Falls of Cruachan railway station

Falls of Cruachan
Scottish Gaelic: Easa Chruachain
Location
Place	Ben Cruachan
Local authority	Argyll and Bute
Coordinates	56°23′38″N 5°06′45″W / 56.3940°N 5.1126°WCoordinates: 56°23′38″N 5°06′45″W / 56.3940°N 5.1126°W
Grid reference	NN079267
Operations
Station code	FOC
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Number of platforms	1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	200
2011/12	260
2012/13	244
2013/14	498
2014/15	654
History
Original company	Callander and Oban Railway
Pre-grouping	Callander and Oban Railway operated by Caledonian Railway
1 October 1893	Opened
1 November 1965	Closed
20 June 1988	Re-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 Falls of Cruachan from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Falls of Cruachan railway station is a railway station located at the foot of Ben Cruachan in Scotland. This station is on the Oban branch of the West Highland Line, originally part of the Callander and Oban Railway.

Services

Services are operated by Abellio ScotRail.

The station is used mainly by hikers in the warmer months, who walk past the falls to climb Ben Cruachan. It is open only during the spring and summer months (March to October); this period formerly coincided with the summer timetable, before the timetable change date moved from September to December.

History

The shelter at the Falls of Cruachan station.

The station (on the lower slopes of Ben Cruachan, above Loch Awe) opened on 1 October 1893 with a single platform on the south side of the line. It was closed on 1 November 1965.

Reopening

The station was reopened on 20 June 1988 by BR's West Highland Area Business Group, at a cost of just £10,000 – achieved by collecting "dumped" concrete sleepers from the lineside all over the Highlands and having them stacked at the site of the old station here. They were topped by slabs, and BR's Business Manager Highland, Callum MacLeod persuaded the then Strathclyde Regional Council to rebuild the footpath down to the A85 and to install a pavement from there to the Cruachan Power Station Visitors Centre about 300 yards away. There is no station lighting, so trains call during daylight hours only. Col. Dalziel, retiring as Chairman of the Scottish TUCC, performed the opening ceremony. Some years later, a shelter and better signing were added to the halt.

Services

Four eastbound and five westbound trains stop here on weekdays and Saturdays when the station is operational, along with four each way on Sundays.^[1]

Signalling

Although Falls of Cruachan station has never had any signalling directly associated with it, its platform falls within the four mile stretch of railway that is protected by the Pass of Brander stone signals.

Accidents

On 6 June 2010, a two carriage train from Glasgow to Oban derailed near Falls of Cruachan station. The train derailed shortly before 8.53pm and was left balanced precariously on a 15-metre embankment. There was briefly a minor fire. Sixty passengers had been on board the train, but all were safely evacuated down the line to the station with no major injuries.^[2][3][4] Nine people were injured. The train hit a boulder that had fallen onto the track.

References

• 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 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
• Fryer, Charles (1989). The Callander and Oban Railway. Oxford: Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-8536-1377-X. OCLC 21870958.

• 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 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.

Notes

1. Table 227 National Rail timetable, May 2016
2. "Boulders 'caused Glasgow to Oban rail derailment'"BBC News article 7 June 2010
3. Train derailment in Scotland leaves carriages "precariously balanced" over a 15 metre embankmentDaily Mirror article 6 June 2010
4. "Passengers in hospital after Glasgow to Oban train derails" STV 7 June 2010

External links

• Video footage of Falls of Cruachan railway station