Barrhill railway station

Barrhill Scottish Gaelic: Am Bàrr[1]
Location	Barrhill, South Ayrshire Scotland
Coordinates	55°05′51″N 4°46′56″W / 55.0975°N 4.7822°W / 55.0975; -4.7822Coordinates: 55°05′51″N 4°46′56″W / 55.0975°N 4.7822°W / 55.0975; -4.7822
Grid reference	NX225816
Owned by	Network Rail
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Transit authority	SPT
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	BRL
History
Original company	Girvan and Portpatrick Junction Railway
Pre-grouping	Glasgow and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	LMS
Key dates
5 October 1877	Opened[2]
Passengers
2016/17	13,552
2017/18	12,980
2018/19	10,124
2019/20	7,144
2020/21	768
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Barrhill railway station is a railway station serving the village of Barrhill, South Ayrshire, Scotland. The station is managed by Abellio ScotRail and is on the Ayr to Stranraer section of the Glasgow South Western Line, 74 miles (119 kilometres) south of Glasgow Central. A passing loop 19 chains (380 metres) long is located here on what is otherwise a single track route.

History[]

The station was opened by the Girvan and Portpatrick Junction Railway on 5 October 1877.^[2] The station was briefly closed between 7 February 1882 and 16 February 1882,^[2] and between 12 April 1886 and 14 June 1886.^[2]

The station features in the novel Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L Sayers, first published in 1931.

The line that runs through Barrhill station was temporarily closed between August and November 2018 due to the closures of platform 3 and 4 of Ayr station. This was caused by the adjacent hotel building that was found to be structurally unsound, which was then subsequently secured and services then resumed.^[3]

Services[]

Pre-COVID[]

On Monday to Saturday, there is a regular two-hourly service to both Kilmarnock and Stranraer with a total of eight trains per day in each direction (with a four-hour gap in between trains in the Stranraer direction in the evening), two trains extend beyond Kilmarnock to Glasgow Central and four run the other way.

On Sundays, there are five trains per day each way Stranraer and Ayr.^[4]

December 2021[]

Mon-Sat: There are 4 trains per day to both Kilmarnock and Stranraer, running approximately every 4 hours. One train extends to Glasgow Central and two run the other way. Sunday service remains the same.^[5]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Stranraer		Abellio ScotRail Glasgow South Western Line		Girvan
	Historical railways
Glenwhilly Line open, station closed		Glasgow and South Western Railway Girvan and Portpatrick Junction Railway		Pinwherry Line open; station closed

Signalling[]

The small signal box that houses the lever frame operating the loop was installed in 1935 after its predecessor was destroyed by fire - it was originally situated further down the line at Portpatrick but dismantled and moved to Barrhill after becoming redundant at its original location.^[6] The box only houses the frame however - the tablet instruments and block bells are in the main station building, which allows one railman to act as both stationmaster and signaller.

References[]

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.
• 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.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Barrhill railway station.

• Video and narration on Barrhill Railway Station.