route.
Facilities
editRefurbishment of the facilities at Fort William railway station was completed in 2007 thanks to a £750,000 investment.[13] The refurbishment includes new shower facilities and refurbished toilets. The shower facilities include two showers for ladies, two for gentlemen and one unisex shower facility for disabled people.[citation needed]
The island platform is also equipped with a few shops and restaurants, a ticket office, bike racks, a car park and a taxi rank, and some benches. All areas of the station are step-free.[14]
Passenger volume
edit| 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 exits | 115,510 | 120,333 | 121,920 | 134,302 | 135,488 | 138,870 | 135,556 | 145,504 | 144,106 | 139,808 | 138,514 | 155,856 | 160,418 | 139,722 | 22,316 | 114,230 | 145,564 |
| Interchanges | 192 | 211 | 247 | 295 | 365 | 414 | 458 | 440 | 387 | 339 | 355 | 393 | 414 | 377 | 39 | 197 | 204 |
The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.
Services
edit
Fort William has three daytime trains per day in each direction on Mondays to Saturdays, running between Glasgow Queen Street and Mallaig. There is also a daily early morning service to Mallaig that starts at Fort William, with a similar return service in the evening, which connects with the Caledonian Sleeper. The regular Sunday service consists of two train per day each way between Glasgow and Mallaig, with the schedule in the peak season supplemented by one service between Fort William and Mallaig.
The Caledonian Sleeper operates six nights per week (not Saturday nights) to and from London Euston, starting and terminating at Fort William. The sleeper also carries seated coaches and can thus be used as a regular service train to/from Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley.
The Jacobite operates non-stop between Fort William and Mallaig. This runs all year round, with a maximum of two trains per day Monday to Saturday and one on Sunday. A reduced Jacobite timetable is operated later in the summer.[16][17][18]
| Preceding station |  National Rail
|
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spean Bridge | ScotRail West Highland Line |
Banavie | ||
| Terminus | Terminus | |||
| Spean Bridge | Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper |
Terminus | ||
 Heritage railways
|
||||
| Mallaig | West Coast Railways The Jacobite |
Terminus | ||
| Historical railways | ||||
| Spean Bridge Line and station open |
North British Railway West Highland Railway |
Banavie Pier Line mostly open; station closed | ||
| Terminus | North British Railway West Highland Railway |
|||
| Banavie Line and station open |
North British Railway Mallaig Extension Railway of West Highland Railway |
Terminus | ||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
- ^ Deaves, Phil. "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
- ^ Butt 1995.
- ^ Bridge, Mike, ed. (2017). TRACKatlas of Mainland Britain: A Comprehensive Geographic Atlas Showing the Rail Network of Great Britain (3rd ed.). Sheffield: Platform 5 Publishing Ltd. p. 90. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
- ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
- ^ Thomas, John (1965). The West Highland Railway. David St John Thomas. p. 60. ISBN 0946537143.
- ^ "West Highland Railway". DundeeAdvertiser. Scotland. 13 August 1894. Retrieved 7 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ Thomas, John (1965). The West Highland Railway. David St John Thomas. p. 85. ISBN 0946537143.
- ^ "British Railways Board. Re-siting of Fort William Railway Station". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Scotland. 5 March 1970. Retrieved 7 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Last train given big send off at Fort-William". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Scotland. 9 June 1975. Retrieved 7 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ a b Fort William re-sited The Railway Magazine issue 892 August 1975 page 377
- ^ "Winds". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Scotland. 5 February 1980. Retrieved 7 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Full steam ahead for new transport hub". Lochaber News. 20 October 2007. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2016.
- ^ "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
- ^ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
- ^ eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 218
- ^ eNRT December 2021 Edition, Table 218
- ^ eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 220
Bibliography
edit- Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.
- Butt, R. V. J. (October 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 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
- 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 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
- Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
External links
edit
- Train times and station information for Fort William railway station from National Rail
- "West Highland Railway". RAILSCOT. 2 April 2012.
- "Mallaig Extension Railway". RAILSCOT. 24 March 2012.
- "schotland 2006". treintjes.info (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 5 February 2012.