Crianlarich railway station

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Crianlarich
A'Chrìon Làraich
Crianlarich Station buildings from the south. (21 April 2006 - Stewart D. Macfarlane)
Location
Place	Crianlarich
Local authority	Stirling (district)
Operations
Station code	CNR
Managed by	First ScotRail
Platforms in use	2
Annual entry/exit 02/03	9,812 *
Annual entry/exit 04/05	10,576 **
History
Key dates	Opened 1894
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
* based on sales of tickets in 2002/03 financial year which end or originate at Crianlarich. Disclaimer (PDF)
** based on sales of tickets in 2004/05 financial year which end or originate at Crianlarich. Disclaimer (PDF)

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.

Contents 1 History 2 Station Building 3 Freight Facilities 4 Signalling 5 External links

[edit] History

Crianlarich station opened concurrently with the West Highland Railway in 1894, doubling the number of railway stations in the village.

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. 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.

[edit] Station Building

An independently operated tea room is located in the station building.

[edit] Freight Facilities

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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] External links

• Train times and station information for Crianlarich railway station from National Rail
• Map and aerial photo of Crianlarich railway station from Multimap.com

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Ardlui		First ScotRail West Highland Line		Tyndrum Lower
		First ScotRail West Highland Line		Upper Tyndrum
Arrochar & Tarbet or Ardlui (request stop)		First ScotRail Highland Caledonian Sleeper		Upper Tyndrum
Historical Railways
Ardlui Line open; Station open		West Highland Railway		Upper Tyndrum Line open; Station open
Terminus		Callander and Oban Railway Crianlarich Link Line		Tyndrum Lower Line open; Station open