Thurso railway station
Thurso railway station is a railway station located in Thurso, in the Highland council area in the far north of Scotland. It serves the town of Thurso and its surrounding areas in the historic county of Caithness. It is also the nearest station to the port of Scrabster (about 2.2 miles (3.5 km) to the northwest), which has ferry services linking the mainland with Stromness on the Orkney Islands. It is the northernmost station on the National Rail network.
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|---|---|
 A train departing to Inverness | |
| Location | Thurso, Highland Scotland |
| Coordinates | 58.5900°N 3.5278°W |
| Grid reference | ND112679 |
| Managed by | Abellio ScotRail |
| Platforms | 1 |
| Other information | |
| Station code | THS |
| History | |
| Original company | Sutherland and Caithness Railway |
| Pre-grouping | Highland Railway |
| Post-grouping | LMS |
| Key dates | |
| 28 July 1874 | Opened |
| Passengers | |
| 2015/16 |  38,426 |
| 2016/17 | 37,322 |
| 2017/18 |  39,174 |
| 2018/19 | 39,974 |
| 2019/20 | 39,702 |
Listed Building – Category B | |
| Designated | 28 November 1984 (amended 15 December 1998) |
| Reference no. | Historic Scotland Building ID 42035 |
| Notes | |
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road | |
The station is situated at the end of a short branch line off the Far North Line. It is 6 miles 50 chains (10.7 km) down the line from Georgemas Junction (the other end of the branch),[2] and 153 miles 70 chains (247.6 km) from Inverness.
Thurso station is managed by Abellio ScotRail, which also operates all trains serving the station.
History
The station opened on 28 July 1874.[3] A wrought-iron turntable, 45 feet (14 m) in diameter, was built at the station by the Railway Steel and Plant Company of Manchester.[4]
The station was threatened with closure in the 1960s under the Beeching Axe.
Until 2000, trains from Inverness would split in half at Georgemas Junction, with one portion going to Wick and the other to Thurso. In the age of locomotive-hauled trains prior to the introduction of diesel multiple units by British Rail, a locomotive was based at Georgemas Junction to take the Thurso portion to and from the junction. The practice of splitting trains ended when Class 158s were introduced on the line – since then all services run in full between Inverness and Wick via Thurso, in both directions.
Facilities
There is one platform, which is long enough to accommodate a nine-carriage train.[2] The station is fully wheelchair-accessible, but it is not monitored by CCTV.[5]
The station has a ticket office, staffed between approximately 10:00 and 17:00 every day except Sundays. There are no self-service ticket machines or smartcard top-up facilities, although there are smartcard validators. Other facilities include: a free car park with 3 parking spaces, a sheltered bike stand with 10 spaces, a payphone that accepts both cash and card, waiting rooms with designated seating areas, toilets (only open during staffing hours) and a post box.[5]
There is a bus stop located directly outside the station,[5] although the majority of bus services call at the nearby Miller Academy stop, 150 metres (160 yd) to the north.
Services
Despite being located at the end of the branch line, Thurso is not the terminus for any passenger services. Instead, trains run between Inverness and Wick; upon reaching Georgemas Junction they branch off the main route to serve Thurso, then reverse and run back to Georgemas Junction before continuing to their respective destinations. This means that all services call at Georgemas Junction station twice per trip.[6]
On weekdays and Saturdays, the station is served by eight trains per day to Georgemas Junction, of which four continue to Inverness (via Helmsdale, Golspie, Lairg, Tain and Dingwall), and four continue to Wick. On Sundays the frequency drops to just two trains per day to Georgemas Junction, of which one goes to Inverness and one to Wick.[6]
An hourly shuttle between Wick and Thurso making use of Vivarail's Class 230 Battery Multiple Units has been proposed by the Friends of the Far North line, but to this date nothing has been confirmed.[7]
| Preceding station | National Rail |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Georgemas Junction | Abellio ScotRail Far North Line |
Georgemas Junction | ||
| Historical railways | ||||
| Terminus | Highland Railway Sutherland and Caithness Railway Thurso Branch |
Hoy Line open, station closed | ||
References
Notes
- Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
- Brailsford 2017, map 20E.
- "The Sunderland and Caithness Railway". The Scotsman. British Newspaper Archive. 27 July 1874. Retrieved 14 August 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- "The Sutherland and Caithness Railway". John o’Groat Journal. Scotland. 9 July 1874. Retrieved 15 July 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- "Facilities". ScotRail. ScotRail. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
- GB eNRT May 2016 Edition, Table 239
- "The Friends of the Far North Line - Newsletter - January 2019". www.fofnl.org.uk. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
Sources
- 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.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Thurso railway station. |