When the railway opened on 7 August 1894 the station was named Inverlair, after the nearby Inverlair Lodge.[citation needed] It was renamed Tulloch on 1 January 1895.[3]
The station was laid out with two platforms, one on either side of a crossing loop. There are sidings on the north side of the station.[4]
The station buildings are now used as a hostel.[5] The station was host to a LNERcamping coach from 1935 to 1939.[6]
The signal box, which had 15 levers, was situated on the Up platform. From the time of its opening in 1894, the West Highland Railway was worked throughout by the electric token system. The semaphore signals were removed on 23 February 1986 in preparation for the introduction of Radio Electronic Token Block (RETB) by British Rail.
The RETB system was commissioned between Upper Tyndrum and Fort William Junction on 29 May 1988. This resulted in the closure of Tulloch signal box and others on that part of the line. The RETB is controlled from a Signalling Centre at Banavie railway station.
The facilities here are extremely basic, consisting of benches on both platforms, and a car park adjacent to platform 1. Both platforms have step-free access, but the only access to platform 2 is via a barrow crossing.[7] As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.
Passenger volume
With 266 entries and exits in the 2020/21 period, Tulloch is the least busy station in Scotland with direct London services, and the least busy station along the line from Glasgow Queen Street to Fort William.[8][better source needed]
The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.
Services
Monday to Saturday, Tulloch has three northbound services to Fort William and Mallaig and one service to Fort William only (the Highland Caledonian Sleeper). Southbound, there are three services to Glasgow Queen Street and one service to London Euston (except Saturday nights). On Sundays, there are two services northbound to Mallaig, two services southbound to Glasgow Queen Street, and the Caledonian Sleeper to London Euston. The sleeper also carries seated coaches and can thus be used by regular travellers to both Glasgow and Edinburgh Waverley.[10][11][12]
Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN978-0-9549866-9-8.
McRae, Andrew (1997). British Railway Camping Coach Holidays: The 1930s & British Railways (London Midland Region). Vol. Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part One). Foxline. ISBN1-870119-48-7.
Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC22311137.
"Tulloch station restored as a quality bunkhouse". RAIL. No. 333. EMAP Apex Publications. 17–30 June 1998. p. 16. ISSN0953-4563. OCLC49953699.