, symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Fort William Station.JPG , borough = Fort William,

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 ...

, platforms = 2 , code = FTW , original =

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

, years = 7 August 1894 , events = first station opened , years1 = 9 June 1975 , events1 = first station closed , years2 = 13 June 1975 , events2 = Present station 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 ...

Fort William 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 Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

serving the town of Fort William in the

region 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 ...

. It is on the

West Highland line The West Highland Line ( gd, Rathad Iarainn nan Eilean - "Iron Road to the Isles") is a railway line linking the ports of Mallaig and Oban in the Scottish Highlands to Glasgow in Central Scotland. The line was voted the top rail journey in the ...

, between

Spean Bridge Spean Bridge ( gd, Drochaid an Aonachain) is a village in the parish of Kilmonivaig, in Lochaber in the Highland region of Scotland. The village takes its name from the Highbridge over the River Spean on General Wade's military road between ...

and

Banavie Banavie (; gd, Banbhaidh) is a small settlement near Fort William in the Highland Council Area of Scotland. One of the closest villages to Ben Nevis, it is about northeast of Fort William town centre, next to Caol and Corpach. It has been su ...

, measured from

Craigendoran Craigendoran (Gaelic: ) is a suburb at the eastern end of Helensburgh in Scotland, on the northern shore of the Firth of Clyde. The name is from the Gaelic for "the rock of the otter". It is served by Craigendoran railway station. Craigendoran pi ...

Junction, at the southern end of the line near

Helensburgh Helensburgh (; gd, Baile Eilidh) is an affluent coastal town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local gove ...

. The station is operated by ScotRail, who operate most services from the station, as well as

Caledonian Sleeper ''Caledonian Sleeper'' is the collective name for overnight sleeper train services between London and Scotland, in the United Kingdom. It is one of only two currently operating sleeper services on the railway in the United Kingdom, the other b ...

, and The Jacobite, an excursion operated by

West Coast Railways West Coast Railways (WCR) is a railway spot-hire company and charter train operator based at Carnforth MPD in Lancashire. Using buildings and other facilities previously owned by the Steamtown Carnforth visitor attraction, in June 1998 the com ...

History

Fort William station, 1957 (geograph 5316051)

Fort William station and the loch wall - 1973 - geograph

The first station was constructed by the

West Highland Railway The West Highland Railway was a railway company that constructed a railway line from Craigendoran (on the River Clyde west of Glasgow, Scotland) to Fort William and Mallaig. The line was built through remote and difficult terrain in two stag ...

which was later absorbed by the

North British Railway The North British Railway was a British railway company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, and from the outset the company followe ...

. They chose a site for the station alongside the town shipping pier, which required the purchase of a strip of the foreshore. The railway company bought this for £25 () an acre. Purchase of this land displaced some people from their houses and the railway company was obliged to provide replacement housing. Other residents realised too late that the railway line cut the town off from the shore and the company responded by providing some wicket gate crossings. It was opened by the Marchioness of Tweedale, Candida Louisa Bartolucci, wife of the chairman of the

William Hay, 10th Marquess of Tweeddale William Montagu Hay, 10th Marquess of Tweeddale, KT, DL (29 January 1826 – 25 November 1911), known before 1878 as Lord William Hay or Lord William Montagu Hay, was a Scottish landowner, peer and politician. He was born at Yester House, near ...

on 7 August 1894. They had departed by special train comprising two locomotives and eleven carriages from Glasgow at 8.15am, and arrived in Fort William at 1.30pm. It was sited further west of the present station on what is now the A82 town by-pass alongside

Loch Linnhe Loch Linnhe () is a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland. The part upstream of Corran is known in Gaelic as (the black pool, originally known as Loch Abar), and downstream as (the salty pool). The name ''Linnhe'' is derived from the Gaelic ...

at Station Square, at the time in close proximity to then location of the former

Caledonian MacBrayne Caledonian MacBrayne ( gd, Caledonian Mac a' Bhriuthainn), usually shortened to CalMac, is the major operator of passenger and vehicle ferries, and ferry services, between the mainland of Scotland and 22 of the major islands on Scotland's west ...

bus station. The old station was a stone built construction featuring a turret and a double arched entranceway and had three platforms. Two of the platforms terminated under the platform canopy, but the third continued past the station, crossing the MacBrayne pier and terminated at the jetty just beyond. In 1970 the

British Railways Board British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

put forward proposals to re-site the station north of its location to allow the improvements to the A82 to be implemented. The last train from the old station departed on 7 June 1975 and the station closed on 9 June. It was demolished immediately afterwards to permit construction of the bypass.Fort William re-sited ''

The Railway Magazine ''The Railway Magazine'' is a monthly British railway magazine, aimed at the railway enthusiast market, that has been published in London since July 1897. it was, for three years running, the railway magazine with the largest circulation ...

'' issue 892 August 1975 page 377 The present Fort William station of grey concrete construction was opened on 13 June 1975. The current station lies in the shadow of

Ben Nevis Ben Nevis ( ; gd, Beinn Nibheis ) is the highest mountain in Scotland, the United Kingdom and the British Isles. The summit is above sea level and is the highest land in any direction for . Ben Nevis stands at the western end of the Grampian ...

Accidents and incidents

During high winds in February 1980 a brick wall at the station collapsed onto the track and blocked a platform.

Signalling

Since its opening in 1975, the present Fort William station has been equipped with colour light signals. The signalling is controlled from an 'NX' (entrance-exit) panel in Fort William Junction

signal box In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The '' IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing' ...

. The single line between the junction and the station is worked by the Track Circuit Block system, so no tokens are needed for that part of the route.

Facilities

Refurbishment of the facilities at Fort William railway station was completed in 2007 thanks to a £750,000 investment. The refurbishment includes new shower facilities and refurbished toilets. The shower facilities include two showers for ladies, two for gentlemen and one unisex shower facility for disabled people. The island platform is also equipped with a few shops and restaurants, a ticket office, bike racks, a car park and a taxi rank, and some benches. All areas of the station are step-free.

Passenger volume

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

Fort William has three daytime trains per day in each direction on Mondays to Saturdays, running between and . There is also a daily early morning service to Mallaig that starts at Fort William, with a similar return service in the evening, which connects with the

. The regular Sunday service consists of two train per day each way between Glasgow and Mallaig, with the schedule in the peak season supplemented by one service between Fort William and Mallaig. The Caledonian Sleeper operates six nights per week (not Saturday nights) to and from , starting and terminating at Fort William. The sleeper also carries seated coaches and can thus be used as a regular service train to/from

Glasgow Queen Street , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Queen Street railway station (geograph 6687389).jpg , caption = Main entrance in 2020 , borough = Glasgow , country = Scotland , coordinates = , grid_name = Grid reference , grid_positi ...

and

Edinburgh Waverley Edinburgh Waverley railway station (also known simply as Waverley; gd, Waverley Dhùn Èideann) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. It is the north ...

. '' The Jacobite'' operates non-stop between Fort William and Mallaig. This runs all year round, with a maximum of two trains per day Monday to Saturday and one on Sunday. A reduced Jacobite timetable is operated later in the summer.eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 220

References

Bibliography

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External links

* * * {{Railway stations served by Caledonian Sleeper Railway stations in Highland (council area) Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1894 Former North British Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1975 Railway stations opened by British Rail Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1975 Railway stations served by ScotRail Railway stations served by Caledonian Sleeper Fort William, Highland