railroad.wikisort.org - Station

Nairn railway station is a railway station serving the town of Nairn in Scotland. The station is managed and served by ScotRail and is on the Aberdeen to Inverness Line, between Inverness and Forres, measured 128 miles 72 chains (207.4 km) from Perth via the former Dava route.[4] It is a category B listed building.[3]

Nairn Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Narann[1]
The station in 2013
General information
Location	Nairn, Highland Scotland
Coordinates	57.5803°N 3.8716°W / 57.5803; -3.8716
Grid reference	NH881560
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	NRN[2]
History
Opened	5 November 1855 (1855-11-05)
Original company	Inverness and Nairn Railway and Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway
Pre-grouping	Highland Railway
Post-grouping	London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
1886	Station buildings rebuilt
Passengers
2016/17	0.120 million
2017/18	0.112 million
2018/19	0.118 million
2019/20	0.135 million
2020/21	46,324
Listed Building – Category B
Designated	12 March 1981
Reference no.	LB38454[3]
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The station was first opened in 1855 by the Inverness and Nairn Railway. In 1857, the line was extended eastwards to Dalvey. The route from Aberdeen to Inverness was merged into one company, the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway, in 1861.

In 1885 the Highland Railway Company agreed to improve the facilities at Nairn. The station buildings were replaced with improved accommodation for passenger and staff. The new building comprised a front elevation of 160 feet (49 m) on the north side of the platforms. It was constructed of dressed freestone and consisted of ticket and parcels offices, waiting hall, verandah, ladies’ and gentlemen’s waiting rooms, left luggage and porters’ room. The gables of the cross wings were surmounted with the Scotch thistle, the Prince of Wales feather, and other designs sculpted in stone. The masonry work was completed by Mr. Squair of Nairn. The work was completed in 1886.[5]

At the same time a new station master’s house was erected. The platforms were extended to around 440 yards (400 m) and raised in height to the level of the carriages. A new iron foot bridge over the line connected the platforms, avoiding passengers using a foot crossing over the running lines. The bridge over Cawdor Road was also widened at the same time.[6]

Many of the local stations either side of here succumbed to the Beeching Axe between 1965 and 1968, though Nairn was one of those that survived the cutbacks.

The station is 128 miles 72 chains (207.4 km) from Perth (measured via Dava), and has a passing loop 29 chains (580 m) long, flanked by two platforms which can each accommodate an eight-coach train.[7]

The station was notable for being the last working example of Highland Railway signalling principles, where a signal box was provided at each end to work the signals & points whilst the key token instruments for working the single line were located in the main building. The distance between the boxes was such that a bicycle was officially provided by BR (and later Railtrack) for the signaller to use.[8] The practice came to an end in April 2000, when the station was resignalled with colour lights and control shifted to a panel in the station building - as a result, most passenger services use the northern (former eastbound) platform in both directions (the southern one is now only used by Aberdeen-bound services if two trains are scheduled to pass here).

Control of the signalling at the station has since transferred to a new workstation in the Inverness signalling centre, following a 10-day line closure that also saw the loop at Elgin lengthened and a new station and loop commissioned at Forres.[9] A replacement bus service ran whilst the work was in progress, with the line reopening on schedule on 17 October 2017.

Facilities

The station has a ticket office, ticket machine and accessible toilet on platform 1, adjacent to some bike racks and one of the car parks. The other is adjacent to platform 2, which is equipped with a flower shop and a help point. There is step-free access to both platforms, but not between them, as the bridge linking them does not have lifts.[10]

Passenger Volume

Passenger Volume at Nairn[11]

	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	85,488	75,353	70,454	75,490	83,980	101,182	111,748	112,014	116,768	127,180	130,174	120,504	112,142	117,780	134,518	46,324

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

As of May 2022, there are seventeen daily departures from the station each way on weekdays and Saturdays. Most are through trains between Aberdeen and Inverness, but some trains start from or terminate at Elgin. One departure runs through to Edinburgh in the morning, and one in the evening runs to Stonehaven. On Sundays there are five through trains each way to Inverness and Aberdeen, with two more from Glasgow to Elgin via Inverness that call eastbound.[12]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Forres		ScotRail Aberdeen–Inverness line		Inverness
	Historical railways
Connection to Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway		Inverness and Nairn Railway		Gollanfield Junction Line open; Station closed
Auldearn Line open; Station closed		Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway		Connection to Inverness and Nairn Railway

Cultural References

The station appeared as 'Inverness' in the 1970 film The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.^{[citation needed]}

References

Further reading

• Allen, David (26 August – 8 September 1998). "The last of its kind...". RAIL. No. 338. EMAP Apex Publications. pp. 32–34. ISSN 0953-4563. OCLC 49953699.

External links

• Railscot - Nairn

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