Arrochar and Tarbet railway station

Arrochar & Tarbet
Scottish Gaelic: An t-Archar & An Tairbeart
View of platform, looking north
Location
Place	Arrochar & Tarbet
Local authority	Argyll and Bute
Coordinates
Grid reference	NN311045
Operations
Station code	ART
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	7,998
2005/06	9,171
2006/07	10,067
2007/08	9,569
2008/09	13,958
2009/10	9,012
2010/11	8,784
2011/12	9,520
2012/13	9,232
2013/14	10,662
2014/15	13,618
History
Original company	West Highland Railway
Pre-grouping	North British Railway
Post-grouping	LNER
7 August 1894	Opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Arrochar & Tarbet from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Arrochar and Tarbet railway station is a railway station on the West Highland Line in Scotland. It stands between the villages of Arrochar and Tarbet.

History

Opened to passengers on 7 August 1894 by the West Highland Railway, then run by the North British Railway, it became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station then passed on to the Scottish Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by ScotRail until the Privatisation of British Rail.

The station was laid out with a crossing loop and an island platform. The sidings on the east side of the station were used for loading timber until December 2008 when the carriage of Scottish timber by rail ceased in connection with the recession. As of June 2015, there is still no sign of the service being reinstated.

When the platform was extended southwards, the redundant signal box was relocated slightly further north for use as a waiting room. In 2000, a replica of the signal box was built in the centre of the island platform, after the station building had to be demolished due to subsidence.

Signalling

From the time of its opening in 1894, the West Highland Railway was worked throughout by the electric token system. Arrochar & Tarbet signal box, which had 17 levers, was situated on the island platform.

The semaphore signals were removed on 19 January 1986 in preparation for the introduction of Radio Electronic Token Block (RETB) by British Rail. The RETB, which is controlled from a Signalling Centre at Banavie railway station, was commissioned between Helensburgh Upper and Upper Tyndrum on 27 March 1988.

After the signal box closed, the lever frame was removed for re-use on the Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway.

The Train Protection & Warning System was installed in 2003.

Services

Mondays to Saturdays, there are three services to Oban and Mallaig and one service to Fort William (Highland Caledonian Sleeper) northbound. Southbound, there are four services to Glasgow Queen Street (three on Saturdays) and one service to London Euston (Highland Caledonian Sleeper does not run on Saturday). On Sundays, there is just one train northbound to Oban and Mallaig and two trains southbound to Glasgow Queen Street and London Euston.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Garelochhead		Abellio ScotRail West Highland Line		Ardlui
Garelochhead		Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper		Ardlui
	Historical railways
Glen Douglas Line open; Station closed		West Highland Railway North British Railway		Ardlui Line and Station open

References

Sources

• RAILSCOT on the West Highland Railway
• Station on navigable O.S. map