railroad.wikisort.org - Station

Bridge of Orchy railway station is a railway station in the village of Bridge of Orchy in the west of Scotland. The station is on the West Highland Line, between Rannoch and Upper Tyndrum, 48 miles 68 chains (78.6 km) from Craigendoran Junction, near Helensburgh.[4] ScotRail manage the station and operate most services, with others provided by Caledonian Sleeper.

Bridge of Orchy Scottish Gaelic: Drochaid Urchaidh[1]
General information
Location	Bridge of Orchy, Argyll and Bute Scotland
Coordinates	56.5162°N 4.7642°W / 56.5162; -4.7642
Grid reference	NN300394
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	BRO[2]
History
Original company	West Highland Railway
Pre-grouping	North British Railway
Post-grouping	LNER
Key dates
7 August 1894	Opened
Passengers
2016/17	5,680
2017/18	6,032
2018/19	6,490
2019/20	5,906
2020/21	986
Listed Building – Category B
Designated	15 November 1979
Reference no.	LB13072[3]
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

This station opened by the West Highland Railway on 7 August 1894.[5]

The station was laid out with a crossing loop around an island platform and sidings on the east side of the station.

The station was host to a LNER camping coach from 1935 to 1939 and possibly one for some of 1934.[6]

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.

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.

Facilities

The island platform is only equipped with shelters and bike racks, although there is a car park. The only access to the station is via a stepped subway, so there is no step-free access.[7] 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 Bridge of Orchy[8]

	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
Entries and exits	4,916	4,941	5,112	5,108	5,966	5,690	5,416	6,192	5,890	5,726	5,932	6,024	5,880	5,680	6,032	6,490	5,906	986

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

Monday to Saturday, Bridge of Orchy has three ScotRail services to Mallaig and three services to Glasgow Queen Street. Caledonian Sleeper operate one service each day, each way to Fort William and London Euston (except Saturday nights). On Sundays, there are two services northbound to Mallaig and two southbound to Glasgow Queen Street, as well as the Caledonian Sleeper to London Euston. This can also be used by regular travellers to and from stations towards Edinburgh, as it is booked to set down at some stations and carries seating coaches as far as Edinburgh.[9][10][11]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Rannoch		ScotRail West Highland Line		Upper Tyndrum
		Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper
	Historical railways
Tyndrum		North British Railway West Highland Railway		Gorton

References

Bibliography

• 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.
• McRae, Andrew (1997). British Railway Camping Coach Holidays: The 1930s & British Railways (London Midland Region). Vol. Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part One). Foxline. ISBN 1-870119-48-7.

• 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.

External Links

• Video footage of the station on YouTube

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