Dumfries railway station

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Dumfries

Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Phris[1]
National Rail
Dumfries4.jpg
Station with station hotel behind
LocationDumfries, Dumfries and Galloway
Scotland
Coordinates55°04′22″N 3°36′16″W / 55.0728°N 3.6045°W / 55.0728; -3.6045Coordinates: 55°04′22″N 3°36′16″W / 55.0728°N 3.6045°W / 55.0728; -3.6045
Grid referenceNX976765
Managed byAbellio ScotRail
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeDMF
Key dates
1848Opened
1850Line to Glasgow opened
Passengers
2016/17Increase 0.362 million
2017/18Increase 0.382 million
2018/19Increase 0.403 million
2019/20Decrease 0.389 million
2020/21Decrease 44,712
Listed Building – Category B
Designated6 March 1981
Reference no.LB26343[2]
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Dumfries railway station serves the town of Dumfries in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located on the Glasgow South Western Line. The station is owned by Network Rail and managed by Abellio ScotRail who provide nearly all passenger train services. It is staffed on a part-time basis throughout the week. Train services are provided by Abellio ScotRail and Northern.

History[]

Opened by the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway in 1848, the line serving it was extended northwards to Kilmarnock and Glasgow two years later (the GD&CR became part of the Glasgow and South Western Railway at the same time). It subsequently became the junction for branches to Castle Douglas and Stranraer (opened between 1859 and 1861), Lockerbie (opened in 1863 and taken over in 1865 by the Caledonian Railway) and latterly to Moniaive (Cairn Valley Railway, opened in 1905). All of these later lines have now closed (the Port Road to Stranraer being the last to go in June 1965), leaving only the original G&SWR main line open to serve the town. The Beeching Axe cutting the Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway and Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Railway has resulted in adverse mileage to connect Stranraer with a longer line via Kilmarnock and Ayr. The journey by railway and ferry via Stranraer to Larne Harbour or since the line closed to the Port of Belfast is much longer.

Historic Scotland have designated the station and separately the adjacent station hotel as category B listed buildings.[2][3]

Carnation built an evaporated milk factory in Dumfries that opened in 1935, eventually constructing three units producing tin cans, evaporated milk and latterly Coffeemate. The original factory had private siding access to the station's goods yard, which gave access for milk trains to the facility, in both delivering raw product as well as distribution to London. Milk trains stopped in the mid-1970s. The United States parent company was bought by Nestle in 1985, after which a decline in the facility began. CoffeeMate production ceased in 2000, after which the site was fully redeveloped as an industrial estate.[4]

In fiction[]

The station features in the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915) by John Buchan. Richard Hannay, fleeing from German secret agents, travels from London St Pancras to Galloway, changing trains at Dumfries. In 1939, T.S. Eliot included Dumfries in his Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Skimbleshanks, the Railway Cat, speaks with the police at Dumfries Station during the night.

Services[]

ScotRail[]

The service from the station is somewhat infrequent with trains running to different patterns during the day, these are as follows:

In the December 2021 timetable, There is an uneven hourly to 2 hourly service souhtbound to Carlisle(3 of these extend to Newcastle) and there are 9 trains per day northbound to Kilmarnock and Glasgow Central (these operate to a mostly 2 hourly frequency but there can be uneven gaps of up to 4 hours at certain points of the day). On Sundays, There is a 2 hourly service to/from Carlisle(5 trains per day in total) and 2 trains per day northbound to Glasgow. Extra trains run at peak times to both Carlisle and Glasgow

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Annan   Abellio ScotRail
Glasgow South Western Line
   Sanquhar
  Historical railways  
Maxwelltown
Line and station closed 		  Glasgow and South Western Railway
Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway
   Terminus

Gallery[]

1960[]

  • The station in 1960

  • The station pilot at the rear of a Down express in 1960

2009[]

  • Looking north with the site of the old Port Road line bay platforms to the left

  • Looking south towards Annan with the site of the old goods station beyond the road bridge

References[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. "Gaelic/English Station Index". Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.
  2. ^ a b "Station Road, Dumfries Station, Including Platforms, Lamp Standards, Footbridge, Signal Box, Chargeman's Hut, Railings, Gates and Gatepiers". Historic Scotland. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  3. ^ "Station Road, Station Hotel and Retaining Wall and Railings". Historic Scotland. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  4. ^ "Dumfries". John & Morag Williams. Retrieved 25 January 2012.

Sources[]

  • 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.

External links[]

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