Leuchars railway station

Leuchars railway station (/ˈljuːxərs/ ^ⓘ LEW-khərs, sometimes known as Leuchars (for St. Andrews)^[2][3]) serves the towns of Leuchars and St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. The station is the last northbound stop before Dundee.

Leuchars Scottish Gaelic: Luacharas[1]
The station in 2014.
General information
Location	Leuchars, Fife Scotland
Coordinates	56.3751°N 2.8936°W / 56.3751; -2.8936
Grid reference	NO449206
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	LEU
Passengers
2018/19	0.644 million
2019/20	0.595 million
2020/21	74,406
2021/22	0.370 million
2022/23	0.461 million
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The station was built as Leuchars Junction station for the route over the Tay Bridge to Dundee, the previous Leuchars station being on the line to Tayport.

There are buses and taxis available to transfer passengers to nearby St. Andrews, which does not have its own railway station; integrated tickets with the destination "St Andrews Bus" are sold.

The station is located near Leuchars Station, a British Army installation, formerly RAF Leuchars airbase.

Previous station operator First ScotRail announced plans during March 2008 to erect a wind turbine to meet the electricity requirements of the station, and hope to generate a small surplus of electricity which they can sell back to the National Grid. Leuchars will be the first station to be powered this way, and if the project, which was funded by Transport Scotland proves successful, it may be rolled out across other stations.^[4]

History

The original station for Leuchars was some 45 chains (910 m) north of the current station and was opened on 17 May 1848. It became the junction for St Andrews on 1 July 1852. It was closed to passengers when Leuchars Junction opened on 1 June 1878 but reopened as "Leuchars (old)" six months later. It finally closed to passengers on 3 October 1921 and to goods on 6 November 1967.^[5]

Leuchars Junction opened on the current site, just south of the junction for the Tay Bridge, on 1 June 1878. It consisted of an island platform with a south facing bay for branch line trains for St Andrews, and a north facing bay for trains on the old main line to Tayport.^[6]

On 30 June 1913, the station buildings at Leuchars Junction burnt to the ground. This was widely believed to be arson by suffragettes.^[7] The current buildings are those of the 1913 rebuilding. After the closure of the Tayport line in 1967 and the St Andrews branch on 6 January 1969 the station ceased to be a junction and the two bays were filled in. The station was subsequently renamed "Leuchars (for St Andrews)".^{[citation needed]}

Services

The weekday (Monday - Friday) timetable is as follows:^[8]

Intercity trains

London North Eastern Railway:

• 3 trains per day (tpd) to London King's Cross. These trains are from Aberdeen.
• 1 tpd to Leeds from Aberdeen.
• 4 tpd to Aberdeen. Three of these trains are from London King's Cross and the other, an early-morning service, is from Leeds.

CrossCountry:^[9]

• 1 tpd to Penzance.
• 1 tpd to Aberdeen.

Caledonian Sleeper:

• 1 tpd to London Euston via Edinburgh, Preston and Crewe.
• 1 tpd to Aberdeen.

Local trains

ScotRail:^[10]

• 2 tph to Edinburgh.
• 1 tph to Aberdeen.
• 1 tph to Arbroath.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Kirkcaldy		London North Eastern Railway Northern Lights (London – Aberdeen)		Dundee
Cupar		CrossCountry Cross Country Route		Dundee
Cupar		ScotRail Edinburgh–Dundee line		Dundee
Kirkcaldy		Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper		Dundee
	Historical railways
Guardbridge		North British Railway St Andrews Railway		Terminus
Dairsie		North British Railway Edinburgh and Northern Railway		Leuchars (Old)
Dairsie		North British Railway Edinburgh and Northern Railway		St Fort

See also

• St Andrews rail link

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. {{https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/leuchars-for-st-andrews/
3. "Leuchars (for St. Andrews) Station | ScotRail".
4. "Turbine plan 'to power station'". BBC News Online. BBC. 24 March 2008. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
5. Hajducki et al., The St Andrews Railway (The Oakwood Press, 2008), p.278
6. Hajducki et al., The St Andrews Railway (The Oakwood Press, 2008), p.73
7. Hajducki et al., The St Andrews Railway (The Oakwood Press, 2008), p.92
8. GB eNRT May 2016 Edition, Tables 26, 51, 229 & 402 (Network Rail)
9. "Updated UK Train Times & Timetables | CrossCountry". CrossCountry. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
10. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)