, symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Beauly A862.jpg , caption = The short platform at Beauly, looking southeast , borough =

Beauly Beauly ( ; ; gd, A' Mhanachainn) is a village in the Highland area, on the River Beauly, west of Inverness by the Far North railway line. The town is historically within Kilmorack Parish of the Scottish County of Inverness. The land around B ...

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

, country = Scotland , coordinates = , grid_name =

Grid reference A projected coordinate system, also known as a projected coordinate reference system, a planar coordinate system, or grid reference system, is a type of spatial reference system that represents locations on the Earth using cartesian coordin ...

, grid_position = , manager = ScotRail , platforms = 1 , code = BEL , original =

Inverness and Ross-shire Railway The Inverness and Ross-shire Railway was a Scottish railway company formed in 1860 to build a line from Inverness to Invergordon. It opened in 1862 as far as Dingwall and in 1863 to Invergordon. It was extended to a Bonar Bridge station in 186 ...

, pregroup =

Highland Railway The Highland Railway (HR) was one of the smaller British railways before the Railways Act 1921, operating north of Perth railway station in Scotland and serving the farthest north of Britain. Based in Inverness, the company was formed by merger ...

, postgroup = London, Midland and Scottish Railway , years = 11 June 1862 , events = Opened , years1 = 13 June 1960 , events1 = Closed , years2 = 15 April 2002 , events2 = Reopened , mpassengers = , footnotes = Passenger statistics from the

Office of Rail and Road The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the economic and safety regulation of Britain's railways, and the economic monitoring of National Highways. ORR regulates Network Rail by setting its ...

Beauly railway station is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

in the village of

, in the

council area {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A council area is one of the areas defined in Schedule 1 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and is under the control of one of the local authorities in Scotland created by that Act. ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. Located on the

Far North Line The Far North Line is a rural railway line entirely within the Highland area of Scotland, extending from Inverness to Thurso and Wick. As the name suggests, it is the northernmost railway in the United Kingdom. The line is entirely single-trac ...

, it is down the line from , and it is the first intermediate station on the line, before reaching

Muir of Ord Muir of Ord ( gd, Am Blàr Dubh) is a village in Easter Ross, in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is situated near the western end of the Black Isle, about west of the city of Inverness and south of Dingwall. The village has a populati ...

. ScotRail, who manage the station, operate all services.

History

Original station

The

, which was to be a line between and , was authorised in 1860, and opened in stages. The first section, between Inverness and , opened on 11 June 1862, and Beauly was one of the stations built for the original line. It had two platforms, a

passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains or ...

and a goods shed with sidings that was equipped with a 1½-ton crane. The station was host to a LMS caravan from 1936 to 1939. The station closed a nearly a century later, on 13 June 1960, along with all other stations between Inverness and . This was due to increasing competition from motorbuses, particularly those of Highland Omnibuses Ltd. The original station building, located on the opposite side from the reopened platform, remains closed to the public; it is now used for offices and housing.

2002 reopening

Following a local campaign, the station was reopened in 2002. A new single platform, shelter and car park were built in a £250,000 project. The platform is the shortest in Great Britain: at the length of , it is shorter than a single carriage of a train that is usually used on this line. As a result, there is only one train door in operation at the station; announcements are made on the train as to which door this will be. Plans to reopen nearby

Conon Bridge railway station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Conon Bridge.jpg , caption = The platform at Conon Bridge, looking south , borough = Conon Bridge, Highland , country = Sco ...

in a similar style were fulfilled on 8 February 2013. The platform at Conon Bridge is long, just longer than that at Beauly.

Facilities

There is a small car park at the station, in which there are cycle racks and lockers. On the platform, there is a modern waiting shelter, in which there is a payphone. As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

Passenger volume

The reopening of the station led to 75% of local commuters switching from road to rail. Beauly has therefore provided a boost to campaigns to open small basic local stations. In 2007/8, with its population of just 1,164, Beauly's usage-to-population ratio (36 annual journeys per head) ranked as one of the highest in Britain. The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

As of the December 2021 timetable, on weekdays and Saturdays, the station sees 11 trains northbound (3 to

Wick Wick most often refers to: * Capillary action ("wicking") ** Candle wick, the cord used in a candle or oil lamp ** Solder wick, a copper-braided wire used to desolder electronic contacts Wick or WICK may also refer to: Places and placename ...

via

Thurso Thurso (pronounced ; sco, Thursa, gd, Inbhir Theòrsa ) is a town and former burgh on the north coast of the Highland council area of Scotland. Situated in the historical County of Caithness, it is the northernmost town on the island of Gre ...

, 4 to

Kyle of Lochalsh Kyle of Lochalsh (from the Gaelic ''Caol Loch Aillse'', "strait of the foaming loch") is a village in the historic county of Ross-shire on the northwest coast of Scotland, located around west-southwest of Inverness. It is located on the Lo ...

, 1 to

Dingwall Dingwall ( sco, Dingwal, gd, Inbhir Pheofharain ) is a town and a royal burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It has a population of 5,491. It was an east-coast harbour that now lies inland. Dingwall Castle was once the biggest cas ...

, 1 to

Invergordon Invergordon (; gd, Inbhir Ghòrdain or ) is a town and port in Easter Ross, in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland. It lies in the parish of Rosskeen. History The town built up around the harbour which was established in 1828. The area beca ...

, 1 to

Ardgay Ardgay ( gd, Àird Gaoith or ''Àird Ghaoithe'') high wind" - see below Further reading: MacGregoris a small Scottish village on the south west shore of the Dornoch Firth, Sutherland and is 1 mile south from Bonar Bridge and lies at the ent ...

and 1 to Tain), and 13 trains southbound to Inverness. On Sundays, the station sees 6 trains northbound (1 to Wick, 1 to Kyle of Lochalsh, 1 to Invergordon and 3 to Tain), and 6 trains southbound.eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 219

References

External links

Inverness and Ross-shire Railway - RailScot
{{Railway stations served by Abellio Scotrail Railway stations in Highland (council area) Former Highland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1862 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1960 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 2002 Reopened railway stations in Great Britain Railway stations served by ScotRail Railway stations opened by Network Rail 2002 establishments in Scotland 1862 establishments in Scotland