Fearn railway station

Fearn railway station is a railway station serving the village of Hill of Fearn in the Highland council area of Scotland, located around 1.3 miles (2.1 km) from the village. It is situated on the Far North Line, 40 miles 60 chains (65.6 km) form Inverness, between Tain and Invergordon,^[5] and is also the nearest station to Balintore, Hilton and Shandwick (the Seaboard Villages), Portmahomack and the Nigg Bay area of Easter Ross. ScotRail, who manage the station, operate all services.

Fearn Scottish Gaelic: Manachainn Rois[1]
General information
Location	Hill of Fearn, Highland Scotland
Coordinates	57.7780°N 3.9940°W / 57.7780; -3.9940
Grid reference	NH815782
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	1
Other information
Station code	FRN[2]
History
Original company	Inverness and Ross-shire Railway
Pre-grouping	Highland Railway
Post-grouping	LMSR
Key dates
1 June 1864[3]	Opened
Passengers
2019/20	4,182
2020/21	850
2021/22	2,980
2022/23	3,754
2023/24	4,062
Listed Building – Category B
Designated	6 October 1978
Reference no.	LB7782[4]
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The station opened on 1 June 1864, as part of the Inverness and Ross-shire Railway, later the Highland Railway and then the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.^[6]

Facilities

As well as a small car park, there are bike racks, a bench, a waiting shelter and a help point. The station has step free access.^[7] As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

Platform layout

The railway through Fearn station is single track, the nearest passing loops being at Invergordon to the south and Tain to the west. The station has a single platform which is long enough for a seven-coach train.^[8] The platform is very low and this gives rise to difficulties for passengers who are in any way infirm and unable to climb the height to the coaches, and so fixed steps have been built which align with the doors. At the approach to Fearn station, conductors are obliged to use public address systems to warn alighting passengers of the low platform, and they also frequently do this when inspecting tickets of passengers travelling to Fearn.^{[citation needed]}

Passenger volume

Passenger Volume at Fearn^[9]

	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	1,909	5,157	5,143	6,069	5,581	7,724	6,790	6,720	7,818	7,226	6,606	6,130	5,396	5,262	5,256	4,304	4,182	850	2,980	3,754

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

As of the December 2021 timetable, on weekdays and Saturdays, the stations sees 6 trains northbound (4 to Wick via Thurso, 1 to Tain, and 1 to Ardgay), and 7 trains southbound to Inverness. On Sundays, the station sees 4 trains northbound (1 to Wick via Thurso, 3 to Tain) and 4 trains to Inverness.^[10]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Invergordon		ScotRail Far North Line		Tain
	Historical railways
Nigg Line open; Station closed		Highland Railway Inverness and Ross-shire Railway		Tain Line and station open

References

1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
2. Deaves, Phil. "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
3. Butt 1995, p. 95.
4. "FEARN RAILWAY STATION". Historic Scotland. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
5. 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. 102. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
6. Butt, R. V. J. (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.
7. "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
8. Brailsford 2017, map 18D.
9. "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
10. 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.
• 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

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