Balfron railway station was 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 ...

that served the village of

Balfron Balfron ( gd, Both Fron) is a village in the Stirling council area of Scotland. It is situated near Endrick Water on the A875 road, 18 miles (29 km) west of Stirling and 16 miles (26 km) north of Glasgow. Although a rural settlement, it ...

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 ...

. The station was served by trains on the

Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway The Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway was a railway line in Scotland. The line was operated by the North British Railway and then, after 1923, by the London and North Eastern Railway. Unable to compete in the face of road competition, the lin ...

and the

Forth and Clyde Junction Railway The Forth and Clyde Junction Railway was a railway line in Scotland which ran from Stirling to Balloch. It was built with the expectation of conveying coal from the Fife coalfields to a quay at Bowling on the Clyde for onward transport, but th ...

, both of which closed in the 1950s. The station was about away from the village that it served, therefore passengers and goods had to be transported by horse and cart to the village. A hamlet known as Balfron Station has since grown up around the site of the former station.

History

Opened by the Edinburgh and Glasgow (

), and absorbed into 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 ...

, it became part of the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

during the

Grouping Grouping may refer to: * Muenchian grouping * Principles of grouping * Railways Act 1921, also known as Grouping Act, a reorganisation of the British railway system * Grouping (firearms), the pattern of multiple shots from a sidearm See also ...

of 1923. It passed on to the

Scottish Region of British Railways 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 ...

nationalisation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

in 1948. The station was closed by

British Railways 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 ...

in 1951.

Hamlet

Since the station's closure in 1951, a rural settlement has grown up around the former site of the station. The hamlet is served by Balfron Primary School and

Balfron High School Balfron High School is a secondary school situated in the village of Balfron, approximately 18 miles (29 km) west of Stirling and 16 miles (26 km) north of Glasgow. The catchment area extends over most of West Stirlingshire including th ...

in the village of

, 2 miles away.

References

Sources

* *
Balfron station on navigable OS map

Picture of Station
{{Stirling Towns & Villages

External links

Disused railway stations in Stirling (council area) Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1856 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1951 Former North British Railway stations