Crianlarich railway station

Crianlarich
A'Chrìon Làraich
Crianlarich station buildings from the south (21 April 2006)
Location
Place	Crianlarich
Local authority	Stirling
Coordinates	56°23′24″N 4°37′05″W / 56.390°N 4.618°W / 56.390; -4.618Coordinates: 56°23′24″N 4°37′05″W / 56.390°N 4.618°W / 56.390; -4.618
Operations
Station code	CNR
Managed by	First ScotRail
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage
2002/03 *	9,812
2004/05 *	10,576
2005/06 *	10,464
2006/07 *	10,587
2007/08 *	11,163
2008/09 *	13,180
History
Original company	West Highland Railway
Pre-grouping	North British Railway
Post-grouping	LNER
1894	Opened
1953	Suffix "Upper" added to station name.
After 1965	Suffix "Upper" removed from station name.
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Crianlarich from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Crianlarich railway station is a railway station serving the village of Crianlarich in Scotland. It is located on the West Highland Line. The routes to Fort William/Mallaig and Oban diverge after this station. Access to the platform is via a flight of stairs from a subway that runs underneath the tracks, from the car park which is slightly lower than the station itself.

History

Crianlarich in 1957

Crianlarich station opened concurrently with the West Highland Railway in 1894, doubling the number of railway stations in the village. The lines and station were eventually built by the state under compulsory purchase arrangements sought after the persistent rejection by the landowners the Place family of Loch Dochart House and Skelton Grange, Yorkshire who even turned down the offer of having all the proceeds from the two station tea-rooms in perpetuity. The Places felt that the project would spoil their shooting grounds; the family sold their house and estate shortly after their defeat and retreated to Yorkshire.

The station was laid out with a crossing loop around an island platform and sidings on both sides. On the east side were was an engine shed and a turntable. At the north end of the station, there was a junction with a link line to the Callander and Oban Railway which was opened in 1897. Originally, the junction incorporated a scissors crossover, allowing simultaneous moves through the junction.

In 1953, British Rail added the suffix "Upper" to the station's name, in order to distinguish it from the nearby station (only about 300 metres' walk along the north east access road) on the Callander and Oban Line which then became known as Crianlarich Lower.

Since closure of the Callander and Oban Line east of Crianlarich in 1965 (during the Beeching cuts), all trains to Oban have been routed up the West Highland Line as far as Crianlarich Upper station. They then join the remaining part of the Oban line by means of the link line, which had formerly been infrequently used. Crianlarich Lower station also closed in 1965. Some years later, the Upper station's name reverted to "Crianlarich".

The old engine shed is now used by the Permanent Way engineers.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Ardlui		First ScotRail West Highland Line		Tyndrum Lower
				Upper Tyndrum
Ardlui		First ScotRail Highland Caledonian Sleeper		Upper Tyndrum
	Historical railways
Ardlui Line open; Station open		West Highland Railway North British Railway		Tyndrum Line open; Station open
Southern end of link line		Callander and Oban Railway Crianlarich Link Line Operated by Caledonian Railway		Tyndrum Lower Line open; Station open

Station building

An independently operated tea room is located in the station building. The station buildings are not the original ones: these (which were of the standard 'West Highland' design) were destroyed by fire in 1937.

Freight facilities

Timber wagons being loading at Crianlarich (19 July 2006)

The area around the station is forested. Timber leaving the area is transported by rail, being loaded in sidings to the west side of the station.

Signalling

From the time of its opening in 1894, the West Highland Railway was worked throughout by the electric token system. Crianlarich signal box was situated at the north end of the island platform.

In 1967, the method of working between Crianlarich and Rannoch was changed to the Scottish Region Tokenless Block system. In August 1985, the method of working between Crianlarich and Rannoch reverted to the electric token block system.

The semaphore signals were removed in stages during December 1985 in preparation for the introduction of Radio Electronic Token Block (RETB). Track layout alterations were made at the same time, including simplification of the junction and extension of the crossing loop at the south end. The RETB, which is controlled from a Signalling Centre at Banavie railway station, was commissioned from Helensburgh Upper to Upper Tyndrum and Taynuilt on 27 March 1988.

The Train Protection & Warning System was installed in 2003.

Sources

• 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.