Helmsdale railway station

Helmsdale railway station is a railway station serving the village of Helmsdale in the Highland council area, northern Scotland. It is located on the Far North Line.

Helmsdale

Scottish Gaelic: Bun Ilidh[1]
A train to Wick arrives at Helmsdale on 16 June 2009
LocationHelmsdale, Highland
Scotland
Coordinates58.1177°N 3.6590°W / 58.1177; -3.6590
Grid referenceND023155
Managed byAbellio ScotRail
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeHMS
History
Original companyDuke of Sutherland's Railway
Pre-groupingHighland Railway
Post-groupingLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
British Railways
Key dates
19 June 1871 (1871-06-19)Opened as terminus
28 July 1874Altered to through station
Passengers
2015/16 6,204
2016/17 5,768
2017/18 4,636
2018/19 5,044
2019/20 5,086
Listed Building – Category B
Designated23 July 1987
Reference no.LB7184[2]
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The Duke of Sutherland's Railway had opened between Dunrobin and West Helmsdale (near Gartymore) on 1 November 1870.[3] Extensions of this line southward to Golspie and northward to Helmsdale were opened on 19 June 1871.[4] Another company, the Sutherland and Caithness Railway (S&CR), was authorised on 13 July 1871 to take over the powers of the projected Caithness Railway and link Helmsdale with that line at Georgemas Junction, and the S&CR opened on 28 July 1874.[5]

The station opened in 1871.[6] The station buildings were designed by the architect William Fowler.

On 29 April 1891 there was a collision between a down mixed train from Inverness which ran into an engine which had arrived earlier. Major Marindin of the Board of Trade investigated and found that the driver Robert Lindsay deliberately ignored the signals as he would have had difficulty in restarting the train on the rising gradient of 1 in 59.[7]

The station master's house on the platform was abandoned in the 1980s. In 2013 it was refitted as self-catering holiday accommodation.[8]

The station is 101 miles 40 chains (163.3 km) from Inverness, and has a passing loop 23 chains (460 m) long, flanked by two platforms. Platform 1 on the up (southbound) line can accommodate trains having six coaches, whereas platform 2 on the down (northbound) line can hold seven.[9]

Services

Mondays to Saturdays, there are four train each way that call here - southbound to Dingwall & Inverness and northbound to Wick via Thurso. Sundays see a single departure each way.[10]

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Brora   Abellio ScotRail
Far North Line		   Kildonan
  Historical railways  
West Helmsdale
Line open, station closed		   Highland Railway
Duke of Sutherland's Railway
Sutherland and Caithness Railway 		  Salzcraggie Platform
Line open, station closed

References
  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. "HELMSDALE RAILWAY STATION INCLUDING FOOTBRIDGE AND SIGNAL BOX". Historic Scotland. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  3. Vallance, H.A.; Clinker, C.R.; Lambert, Anthony J. (1985) [1938]. The Highland Railway (4th ed.). Newton Abbot: David & Charles. pp. 36, 176. ISBN 0-946537-24-0.
  4. Vallance, Clinker & Lambert 1985, pp. 36, 173.
  5. Vallance, Clinker & Lambert 1985, pp. 37, 175.
  6. "Helmsdale Station". Historic Environment Scotland. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  7. "Helmsdale. Board of Trade Report". Aberdeen Evening Express. British Newspaper Archive. 15 June 1891. Retrieved 14 August 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. "Self Catering Accommodation on a working railway station in the north of Scotland". Helmsdale Station. Helmsdale Station CIC. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  9. Brailsford 2017, map 20C.
  10. Table 239 National Rail timetable, May 2016.


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