, symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Rannoch.jpg , caption = Rannoch station, looking north from the footbridge , borough =

Rannoch Rannoch ( gd, Raineach or , meaning 'bracken') is an area of the Scottish Highlands between the A9 road, to the east, and the A82, to the west. The area is crossed from south to north by the West Highland railway line. Features of the area inc ...

Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross ( sco, Pairth an Kinross; gd, Peairt agus Ceann Rois) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Fife, Highland and S ...

, 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 = RAN , opened = 7 August 1894 , 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 ...

, embedded = Rannoch railway station, 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 th ...

, serves the area of

, Scotland. In 2017,

Simon Jenkins Sir Simon David Jenkins (born 10 June 1943) is a British author, a newspaper columnist and editor. He was editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1976 to 1978 and of ''The Times'' from 1990 to 1992. Jenkins chaired the National Trust from 20 ...

reported it to be one of the best 10 stations in Britain. It is situated between Corrour and

Bridge of Orchy Bridge of Orchy ( gd, Drochaid Urchaidh) is a village in Glen Orchy in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is named after the crossing over the River Orchy, which was constructed by British Army during the pacification of the Highland Clans following ...

, from

Craigendoran Craigendoran (Scottish Gaelic, 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 ...

Junction, 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 governm ...

manage the station and operate most services, along with

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 ...

History

When the West Highland Line was built across Rannoch Moor, its builders had to float the tracks on a mattress of tree roots, brushwood and thousands of tons of earth and ashes to prevent the heavy steel tracks sinking in the bog. Rannoch station opened to passengers on 7 August 1894. The station was laid out with a

crossing 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 an

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

. There were sidings on both sides, and a

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

on the east side of the line. The siding on the east side has been removed. The station was host to a

LNER LNER may refer to: * London and North Eastern Railway, a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1923 until 1947 * London North Eastern Railway, a train operating company in the United Kingdom since 2018 * Liquid neutral earthing resistor, a typ ...

camping coach Camping coaches were holiday accommodation offered by many railway companies in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland from the 1930s. The coaches were old passenger vehicles no longer suitable for use in trains, which were converted to ...

from 1937 to 1939. On 25 January 1987, the crossing loop was altered to right-hand running. The original Down platform has thus become the Up platform, and vice versa. The change was made in order to simplify shunting at this station, by removing the need to hand-pump the train-operated loop points to access the sidings. At the north end of the platform is a sculptured head, carved in stone by the

navvies Navvy, a clipping of navigator ( UK) or navigational engineer ( US), is particularly applied to describe the manual labourers working on major civil engineering projects and occasionally (in North America) to refer to mechanical shovels and eart ...

(workmen) who built the line. It commemorates James Renton, a director of 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 stages ...

, who gave part of his personal fortune to save the line from bankruptcy during construction when the brushwood raft was continually sinking into Rannoch Moor.

Signalling

West Highland Line single line permssion sign - Rannoch south 01

The

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'' ...

, which had 17 levers, was situated on the island platform. From the time of its opening in 1894, the West Highland Railway was worked throughout by the electric token system. In 1967, the method of working between and Rannoch was changed to the

Scottish Region The Scottish Region (ScR) was one of the six regions created on British Railways (BR) and consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) and ex-London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) lines in Scotland. It existed from the creation o ...

Tokenless Block system. In August 1985, the method of working between Crianlarich and Rannoch reverted to the electric token block system. The

semaphore signals Railway semaphore signal is one of the earliest forms of fixed railway signals. This semaphore system involves signals that display their different indications to train drivers by changing the angle of inclination of a pivoted 'arm'. Semaphore ...

were removed on 3 November 1985 in preparation for the introduction of

Radio Electronic Token Block Radio Electronic Token Block is a system of railway signalling used in the United Kingdom. It is a development of the physical token system for controlling traffic on single lines. The system is slightly similar to North American Direct Traffic ...

(RETB). The RETB system was commissioned by

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 rai ...

between and

Fort William Junction , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Fort William Station.JPG , borough = Fort William, Highland , country = Scotland , coordinates = , grid_name = Grid ...

on 29 May 1988. This resulted in the closure of Rannoch signal box and others on that part of the line. The RETB is controlled from a Signalling Centre at

Banavie railway station , symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Banavie Station (geograph 5324117).jpg , caption = The platform at Banavie with Ben Nevis's peak covered in cloud and snow. , borough = B ...

. The

Train Protection & Warning System The Train Protection & Warning System (TPWS) is a train protection system used throughout the British passenger main-line railway network, and in Victoria, Australia. The British Rail Safety and Standards Board's definition is: The purpose of TPW ...

was installed in 2003. There was formerly another crossing point on

Rannoch Moor Rannoch Moor (, gd, Mòinteach Raineach/Raithneach) is an expanse of around of boggy moorland to the west of Loch Rannoch in Scotland, where it extends from and into westerly Perth and Kinross, northerly Lochaber (in Highland), and the area of ...

, at

Gorton Gorton is an area of Manchester in North West England, southeast of the city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw. A major landmark is Gorton Monastery, a 19th-century Hi ...

near where the railway crossed the Rannoch Drove Road, and operationally dividing the long section between Bridge of Orchy and Rannoch stations. It remains today as an engineer's siding but devoid of the original buildings.

Location

Although the railway links the station with

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and Fort William on the

, the station area is otherwise more closely linked, by road, with central Highland towns and villages on or near the

A9 road This is a list of roads designated A9. * A009 road (Argentina), a road in the northeast of Santa Fe Province * ''A9 highway (Australia)'' may refer to : ** A9 (Sydney), a road linking Windsor and Campbelltown ** A9 highway (South Australia), a l ...

. The B846 road meets the A9 between

Pitlochry Pitlochry (; gd, Baile Chloichridh or ) is a town in the Perth and Kinross council area of Scotland, lying on the River Tummel. It is historically in the county of Perthshire, and has a population of 2,776, according to the 2011 census.Scotla ...

and

Blair Atholl Blair Atholl (from the Scottish Gaelic: ''Blàr Athall'', originally ''Blàr Ath Fhodla'') is a village in Perthshire, Scotland, built about the confluence of the Rivers Tilt and Garry in one of the few areas of flat land in the midst of the Gr ...

, about east of the station. Its remote location on

is picturesque and makes it attractive to walkers.

Facilities

The station is well equipped despite its rural location, with a café and visitor centre, toilets, a phone and a car park and bike racks. However, the only access is via a stepped footbridge, so the station does not have step-free access. 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

Monday to Saturday,

operates three services north to

Mallaig Mallaig (; gd, Malaig derived from Old Norse , meaning sand dune bay) is a port in Lochaber, on the west coast of the Highlands of Scotland. The local railway station, Mallaig, is the terminus of the West Highland railway line (Fort William ...

and three services south to

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 ...

. On Sundays, this decreases to just two each way.

run six services per week (not Saturday nights) each way to Fort William, and

London Euston Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railw ...

via

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. The sleeper also carries seated coaches and can therefore be used by regular passengers to/from stations towards Edinburgh, as it is booked to pick up/set down at some stations.eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 220

References

Bibliography

External links

Video footage of Rannoch railway stationVideo footage of Rannoch Station School
{{Railway stations served by Caledonian Sleeper Railway stations in Perth and Kinross Former North British Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1894 Railway stations served by ScotRail Railway stations served by Caledonian Sleeper James Miller railway stations Listed railway stations in Scotland Category B listed buildings in Perth and Kinross