Fort William railway station

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fort William
An Gearasdan
Location
Place	Fort William
Local authority	Highland
Operations
Station code	FTW
Managed by	First ScotRail
Platforms in use	2
Live departures and station information from National Rail
Annual Rail Passenger Usage
2004/05 *	114,211
2005/06 *	115,417
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Fort William from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.
UK Railways Portal

The platforms at Fort William, viewed from the doorway to the concourse area in June 2005

Fort William railway station is a railway station serving the town of Fort William in the Highland region of Scotland. This station is on the West Highland Line and the starting point for The Jacobite, the only scheduled steam hauled train to run on the mainline in Great Britain.

This station lies in the shadow of Ben Nevis. The present station buildings are an unattractive 1970s grey concrete construction.

[edit] Services

The Caledonian Sleeper starts and terminates here.

As part of the West Highland Line, the station sees 6 trains in each direction per day, being 4 standard trains, The Jacobite and the Caledonian Sleeper. Of the standard First ScotRail trains, 3 a day run from Glasgow via Fort William and on to Mallaig, with one running just from Fort William to Mallaig, timed to connect with the Caledonian Sleeper. The Jacobite runs from Fort William to Mallaig during the summer months, only stopping at Glenfinnan and Arisaig. Finally, the Caledonian Sleeper arrives early-morning from London via Edinburgh, and leaves early-evening along the same route.

Refurbishment of the facilities at Fort William railway station have recently been completed thanks to a £750,000 investment. The refurbishment includes new shower facilities and refurbished toilets. The shower facilities include two showers for ladies, two for gentlemen and one unisex shower facility for disabled people. Use of these shower facilities is free of charge for first class Caledonian Sleeper ticket holders and costs £3.50 for standard passengers and station users. Anyone wishing to use the showers also receives a towel to use once they are finished showering, which is then returned to the staff in charge of the maintenance of the showers. The showers themselves are private cubicles to allow maximum possible privacy for customers.

[edit] History

The present Fort William station opened on 13 June 1975. It replaced the original terminus which was further west and alongside Loch Linnhe at Station Square, in close proximity to Macbraynes Bus Station and Pier. The old station, was a stone built construction featuring a turret and a double arched entranceway. The station had three platforms, and was demolished to make way for a new road.

[edit] Signalling

Since its opening in 1975, the present Fort William station has been equipped with colour light signals. The signalling is controlled from an 'NX' (entrance-exit) panel in Mallaig Junction signal box (now named 'Fort William Junction'). The single line between the junction and the station is worked by the Track Circuit Block system, so no tokens are needed for that part of the route.

[edit] External links

• Photographs of a steam train at the station