Upper Tyndrum railway station

Upper Tyndrum Scottish Gaelic: Taigh an Droma Uachdrach[1]
Upper Tyndrum station, looking north towards Fort William and Mallaig
Location	Tyndrum, Scotland
Coordinates	56°26′04″N 4°42′13″W / 56.4345°N 4.7036°W / 56.4345; -4.7036Coordinates: 56°26′04″N 4°42′13″W / 56.4345°N 4.7036°W / 56.4345; -4.7036
Grid reference	NN333302
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	UTY
History
Original company	West Highland Railway
Pre-grouping	North British Railway
Post-grouping	LNER
Key dates
7 August 1894	Station opened as Tyndrum[2]
21 September 1956	Station renamed as Tyndrum Upper[2]
1988	Station renamed as Upper Tyndrum[2]
Passengers
2016/17	4,512
2017/18	5,288
2018/19	5,702
2019/20	4,736
2020/21	772
Interchange	64
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Upper Tyndrum railway station is one of two railway stations serving the small village of Tyndrum in Scotland. It is on the Fort William route of the highly scenic West Highland Line. Services are operated by Abellio ScotRail. In 2005/06 it was the least used station on the West Highland Line, probably because of its position up a hill above the village, as opposed to Tyndrum Lower on the Oban branch, which also offers services to and from Crianlarich and destinations to the south (usually at about the same time, as the trains tend to connect at Crianlarich).

History[]

Originally named "Tyndrum", this station opened concurrently with the West Highland Railway in 1894, as the second station in the village. In 1956,^[2] British Rail added the suffix "Upper" to the station's name, to distinguish it from the station on the Callander and Oban Line which then became known as Tyndrum Lower.^{[citation needed]}

The station name was altered to "Upper Tyndrum" upon the introduction of RETB (see below), to reduce the risk of it being confused with "Tyndrum Lower" in radio communications.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Crianlarich		Abellio ScotRail West Highland Line		Bridge of Orchy
Crianlarich		Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper		Bridge of Orchy
	Historical railways
Crianlarich		North British Railway West Highland Railway		Bridge of Orchy

Services[]

2011 services[]

Monday to Saturday, northbound, Upper Tyndrum has three services to Mallaig and one service to Fort William (Highland Caledonian Sleeper). Southbound, there are three services to Glasgow Queen Street and one service to London Euston (Highland Caledonian Sleeper, Saturdays excepted). On Sundays, there is just one service northbound to Mallaig and two services southbound to Glasgow Queen Street and London Euston.

2019 services[]

Monday to Saturday, northbound, Upper Tyndrum has three services to Mallaig and one service to Fort William. Southbound, there are three services to Glasgow Queen Street and one service to London Euston (Saturdays excepted).

On Sundays, there are two services northbound to Mallaig, two services southbound to Glasgow Queen Street, and one service to London Euston.^[3] The Highland Sleeper also calls at Glasgow Queen Street Low Level to set down only on each evening that it operates, so passengers can use this train to reach Glasgow (and Edinburgh).

Signalling[]

The signal box, which had 15 levers, was situated on the island platform. From its opening in 1894, the West Highland Railway was worked throughout by the electric token system.

In 1967, the method of working between Crianlarich and Rannoch was changed to the Scottish Region Tokenless Block system. The Down loop at Tyndrum Upper was signalled for running in either direction and the signal box was able to 'switch out' when not required.

In August 1985, the method of working between Crianlarich and Rannoch reverted to the electric token block system. The semaphore signals were removed on 22 December 1985 in preparation for the introduction of Radio Electronic Token Block (RETB).

The RETB system was commissioned by British Rail between Helensburgh Upper and Upper Tyndrum on 27 March 1988. On 29 May of the same year, the RETB spread north to Fort William Junction, resulting in the closure of Upper Tyndrum signal box (amongst others). The RETB is controlled from a purpose-built Signalling Centre at Banavie railway station. Upper Tyndrum station is the boundary between the two signalling interlockings and the areas of control of the two signalmen.

The Train Protection & Warning System was installed in 2003.

References[]

Notes[]

Sources[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Upper Tyndrum railway station.

• 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.
• 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[]

• Video footage of Upper Tyndrum Station