Dingwall railway station

Dingwall railway station serves Dingwall, Scotland. It is located just south of the junction of the Far North Line and the Kyle of Lochalsh Line, and is served by Abellio ScotRail.

Dingwall Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Pheofharain[1]
Dingwall station building
Location	Dingwall, Highland Scotland
Coordinates	57.5942°N 4.4222°W
Grid reference	NH553585
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	DIN
History
Original company	Inverness and Ross-shire Railway
Pre-grouping	Highland Railway
Post-grouping	LMS
Key dates
11 June 1862[2]	Opened
Passengers
2015/16	82,508
Interchange	445
2016/17	80,900
Interchange	421
2017/18	86,276
Interchange	491
2018/19	81,408
Interchange	487
2019/20	80,154
Interchange	431
Listed Building – Category B
Designated	25 February 1986
Reference no.	LB24514[3]
Location
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

Dingwall engine shed in 1957

The station was built by the Inverness and Ross-shire Railway (I&RR) and opened on 11 June 1862 when the company's line was opened from Inverness to Dingwall. The extension to Invergordon came on 23 March 1863. The I&RR was consolidated with the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway on 30 June 1862. The operating name became the Highland Railway (HR) on 29 June 1865. Under Highland Railway ownership the current station buildings were erected in 1886 by architect Murdoch Paterson.[4]

The HR became a constituent of the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSR) in 1923.[5]

The main passenger services through the station were to Wick and Thurso and to Kyle of Lochalsh. Between 1885 and 1946 there was a branch line service to Strathpeffer.[6]

The Highland Railway built a small steam locomotive shed near the station and this continued in use by the LMSR and British Railways until closure at the end of steam locomotive operations in the area in the early 1960s. It was a sub-shed of the large Inverness facility.[7]

The station is 18 miles 58 chains (30.1 km) from Inverness, and is the zero point for the Kyle of Lochalsh Line. It has a passing loop 32 chains (640 m) long, flanked by two platforms. Platform 1 on the down (northbound) line can accommodate trains having eight coaches, whereas platform 2 on the up (southbound) line can hold ten.[8]

The station formerly had two signal boxes to supervise the passing loop and junction between the two routes - both were however closed in 1985 when the Radio Electronic Token Block system was introduced by British Rail on the Far North Line. The system was initially worked from a control centre at the station, with the line southwards planned for inclusion in the Inverness area resignalling scheme. However, when the Inverness scheme was completed in 1988, RETB control was transferred to the new signalling centre there and one here was closed. The junction points were altered so that they were (and still are) power operated - drivers of northbound trains use a plunger on the down platform to select the correct route, whilst southbound trains trigger the correct setting by occupying track circuits on the approach to the station.[9]

Historic Scotland designate the current station and platforms as Category B.[3]

Accidents

On 22 January 2010, a Class 158 Express Sprinter unit (158701) working the 17:15 Inverness to Ardgay service derailed at Dingwall; nobody was badly injured, but one female passenger was taken to hospital as a precaution.[10]

Station signage

The town's name in Scottish Gaelic is Inbhir Pheofharain;[11] however, the Gaelic on the station sign read Inbhirpheofharain (incorrectly written as one word). Transport Scotland acknowledged the error and indicated that the correct signage would be erected during 2014. The signage is now corrected [12]

New annunciator LED screens have been installed on both platforms, giving information on the next three trains to arrive, and general security information.

Services

Service provision at Dingwall forms part of the Far North and Kyle of Lochalsh Lines

References

Notes

1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
2. Butt 1995, p. 79.
3. "DINGWALL RAILWAY STATION. DOWN AND UP PLATFORM RANGES, DOWN PLATFORM STAFF SHELTER". Historic Environment Scotland. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
4. Gifford 1992.
5. Awdry 1990, pp. 80–83.
6. Butt 1995, p. 222.
7. Fuller 1961, p. 48.
8. Brailsford 2017, map 18C.
9. Scot-Rail.co.uk - RETB Inverness www.scot-rail.co.uk (enthusiast site); Retrieved 2014-04-08
10. "Points failure led to Dingwall train derailment". BBC News Highlands & Islands. 30 September 2010. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
11. Gaelic Place Names
12. https://www.flickr.com/photos/thejamstertrains/21117754584/

Sources

• Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063. CN 8983.
• 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.
• Fuller, Aidan L.F. (1961). British Locomotive Shed Directory. Railway Publications Ltd.
• Gifford, John (1992). The Buildings of Scotland, Highland and Islands. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09625-9.
• 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.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.