, symbol_location = gb , symbol = rail , image = Carrbridge railway station, looking towards Inverness.JPG , caption = Carrbridge railway station, looking towards Inverness , borough =

Carrbridge Carrbridge ( sco, Carrbrig, gd, Drochaid Chàrr) is a village in Badenoch and Strathspey in the Scottish Highlands. It lies off the A9 on the A938, west of Skye of Curr and southeast of Tomatin, near Bogroy. It has the oldest stone bridge i ...

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 = 2 , code = CAG , original =

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 ...

, pregroup =

, 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 ...

, years = 8 July 1892 , events = Opened as Carr Bridge , years1 = 16 May 1983 , events1 = Renamed as Carrbridge , 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 ...

Carrbridge railway station serves the village of

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 ...

. The

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 ...

is managed by ScotRail and is on the

Highland Main Line The Highland Main Line is a railway line in Scotland. It is long and runs through the Scottish Highlands linking a series of small towns and villages with Perth at one end and Inverness at the other. Today, services between Inverness and Edi ...

, from , between

Aviemore Aviemore (; gd, An Aghaidh Mhòr ) is a town and tourist resort, situated within the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland. It is in the Badenoch and Strathspey committee area, within the Highland council area. The town is po ...

and Inverness.

History

The station was opened on 8 July 1892 when the

opened the line from . Services northbound started on 8 July 1897 when the line to was opened, the line through to opened on 1 November 1898. The station was built with a passing loop on the otherwise single track railway, a signal box ( automatic token-exchange apparatus was used) and several sidings on the north side of the line. The station building is thought to be by the architect William Roberts, dating from 1898. A camping coach was positioned here by 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 creatio ...

from 1954 to 1965.

Accidents and incidents

There have been two

accidents An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not directly caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that nobody should be blamed, but the event may have been caused by unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Most researche ...

at Carrbridge, one in 1914 and another in 2010.

1914 bridge collapse

On the afternoon of 18 June 1914, a tremendous thunderstorm struck the mountains to the north of the

. The road bridge carrying the road from

to Inverness across the Baddengorm Burn was swept away, while further down the valley the burn entered a narrow gorge, crossed by the railway by means of a narrow arch span of only . The water was at rail level when the six-carriage 11:50

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 i ...

to Inverness train, 9 minutes late leaving Carrbridge Station at 15:24, crossed the bridge. The first two carriages reached the other side but the bridge then gave way, its foundations having been undermined by a vortex of water. The third carriage was left on the north bank of the burn but the next was plunged into the torrent which soon demolished the carriage, drowning five passengers; remarkably four survived. The enquiry laid no blame on the designers of the bridge as they could not have foreseen such a volume and force of water, which had never before occurred in the area. The bridge was rebuilt with a longer, concrete, span.

2010 freight train derailment

Derailed_locomotive_at_Carrbridge_-_geograph

On 4 January 2010, a freight train from Inverness to Grangemouth, hauled by a

DB Schenker DB Schenker is a division of German rail operator Deutsche Bahn that focuses on logistics. The company was acquired by Deutsche Bahn as Schenker-Stinnes in 2002. It comprises divisions for air, land, sea freight, and Contract Logistics. Histo ...

Class 66 for Stobart Rail, derailed on the 1 in 60 (1.67%) gradient down from

Slochd Summit The Slochd Summit (; gd, An Sloc) is a mountain pass on the A9 road and the Highland Main Line Railway in the Scottish Highlands between Inverness and Aviemore. An old military road also goes through the pass. National Cycle Network route ...

at the run out or

trap points Catch points and trap points are types of turnout which act as railway safety devices. Both work by guiding railway carriages and trucks from a dangerous route onto a separate, safer track. Catch points are used to derail vehicles which are ou ...

at the northern end of the station, and ran down an embankment. The driver and technician on the train suffered minor injuries. The line was not reopened until 13 January. The

RAIB The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) is a British government agency that independently investigates rail accidents in the United Kingdom and the Channel Tunnel in order to find a cause, not to lay blame. Created in 2005, it is required b ...

report found the cause was found to be snow and ice that worked its way into the space between the wheels' brake blocks. This may have also interfered with other parts of the brake mechanisms on the freight wagons. It was also found that the way the driver performed running brake tests while on the trip contributed to the outcome. Other possible contributing factors were that ploughed snow may have been allowed to accumulate too close to the tracks, thus the train passing these snowbanks at speed may have pulled snow into the brake mechanisms.

Facilities

The station has a car park, with bike racks, but is not permanently staffed. Flowering shrubs on the platforms are tended by volunteers as part of an 'adopt a station' initiative. Platform 1 has a specific waiting shelter, whilst passengers on platform 2 have to make do with the station buildings. Both platforms also have benches, whilst platform 2 also has a help point. Only platform 2 has step-free access - platform 1 can only be reached via the footbridge. As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

Platform layout

It 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 which can each accommodate a thirteen-coach train.

Passenger volume

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

As of May 2022, there are 7 northbound trains per day to Inverness and 6 southbound trains per day to , the latter continuing mostly to , with one continuing to

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

. 4 trains call each way on Sundays, including the southbound ''

Highland Chieftain The ''Highland Chieftain'' is a named British passenger train operated by London North Eastern Railway. It operates daily in each direction between London King's Cross and Inverness via the East Coast and Highland Main Line. It is one of ...

'' to London King's Cross.eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 213

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

External links

Video footage of the station on YouTube
{{Railway stations served by Caledonian Sleeper Railway stations in Highland (council area) Railway stations served by ScotRail Railway stations served by London North Eastern Railway Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1892 Former Highland Railway stations Listed railway stations in Scotland Category B listed buildings in Highland (council area) Accidents and incidents involving Highland Railway 1914 disasters in the United Kingdom Railway stations served by Caledonian Sleeper