Upper Tyndrum railway station

Notes
	Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Upper Tyndrum

Scottish Gaelic: *Taigh an Droma Uachdrach*^[1]
Upper Tyndrum; Scottish Gaelic: Taigh an Droma Uachdrach
	Upper Tyndrum station, looking north towards Fort William and Mallaig
General information
Location	Tyndrum, Stirling; Scotland
Coordinates	56°26′04″N 4°42′13″W / 56.4345°N 4.7036°W
Grid reference	NN333302
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	UTY
History
Original company	West Highland Railway
Pre-grouping	North British Railway
Post-grouping	LNER
Key dates
7 August 1894	Station opened as Tyndrum
21 September 1956	Station renamed as Tyndrum Upper
1988	Station renamed as Upper Tyndrum
Passengers
2019/20	4,736
2020/21	772
Interchange	64
2021/22	3,180
Interchange	185
2022/23	4,076
Interchange	123
2023/24	5,878
Interchange	214
Notes
Notes
	Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Upper Tyndrum railway station is one of two railway stations serving the small village of Tyndrum in Scotland. It is on the Fort William route of the scenic West Highland Line, between Crianlarich and Bridge of Orchy, sited 41 miles 25 chains (66.5 km) from Craigendoran Junction, near Helensburgh.^[4] Services are operated by ScotRail - who manage the station - and Caledonian Sleeper.

History

Originally named "Tyndrum", this station opened concurrently with the West Highland Railway in 1894, as the second station in the village. In 1956, British Rail added the suffix "Upper" to the station's name, to distinguish it from the station on the Callander and Oban Line which then became known as Tyndrum Lower.^[3]

The station name was altered to "Upper Tyndrum" upon the introduction of RETB (see below), to reduce the risk of it being confused with "Tyndrum Lower" in radio communications.

Signalling

The signal box, which had 15 levers, was situated on the island platform. From its opening in 1894, the West Highland Railway was worked throughout by the electric token system.

In 1967, the method of working between Crianlarich and Rannoch was changed to the Scottish Region Tokenless Block system. The Down loop at Tyndrum Upper was signalled for running in either direction and the signal box was able to 'switch out' when not required.

In August 1985, the method of working between Crianlarich and Rannoch reverted to the electric token block system. The semaphore signals were removed on 22 December 1985 in preparation for the introduction of Radio Electronic Token Block (RETB).

The RETB system was commissioned by British Rail between Helensburgh Upper and Upper Tyndrum on 27 March 1988. On 29 May of the same year, the RETB spread north to Fort William Junction, resulting in the closure of Upper Tyndrum signal box (amongst others). The RETB is controlled from a purpose-built Signalling Centre at Banavie railway station. Upper Tyndrum station is the boundary between the two signalling interlockings and the areas of control of the two signalmen.

The Train Protection & Warning System was installed in 2003.

Facilities

The station only has very basic facilities, being a small car park and some bike racks. The station has no step-free access, the only access being from a subway.^[5] As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

Passenger volume

In 2005/06 it was the least used station on the West Highland Line, probably because of its position up a hill above the village, as opposed to Tyndrum Lower on the Oban branch, which also offers services to and from Crianlarich and destinations to the south (usually at about the same time, as the trains tend to connect at Crianlarich).^[6]

Passenger Volume at Upper Tyndrum^[6]
	2002-03	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21
Entries and exits	53	126	128	7,529	3,228	3,488	3,680	3,784	3,472	3,396	3,940	4,562	4,790	4,512	5,288	5,702	4,736	772
Interchang	N/A	555	30	13	9	5	15	N/A				12	12	12	14	30	307	64

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

On weekdays and Saturdays, ScotRail operates three services north to Mallaig, and three south to Glasgow Queen Street. Caledonian Sleeper operates one service each way to Fort William and London Euston (the latter does not run on Saturdays). On Sundays, there are two services northbound to Mallaig, two services southbound to Glasgow Queen Street, and one service to London Euston.^[7]^[8]^[9]

Preceding station		National Rail	Following station
Crianlarich		ScotRail West Highland Line	Bridge of Orchy
Crianlarich		Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper	Bridge of Orchy
	Historical railways
Crianlarich		North British Railway West Highland Railway	Bridge of Orchy

References

^ Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
^ Deaves, Phil. "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Butt (1995), page 236
^ Bridge, Mike, ed. (2017). TRACKatlas of Mainland Britain: A Comprehensive Geographic Atlas Showing the Rail Network of Great Britain (3rd ed.). Sheffield: Platform 5 Publishing Ltd. p. 88. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
^ "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 2 September 2022.
^ eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 218
^ eNRT December 2021 Edition, Table 218
^ eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 220

Bibliography

Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.
Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
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. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.