Loch Awe railway station

Loch Awe railway station is a railway station serving the village of Lochawe, on the northern bank of Loch Awe, in western Scotland. This station is on the Oban branch of the West Highland Line, originally part of the Callander and Oban Railway.

Loch Awe

Scottish Gaelic: Loch Obha[1]
An Oban to Glasgow train approaching Loch Awe station
LocationLoch Awe, Argyll and Bute
Scotland
Coordinates56.4021°N 5.0412°W / 56.4021; -5.0412
Grid referenceNN124274
Managed byAbellio ScotRail
Platforms1
Other information
Station codeLHA
History
Original companyCallander and Oban Railway
Pre-groupingCallander and Oban Railway operated by Caledonian Railway
Key dates
1 July 1880Opened
5 May 1902Second platform brought into use
1 November 1965Closed
10 May 1985Re-opened (using the newer platform)
29 May 1988SC4494 delivered to be a tea room
Passengers
2015/16 4,804
2016/17 4,140
2017/18 5,394
2018/19 5,002
2019/20 5,512
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The privately owned locomotive that worked the Ben Cruachan Quarry Branch had authority to run over the main Callander and Oban Line between Loch Awe station and the branch junction, just over half a mile to the east.

History

This station was opened on 1 July 1880 by the Callander and Oban Railway when it opened the Dalmally to Oban section of line.[2][3]

The station had one platform on a passing loop with sidings on both sides of the line.[4]

On 8 August 1897, the station building was destroyed by fire.[5] A second platform, on the north side of the loop, was brought into use on 5 May 1902.

A camping coach was also positioned here by the Scottish Region from 1952 to 1958, and two coaches were here in 1959 and 1960.[6]

The station closed on 1 November 1965 but reopened on 10 May 1985 using only the more recent platform.[2] The original platform remains in situ, but disused.

Signalling

Loch Awe signal box, which replaced the original box on 5 May 1902, was situated at the west end of the Down platform. It contained 24 levers. The signal box closed on 2 October 1966 when the crossing loop was removed.

Services

There are 7 departures in each direction Mondays to Saturdays(6 on Saturdays), eastbound to Glasgow Queen Street and westbound to Oban. On weekdays only, an additional service in each direction between Dalmally and Oban calls here in the late afternoon. On Sundays, there are 3 departures each way throughout the year, plus a fourth in the summer months only which operates to Edinburgh Waverley from late June–August.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Dalmally   Abellio ScotRail
West Highland Line		   Falls of Cruachan or Taynuilt
  Historical railways  
Dalmally
Line and Station open		   Callander and Oban Railway
Operated by Caledonian Railway
   Falls of Cruachan
Line and Station open

Tea Train
The 'Tea Train'

An old Mark 1 carriage (which was formerly painted in green and cream "West Highland Line" livery and carried the number SC4494) sits on an isolated length of track immediately to the west of the station, on the south side. Having been brought to Loch Awe by a ballast train on 29 May 1988, it was until 2008 used as a tea room. The main single line had to be temporarily severed and slewed so that the carriage could be shunted onto its own track without the use of a crane.

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. Quick, Michael (2019) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (PDF) (5th ed.). Railway and Canal Historical Society. p. 259.
  3. Thomas, John; Turnock, David (1989). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain. 15 The North of Scotland (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. p. 317. ISBN 0-946537-03-8.
  4. "Lochawe station on OS Six-inch map Argyll and Bute Sheet CI.SW (includes: Ardchattan and Muckairn; Glenorchy and Inishail)". National Library of Scotland. 1900. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  5. "Lochawe". Highland News. 14 August 1897. p. 3. Retrieved 13 July 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. McRae, Andrew (1998). British Railways Camping Coach Holidays: A Tour of Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part Two). Foxline. pp. 13 & 15-16. ISBN 1-870119-53-3.

Further reading
  • 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.
  • 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 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
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