Carrbridge railway station

Carrbridge railway station serves the village of Carrbridge, Highland, Scotland. The railway station is managed by ScotRail and is on the Highland Main Line, 90 miles (140 kilometres) from Perth, between Aviemore and Inverness.^[3]

Carrbridge Scottish Gaelic: Drochaid Chàrr[1]
Carrbridge railway station, looking towards Inverness
General information
Location	Carrbridge, Highland Scotland
Coordinates	57.2794°N 3.8280°W / 57.2794; -3.8280
Grid reference	NH899224
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	CAG[2]
History
Original company	Highland Railway
Pre-grouping	Highland Railway
Post-grouping	London Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
8 July 1892	Opened as Carr Bridge
16 May 1983	Renamed as Carrbridge
Passengers
2018/19	5,584
2019/20	5,474
2020/21	1,622
2021/22	3,714
2022/23	4,840
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The station was opened on 8 July 1892 when the Highland Railway opened the line from Aviemore.^[4]

Services northbound started on 8 July 1897 when the line to Daviot was opened, the line through to Inverness opened on 1 November 1898.^[5]

The station was built with a passing loop on the otherwise single track railway, a signal box (automatic token-exchange apparatus was used) and several sidings on the north side of the line.^[6][7]

The station building is thought to be by the architect William Roberts, dating from 1898.^[8] A camping coach was positioned here by the Scottish Region from 1954 to 1965.^[9]

Accidents and incidents

There have been two accidents at Carrbridge, one in 1914 and another in 2010.

1914 bridge collapse

Photograph of the 1914 accident by J. Barron of Inverness, published in The Sphere, 27 June 1914

On the afternoon of 18 June 1914, a tremendous thunderstorm struck the mountains to the north of the Highland Main Line. The road bridge carrying the road from Carrbridge to Inverness across the Baddengorm Burn was swept away, while further down the valley the burn entered a narrow gorge, crossed by the railway by means of a narrow arch span of only 15 ft (4.6 m). The water was at rail level when the six-carriage 11:50 Perth to Inverness train, 9 minutes late leaving Carrbridge Station at 15:24, crossed the bridge. The first two carriages reached the other side but the bridge then gave way, its foundations having been undermined by a vortex of water. The third carriage was left on the north bank of the burn but the next was plunged into the torrent which soon demolished the carriage, drowning five passengers; remarkably four survived.^[10]

The enquiry laid no blame on the designers of the bridge as they could not have foreseen such a volume and force of water, which had never before occurred in the area. The bridge was rebuilt with a longer, concrete, span.

2010 freight train derailment

Derailed Class 66 locomotive 66 048 at Carrbridge, in 2010

On 4 January 2010, a freight train from Inverness to Grangemouth, hauled by a DB Schenker Class 66 for Stobart Rail, derailed on the 1 in 60 (1.67%) gradient down from Slochd Summit at the run out or trap points at the northern end of the station, and ran down an embankment. The driver and technician on the train suffered minor injuries. The line was not reopened until 13 January.^[11][12][13]

The RAIB report found the cause was found to be snow and ice that worked its way into the space between the wheels' brake blocks. This may have also interfered with other parts of the brake mechanisms on the freight wagons. It was also found that the way the driver performed running brake tests while on the trip contributed to the outcome. Other possible contributing factors were that ploughed snow may have been allowed to accumulate too close to the tracks, thus the train passing these snowbanks at speed may have pulled snow into the brake mechanisms.^[14]

Facilities

The station has a car park, with bike racks, but is not permanently staffed. Flowering shrubs on the platforms are tended by volunteers as part of an 'adopt a station' initiative.^[15] Platform 1 has a specific waiting shelter, whilst passengers on platform 2 have to make do with the station buildings. Both platforms also have benches, whilst platform 2 also has a help point. Only platform 2 has step-free access - platform 1 can only be reached via the footbridge.^[16] As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

Platform layout

It has a passing loop 30 chains (600 m) long, flanked by two platforms which can each accommodate a thirteen-coach train.^[17]

Passenger volume

Passenger Volume at Carrbridge^[18]

	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	1,531	1,910	2,987	3,954	5,438	3,796	4,500	5,118	5,636	4,454	5,540	6,256	6,898	5,808	6,064	5,584	5,474	1,622	3,714	4,840

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

As of May 2022, there are 7 northbound trains per day to Inverness and 6 southbound trains per day to Perth, the latter continuing mostly to Glasgow Queen Street, with one continuing to Edinburgh. 4 trains call each way on Sundays, including the southbound Highland Chieftain to London King's Cross.^[19]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Aviemore		London North Eastern Railway Sunday & Southbound Only		Inverness
Aviemore		ScotRail Highland Main Line		Inverness
Aviemore		Caledonian Sleeper Northbound, weekdays only		Inverness
	Historical railways
Aviemore Line and station open		Highland Railway Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway		Tomatin Line open; station closed

References

1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
2. Deaves, Phil. "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
3. 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. 94. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
4. Quick 2022, p. 121.
5. Thomas & Turnock 1989, p. 317.
6. "Carr Bridge station on OS Six-inch map Inverness-shire - Mainland Sheet XLV (includes: Duthil and Rothiemurchus)". National Library of Scotland. 1902. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
7. Thomas & Turnock 1989, p. 236.
8. Gifford 1992.
9. McRae 1998, p. 13.
10. Druitt (10 July 1914). "Official report into 1914 crash" (PDF). Retrieved 9 April 2022.
11. "Rail disruption as train derails". BBC News. BBC. 4 January 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
12. "Snow derailment problems continue". BBC News. BBC. 5 January 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
13. Pigott, Nick, ed. (March 2010). "Runaway freight derails in the big freeze". The Railway Magazine. 156 (1307). London: IPC Media: 7. ISSN 0033-8923.
14. "Derailment of a freight train at Carrbridge, Badenoch and Strathspey 4 January 2010" (PDF). Rail Accident Investigation Branch. February 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
15. "Carrbridge Station, Scotland". www.carrbridge.org. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
16. "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
17. Brailsford 2017, map 19D.
18. "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
19. eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 213

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.
• Gifford, John (1992). The Buildings of Scotland, Highland and Islands. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09625-9.
• 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.
• McRae, Andrew (1998). British Railways Camping Coach Holidays: A Tour of Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. Vol. Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part Two). Foxline. ISBN 1-870119-53-3.
• Quick, Michael (2022) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (PDF). version 5.04. Railway & Canal Historical Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 November 2022.
• Thomas, John; Turnock, David (1989). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain. Vol. 15 The North of Scotland (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. ISBN 0-946537-03-8.

External links

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