Station code ACN DfT category F2 Number of platforms 2 | Grid reference NH164585 2011/12 3,998 | |
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Similar Achanalt railway station, Achnashellach railway station, Invershin railway station, Forsinard railway station, Altnabreac railway station | ||
Achnasheen railway station is a remote railway station on the Kyle of Lochalsh Line, serving the village of Achnasheen in the north of Scotland.
Contents
History
The station was opened by the Dingwall and Skye Railway on 19 August 1870, but operated from the outset by the Highland Railway. The station hotel was built by Alexander Ross and opened in 1871. It was extended by William Roberts in 1898 and again at the turn of the 21st century.
Taken into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway during the Grouping of 1923, the line then passed on to the Scottish Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.
It was once an important railhead, handling passengers, mail and freight bound for parts of Wester Ross, including Gairloch and the Loch Torridon area. A proposal for a 35 mile long branch line to Aultbea, via Gairloch and Poolewe. Plans for the Loch Maree and Aultbea Railway was put to Parliament in 1893, but the proposal was rejected, as it deemed that the line would not be commercially viable in such a remote area. All freight in this area now travels by road. The station building still serves as a postal distribution point, but the mail travels from Inverness by road.
When sectorisation was introduced by British Rail, the station became part of ScotRail until the Privatisation of British Rail.
The station is the location of one of the three passing loops on the line west of Dingwall and trains are sometimes timetabled to cross here. The loop was once controlled from signal boxes at each end of the station (a common method of working on the HR), but both were closed when Radio Electronic Token Block signalling was introduced by British Rail on the line in 1984. The loop is now supervised remotely from the power box at Inverness.
Services
There are four trains a day in each direction (one or two on Sundays depending on the time of year) stopping here, connecting Achnasheen with all stations between Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh.