Place Dumfries Station code DMF 2011/12 0.374 million Opened 1848 Number of platforms 2 | Grid reference NX976765 Managed by Abellio ScotRail – Interchange 82 Phone +44 800 912 2901 | |
 | ||
Address Lovers' Walk, Dumfries DG1 1NF, UK Similar Carlisle railway station, Kilmarnock railway station, Ayr railway station, Glasgow Central station, Stranraer railway station | ||
Dumfries railway station serves the town of Dumfries in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located on the Glasgow South Western Line and is managed by Abellio ScotRail who provide nearly all passenger train services. It is staffed on a part-time basis throughout the week. Train services are provided by Abellio ScotRail and Northern
Contents
History
Opened by the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway in 1848, the line serving it was extended northwards to Kilmarnock and Glasgow two years later (the GD&CR became part of the Glasgow and South Western Railway at the same time). It subsequently became the junction for branches to Castle Douglas and Stranraer (opened between 1859 and 1861), Lockerbie (opened in 1863 and taken over in 1865 by the Caledonian Railway) and latterly to Moniaive (Cairn Valley Railway, opened in 1905). All of these later lines have now closed (the Port Road to Stranraer being the last to go in June 1965), leaving only the original G&SWR main line open to serve the town. The Beeching Axe cutting the Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway and Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Railway has resulted in adverse mileage to connect Stranraer with a longer line via Kilmarnock and Ayr. The journey by railway and ferry via Stranraer to Larne Harbour or since the line closed to the Port of Belfast is much longer.
The station features in The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915) by John Buchan. Richard Hannay, fleeing from German secret agents, travels from London St Pancras to Galloway, changing trains at Dumfries. In 1939, T.S. Eliot included Dumfries in his Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Skimbleshanks, the Railway Cat, speaks with the police at Dumfries Station during the night.
Carnation built an evaporated milk factory in Dumfries that opened in 1935, eventually constructing three units producing tin cans, evaporated milk and latterly Coffeemate. The original factory had private siding access to the station's good yard, which gave access for milk trains to the facility, in both delivering raw product as well as distribution to London. Milk trains stopped in the mid-1970s. The US-parent company was bought by Nestle in 1985, after which a decline in the facility began. CoffeeMate production ceased in 2000, after which the site was fully redeveloped as an industrial estate.
ScotRail
The service from the station is somewhat infrequent with trains running to different patterns during the day, these are as follows:
Mon-Fri, there is a 2 hourly service (with a few peak time extras) to Carlisle (3 extend to Newcastle via Hexham) and a mostly 2 hourly service to Kilmarnock and Glasgow Central (there is a 3-hour gap in the morning).
On Saturdays, there is a full hourly service to Carlisle and a mostly 2-hourly service to Glasgow.
On Sundays, there is a limited service of 5 trains per day to Carlisle and just 2 to Glasgow.
Northern
Northern provide 2 daily services (both early morning) from Dumfries to Newcastle and also provide 1 arrival from Carlisle on Monday to Saturdays. No Sunday service.
Racks, Ruthwell and Cummertrees stations once existed between Dumfries and Annan.