Arrochar and Tarbet railway station


Arrochar and Tarbet railway station is a railway station on the West Highland Line in Scotland. It stands between the villages of Arrochar and Tarbet.

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 1936 to 1939.
Under NBR and LNER auspices, the station was the terminus of a local service from as well as being served by through trains to Fort William and Mallaig. Known as the Wee Arrochar, the Craigendoran service was continued by British Rail until June 1964, when it fell victim to the Beeching Axe.
Between 1945 and 1948 a station and passing loop were located to the east of Arrochar and Tarbet at Inveruglas which served the passenger and freight requirements of the Sloy hydroelectric scheme.
The station then passed on to the Scottish Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.
A camping coach was also positioned here by the Scottish Region from 1964 to 1969 after which all camping coaches in the region were withdrawn.
When Sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s, the station was served by ScotRail until the Privatisation of British Rail.
The station was laid out with a crossing loop and an island platform. The sidings on the east side of the station were used for loading timber until December 2008 when the carriage of Scottish timber by rail ceased in connection with the recession. As of June 2015, there is still no sign of the service being reinstated.
When the platform was extended southwards, the redundant signal box was relocated slightly further north for use as a waiting room. In 2000, a replica of the signal box was built in the centre of the island platform, after the station building had to be demolished due to subsidence.

Signalling

From the time of its opening in 1894, the West Highland Railway was worked throughout by the electric token system. Arrochar & Tarbet signal box, which had 17 levers, was situated on the island platform.
The semaphore signals were removed on 19 January 1986 in preparation for the introduction of Radio Electronic Token Block by British Rail. The RETB, which is controlled from a Signalling Centre at Banavie railway station, was commissioned between and on 27 March 1988.
After the signal box closed, the lever frame was removed for re-use on the Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway.
The Train Protection & Warning System was installed in 2003.

Services

Mondays to Saturdays, there are six services to Oban, three to Mallaig and one service to Fort William northbound. Southbound, there are six services to Glasgow Queen Street and one service to London Euston via Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley. On Sundays, there are three train northbound to Oban all year and one or two to Mallaig and three trains southbound to Glasgow Queen Street High Level and one to London Euston.