Dunrobin Castle

Scottish Gaelic: Caisteal Dhùn Robain[1]
National Rail
The platform at Dunrobin Castle, looking east
General information
LocationDunrobin Castle, Highland
Scotland
Coordinates57°59′09″N 3°56′49″W / 57.9859°N 3.9470°W / 57.9859; -3.9470
Grid referenceNC849012
Managed byScotRail
Platforms1
Other information
Station codeDNO[2]
History
Original companyDuke of Sutherland's Railway
Key dates
1 November 1870[3]Opened
19 June 1871[3]Closed to public becoming fully private
29 January 1965[3]Closed
30 June 1985[3]Reopened
Passengers
2018/19Increase 1,224
2019/20Increase 1,240
2020/21Decrease 114
2021/22Increase 770
2022/23Increase 1,428
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Dunrobin Castle railway station is a railway station on the Far North Line in Scotland, serving Dunrobin Castle near the village of Golspie in the Highland council area. The station is 86 miles 22 chains (138.8 km) from Inverness, between Golspie and Brora.[4] ScotRail, who manage the station, operate all services.

History

It was originally a private station for the castle, the seat of the Duke of Sutherland. The Arts and Crafts style waiting room was designed by L Bisset and constructed in 1902, and is a category B listed building.[5][6]

It was described in the Railway Magazine:

The Duke of Sutherland has a beautiful private railway station. As is well known, his Grace owns a large proportion of the North of Scotland, and his famous seat of Dunrobin Castle in that district has its own station for the Duke and his household, called after the Castle, "Dunrobin." The station is one of those on the line of the Highland Railway, and lies between Brora and Golspie, in Sutherlandshire. The Duke has had the place made not only serviceable, but very picturesque in its design and finish.

The general outline seems to be that of a Swiss chalet, and this appearance is not lessened by the surrounding hilly district. The windows are latticed, and look very cosy, whilst all the waiting-rooms and other necessary adjuncts to such a station are well fitted up. With true patriotism his lordship determined that Scotch pine should be used as far as possible in the construction of his station, so that he had it built of that wood. Thus it is extremely strongly made, as it needs to be to resist the ravages of snow and wind that sweep so terribly across the Sutherland moors in winter.

As a rule the platforms of private stations are very small, but this one at Dunrobin is an exception. It is very long, for often the family at the Castle will entertain three or four hundred guests at a time, when important fêtes or events are taking place there.[7]

Facilities

The station has no facilities, save for a small waiting area and the old station buildings, including a privately-owned toilet - the northernmost station in Great Britain to have a toilet on the station platform.[8][9]

In May 2023, Transport Scotland introduced a new "Press & Ride" system at Dunrobin Castle,[10] following successful trials of the system at other request stops on the line over the previous nine months.[11][12][13] Previously, passengers wishing to board a train at Dunrobin Castle had to flag the train by raising their arm (as is still done at other request stops around the country); this meant that the driver needed to reduce the train's speed before a request stop (to look out for any potential passengers on the platform and be able to stop if necessary), even if the platform was empty. The new system consists of an automatic kiosk (with a button for passengers to press) at the platform; this will alert the driver about any waiting passengers in advance and, if there is no requirement to stop, the train can maintain line speed through the request stops, thus improving reliability on the whole line.[14]

Passenger volume

Passenger Volume at Dunrobin Castle[15]
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 191 299 357 357 423 572 488 594 628 628 916 822 782 882 1,030 1,224 1,240 114 770 1,428

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

Unlike other stations on the line, the station is only open when the castle itself is open, and is closed from late October to March every year. On weekdays and Saturdays, the station sees three trains each way, with one train towards Inverness on Sundays.[16] No trains call before 9am or after 6pm due to the station having no lighting.

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Golspie   ScotRail
Far North Line		   Brora

Cultural References

The station was featured on an episode of Michael Portillo's Great British Railway Journeys in 2012, in which he opened the restored toilet in the former station buildings.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
  2. ↑ Deaves, Phil. "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Butt 1995, p. 86.
  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. p. 102. ISBN 978 1909431 26 3. The atlas incorrectly marks Dunrobin Castle as just "Dunrobin"
  5. ↑ Wills, Dixe (2014). Tiny Stations (Paperback, 1st reprint ed.). Basingstoke: AA Publishing. p. 294. ISBN 978-0-7495-7732-2.
  6. ↑ Historic Environment Scotland. "Dunrobin Castle Station Waiting Room (Category B Listed Building) (LB7054)". Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  7. ↑ George A Wade, "Private Railway Stations", Railway Magazine, November 1903
  8. ↑ "Dunrobin Castle Station | ScotRail". www.scotrail.co.uk. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  9. 1 2 "Michael Portillo at Dunrobin". www.scotlandrailholiday.com. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  10. ↑ Network Rail Scotland [@NetworkRailSCOT] (17 May 2023). "The latest Far North Line request-stop kiosk is now live at Dunrobin Castle station" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ↑ "Far North request-stop kiosk on trial". Today's Railways UK. No. 248. Platform 5. p. 16.
  12. ↑ "First of Scotland's request-stop kiosks goes live". The Railway Magazine. No. 1458. Mortons of Horncastle. September 2022. p. 8.
  13. ↑ "More request stop kiosks on Far North Line". Today's Railways UK. No. 252. Platform 5. February 2023. p. 14.
  14. ↑ "Far North Line Review Group | Transport Scotland". www.transport.gov.scot.
  15. ↑ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
  16. ↑ eNRT December 2021 Edition, Table 219

Bibliography

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