, symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = File:Forsinard Station (14982688007).jpg , caption = Looking north towards Altnabreac , borough =

Forsinard Forsinard ( ) is a hamlet in the county of Sutherland in the Highland area of Scotland. It is located on the A897 road in Strath Halladale. It is served by a railway station on the Far North Line. The local hotel closed several years ago, but ...

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 ScotRail Trains Limited, trading as ScotRail ( gd, Rèile na h-Alba), is a Scottish train operating company that is publicly owned by Scottish Rail Holdings on behalf of the Scottish Government. It has been operating the ScotRail franchise a ...

, platforms = 2 , code = FRS , original =

Sutherland and Caithness Railway The Sutherland and Caithness Railway was a Scottish railway company that built a line from Helmsdale, the terminus of the Duke of Sutherland's Railway to Wick and Thurso in Caithness, giving the northern towns access to Inverness. It was driven ...

, pregroup =

Highland Railway The Highland Railway (HR) was one of the smaller United Kingdom, British railways before the Railways Act 1921, operating north of Perth railway station, Scotland, Perth railway station in Scotland and serving the farthest north of Britain. Base ...

, postgroup =

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

, years = 28 July 1874 , events = Opened , 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 ...

Forsinard 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 pre ...

serving 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. ...

in the north of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It is 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 ...

, from

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

, between

Kinbrace Kinbrace is a small village in Sutherland in the Highland council area of Scotland. It lies at the junction of the A897 and B871 and is from Helmsdale by road. The village has a station on the Far North Line (also named Kinbrace). Few peopl ...

and

Altnabreac Altnabreac ( , ) is a tiny settlement within the county of Caithness, in the north of Scotland, and now within the Highland council area. The name Altnabreac is from the Scots Gaelic ''Allt nam Breac'', meaning "the stream of the trout". It is ...

. The station is managed by

, who operate the services at the station.

History

Forsinard Railway Crossing and Station - geograph

The

was authorised in 1871, and the single-track line, which connected with and , opened on 28 July 1874. One of the original stations was that at Forsinard. From 1 January 1923 the station was owned by the

London Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...

. In September 1925, it was recorded as being from

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, measured via and Inverness station. The station is from Inverness, and has 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 ...

long, flanked by two platforms. Platform 1 on the up (southbound) line can accommodate trains having four coaches, but platform 2 on the down (northbound) line can only hold three. The station building is now used by the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment throug ...

as the visitors' centre for the Forsinard Flows National Nature Reserve (which protects part of the

Flow Country The Flow Country is a large, rolling expanse of peatland and wetland area of Caithness and Sutherland in the North of Scotland. It is the largest expanse of blanket bog in Europe, and covers about . It is an area of deep peat, dotted with bog p ...

Facilities

Both platforms have waiting areas and benches, whilst platform 2 (towards Wick) also has bike racks and a help point. There is also a small car park adjacent to platform 2. As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

Passenger volume

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

There are four departures per day in each direction, southbound to and and northbound to via . One train per day each way calls on Sundays.eNRT December 2021 Edition, Table 219

References

External links

RAILSCOT page on Forsinard
Railway stations in Sutherland Former Highland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1874 Railway stations served by ScotRail William Baxter railway stations RSPB visitor centres in the United Kingdom {{Highland-railstation-stub