Dunblane railway station

Dunblane railway station serves the town of Dunblane in central Scotland. It is located on the former Scottish Central Railway, between Stirling and Perth and opened with the line in 1848. It is the northernmost station on the National Rail network to be electrified.

Dunblane Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Bhlàthain[1]
General information
Location	Dunblane, Stirling Scotland
Coordinates	56.1857°N 3.9657°W / 56.1857; -3.9657
Grid reference	NN780009
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	3
Other information
Station code	DBL
History
Original company	Scottish Central Railway and Dunblane, Doune and Callander Railway
Pre-grouping	Caledonian Railway
Post-grouping	LMSR
Key dates
22 May 1848	Opened
Passengers
2018/19	0.547 million
2019/20	0.541 million
2020/21	73,714
2021/22	0.268 million
2022/23	0.360 million
Listed Building – Category C(S)
Designated	17 October 2002
Reference no.	LB48964[2]
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Facilities

The old footbridge which was replaced in 2014

It has three platforms, one which serves as a terminus for trains from Glasgow (Queen Street) and Edinburgh, one which serves trains heading north to Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness and the third that serves trains heading south to Glasgow and Edinburgh. These include those that terminate at Dunblane, which travel up the northbound line to the signal box to reverse & cross over to the southbound track before heading back down to the station. The signal box in question now operates only the points and signals here. As part of the now completed electrification, the semaphore signals formerly operated by the signal box within the sections electrified (i.e. not to the north of the station) have been replaced with single aspect electrical signals.

The station is staffed by one person who runs the ticket office and does most jobs around the station. Several plants have been placed around the station by a voluntary group known as 'Dunblane in Bloom'.

• Passenger information system
• Automatic ticket machine (on Platform 1)
• Ticket office and waiting room (Mondays - Saturdays, a.m.)
• CCTV
• Waiting shelters and benches
• Limited car parking to the East
• Parking to the west in the former goods sidings area in conjunction with Tesco parking
• Help point

In September 2014, a new footbridge opened with improved accessibility, and the original footbridge removed.^[3] The listed footbridge was re-erected at the heritage Bridge of Dun railway station.^[4]

Services

Class 385 electric trains beneath the new footbridge

The train operating company that serves Dunblane station is ScotRail. Trains generally leave for Edinburgh at 01 and 31 minutes past the hour, and for Glasgow Queen Street at 15 minutes past the hour. The latter now run to/from Dundee, whereas those to Edinburgh start from/terminate here.^[5] A limited number of Aberdeen services call at the beginning and end of the day.

On Sundays, there is a local hourly service to Edinburgh and hourly calls each way by the Aberdeen to Glasgow service, along with three Inverness to Glasgow (and vice versa) services. The southbound London North Eastern Railway service between Inverness and London King's Cross also stops here.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Bridge of Allan		ScotRail Edinburgh–Dunblane Line		Gleneagles
Bridge of Allan		ScotRail Croy Line		Terminus
Stirling		Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper		Gleneagles
Stirling		London North Eastern Railway East Coast Main Line		Gleneagles
	Historical railways
Bridge of Allan Line and station open		Scottish Central Railway Caledonian Railway		Kinbuck Line open; station closed
Terminus		Dunblane, Doune and Callander Railway Caledonian Railway		Doune Line and station closed

Dunblane, Doune and Callander Railway

Dunblane used to be a junction where the present line and the Dunblane, Doune and Callander Railway diverged. This connected at Callander to the Callander and Oban Railway. The line was axed in the Beeching cuts, being formally closed on 1 November 1965 (although traffic beyond Callander had ended five weeks earlier due to a landslide in Glen Ogle).

Parts of the trackbed from near Dunblane to Doune and from Callander to Killin are now cycle paths.

A short section of (unelectrified) track remains on the branch, and is used for storing track maintenance machines, or sometimes even a DMU.

See also

• Public transport in Perth and Kinross
• Dunblane Hotel, formerly the station's hotel

References

1. Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. "Gaelic/English Station Index". Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.
2. "STATION ROAD, DUNBLANE RAILWAY STATION INCLUDING ORIGINAL FOOTBRIDGE". Historic Scotland. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
3. Dunblane station's new £3m footbridge opens for Ryder Cup Network Rail 23 September 2014
4. "New ridge at Bridge of Dun". Retrieved 3 March 2019.
5. GB National Rail Timetable May 2023, Table 212 (Network Rail)

• 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.

External links

• Video footage of the station