Alness railway station

Alness railway station is a railway station on the Far North Line, serving the village of Alness, on the Cromarty Firth, in the Highland council area of Scotland. The station consists of one platform on the northern side of the railway, with only a small shelter available. The original station platforms can still be seen on both sides of the single line through the station.

The station is 46 kilometres (28.6 mi) north of Inverness on the Far North Line towards Wick.

History

The Inverness and Ross-shire Railway (I&RR), which was to be a line between Inverness and Invergordon, was authorised in 1860, and opened in stages.^[1] By the time that the last section, that between Dingwall and Invergordon, opened on 25 March 1863, the I&RR had amalgamated with the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway (I&AJR), the authorisation being given on 30 June 1862.^[2] On this last stretch, one of the original stations was that at Alness.^[3] The I&AJR in turn amalgamated with other railways to form the Highland Railway in 1865,^[4] which became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway during the Grouping of 1923.^[5] The line then passed on to the Scottish Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. The station at Alness was then closed by the British Transport Commission on 13 June 1960,^[3] and remained so for 13 years.

The station reopened on 7 May 1973,^[3] and then when Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s was served by ScotRail until the Privatisation of British Railways.

Services

On Mondays to Saturdays there is generally a two-hourly service southbound to Inverness with three trains per day northbound to Wick.

On Sundays there are usually two trains per day in each direction.

Notes

References

• 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. 
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 0-9068-9999-0. OCLC 228266687. 
• Vallance, H.A.; Clinker, C.R.; Lambert, Anthony J. (1985) [1938]. The Highland Railway (4th ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0 946537 24 0. 
• RAILSCOT article on Inverness and Ross-shire Railway
• Alness station on navigable 1947 O.S. map