Duncraig railway station

Duncraig railway station is a remote railway station by the shore of Loch Carron on the Kyle of Lochalsh Line, originally (privately) serving Duncraig Castle, a mansion near Plockton, in the Highland council area of northern Scotland. The station is 57 miles 9 chains (91.9 km) from Dingwall, between Stromeferry and Plockton.^[4] ScotRail, who manage the station, operate all services at the station.

Duncraig Scottish Gaelic: Dùn na Creige[1]
The platform alongside Loch Carron, looking northeast
General information
Location	Duncraig Castle, near Plockton, Highland Scotland
Coordinates	57.3369°N 5.6372°W / 57.3369; -5.6372
Grid reference	NG812332
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	1
Other information
Station code	DCG[2]
History
Original company	Highland Railway
Pre-grouping	Highland Railway
Post-grouping	LMSR
Key dates
1897[3]	Opened as private station Duncraig Platform
23 May 1949[3]	Opened to the public
10 September 1962[3]	Renamed
7 December 1964[3]	Closed
5 January 1976[3]	Reopened
Passengers
2019/20	500
2020/21	30
2021/22	376
2022/23	462
2023/24	448
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The station was built as a private station for Duncraig Castle^[5] by the Kyle of Lochalsh Extension (Highland Railway), opening on 2 November 1897.^[6]

It became a public station in 1949. Duncraig was closed between 7 December 1964 and 5 January 1976;^[3] it was reopened after local train drivers refused to acknowledge the station's closure for the intervening 11 years.^[7] One of the drivers is quoted as saying:^[8]

"We thought that if the English wanted to close a railway station they should pick on Euston or King's Cross"

The station is a Category B listed building.^[9]

Facilities

View down onto the platform, looking southwest. Note the unique octagonal waiting room just outside the platform.

The only facilities at the station are a small waiting room, a bench and a help point. The station, however, has step-free access.^[10] As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

Passenger volume

Passenger Volume at Duncraig^[11]

	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	2021–22	2022–23
Entries and exits	288	463	391	342	485	388	394	602	722	784	534	448	494	348	408	484	500	30	376	462

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

A Abellio ScotRail service approaching Duncraig bound for Inverness

Four trains each way call (on request) on weekdays and Saturdays. On Sundays, there is only one train each way, plus a second from May to late September only.^[12][13]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Stromeferry		ScotRail Kyle of Lochalsh Line		Plockton
	Historical railways
Stromeferry Line and station open		Highland Railway Dingwall and Skye Railway		Plockton Line and station open

References

1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
2. Deaves, Phil. "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Archived from the original on 27 September 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
3. Butt 1995, p. 85.
4. 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. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
5. Private and Untimetabled railway stations by G.Croughton page 69
6. "Railways in the Western Highlands. Opening of New Kyle Extension". Glasgow Herald. British Newspaper Archive. 3 November 1897. Retrieved 15 August 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
7. Wills, Dixe (8 April 2014). "Stop the train, I want to get off: The magic of Britain's railway request stations". The Independent. Archived from the original on 5 September 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
8. Wills, Dixe (2014). Tiny Stations (Paperback, 1st reprint ed.). Basingstoke: AA Publishing. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-7495-7732-2.
9. Historic Environment Scotland. "Duncraig Halt (Category B Listed Building) (LB44180)". Retrieved 27 March 2019.
10. "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Archived from the original on 25 August 2022. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
11. "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
12. eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 219
13. eNRT December 2021 Edition, Table 219

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.
• Vallance, H.A.; Clinker, C.R.; Lambert, Anthony J. (1985). The Highland Railway : The History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands - Vol 2 (4th ed.). David St John Thomas. ISBN 0946537232.
• 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.

External links

• Train times and station information for Duncraig railway station from National Rail