Ardlui railway station

Ardlui Scottish Gaelic: Àird Laoigh[1]
Looking south towards Arrochar & Tarbet, with the old signal box in view
Location	Ardlui, Argyll and Bute Scotland
Coordinates	56°18′07″N 4°43′18″W / 56.3019°N 4.7217°W / 56.3019; -4.7217Coordinates: 56°18′07″N 4°43′18″W / 56.3019°N 4.7217°W / 56.3019; -4.7217
Grid reference	NN316155
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	AUI
History
Original company	West Highland Railway
Pre-grouping	North British Railway
Post-grouping	LNER
Key dates
7 August 1894	Opened[2]
Passengers
2016/17	5,426
2017/18	5,104
2018/19	5,622
2019/20	3,982
2020/21	864
Listed Building – Category C(S)
Designated	29 March 1996
Reference no.	LB43177[3]
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Ardlui railway station is a rural railway station, serving Ardlui at the north end of Loch Lomond, in Scotland. The station is 51 miles (82 km) north of Glasgow Queen Street on the West Highland Line.

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 was host to a LNER camping coach from 1935 to 1939 and possibly one for some of 1934.^[4] The station then passed on to the Scottish Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. A camping coach was also positioned here from 1964 to 1966.^[5] Due to subsidence the main station building, of the standard 'West Highland' design, had to be demolished around 1970 with an open waiting area built on to the signal box.

Between 1945 and 1948 a station and passing loop were located to the west of Ardlui at Inveruglas which served the passenger and freight requirements of the Sloy hydroelectric scheme.

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

Trains crossing at Ardlui in 1948

Ardlui station is unusually busy as passengers on a Mallaig and Oban - Glasgow train stretch their legs whilst waiting for a late running northbound train to cross (2006)

The station was laid out with a crossing loop and an island platform. There are three sidings on the east side of the station.

On 8 February 1987, the crossing loop was altered to right-hand running. The original Down platform has thus become the Up platform, and vice versa. The change was made in order to simplify shunting at this station, by removing the need to hand-pump the train-operated loop points to access the sidings.

Signalling[]

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

The semaphore signals were removed on 12 January 1986 in preparation for the introduction of radio electronics train 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.

The Train Protection & Warning System was installed in 2003.

Services[]

Monday to Saturday, there are six services to Oban and three to Mallaig (the latter combined with Oban portions, dividing at Crianlarich) and one service to Fort William (the Highland Caledonian Sleeper) northbound. Southbound, there are six services to Glasgow Queen Street High Level and one service to London Euston via Queen Street Low Level & Edinburgh Waverley (the Highland Caledonian Sleeper does not run on Saturday). On Sundays, there is just one train northbound to Mallaig in winter and two in summer, plus three to Oban; southbound there are three trains southbound to Glasgow Queen Street H.L and the sleeper to London Euston.^[6]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Arrochar and Tarbet		Abellio ScotRail West Highland Line		Crianlarich
Arrochar and Tarbet		Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper		Crianlarich
	Historical railways
Arrochar and Tarbet Line and Station open		West Highland Railway North British Railway		Glen Falloch Halt Line open; Station closed

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ardlui railway station.

Notes[]

Sources[]

• Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.
• 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 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
• McRae, Andrew (1997). British Railway Camping Coach Holidays: The 1930s & British Railways (London Midland Region). Vol. Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part One). Foxline. ISBN 1-870119-48-7.
• McRae, Andrew (1998). British Railways Camping Coach Holidays: A Tour of Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. Vol. Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part Two). Foxline. ISBN 1-870119-53-3.

Further reading[]

• 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 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.

External links[]

• Station on navigable O.S. map.
• RAILSCOT on the West Highland Railway
• Video footage of Ardlui railway station