Montrose

Scottish Gaelic: Mon Rois[1]
National Rail
Montrose railway station in 2008
General information
LocationMontrose, Angus
Scotland
Coordinates56°42′46″N 2°28′20″W / 56.7129°N 2.4722°W / 56.7129; -2.4722
Grid referenceNO711579
Managed byScotRail
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeMTS[2]
Key dates
1 May 1883Opened
Passengers
2018/19Decrease 0.338 million
2019/20Decrease 0.334 million
2020/21Decrease 35,086
2021/22Increase 0.188 million
2022/23Increase 0.244 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Montrose railway station serves the town of Montrose in Angus, Scotland. The station overlooks the Montrose Basin and is situated on the Dundee–Aberdeen line, 90 miles (144 km) north of Edinburgh Waverley, between Arbroath and Laurencekirk. There is a crossover at the north end of the station, which can be used to facilitate trains turning back if the line south to Arbroath is blocked.[3]

History

A train calling at the southbound platform

The town of Montrose had initially been served by a short branch line from the Aberdeen Railway at Dubton Junction, which ran to a modest terminus close to the centre of the town and opened in 1848.

The current station was opened on 1 May 1883[4] by the North British Railway on their North British, Arbroath and Montrose Railway route linking Arbroath with the Scottish North Eastern Railway main line through Strathmore at Kinnaber Junction. This was essentially a continuation of the NBR main line from Edinburgh via the Tay Rail Bridge and allowed the company to accelerate its services between the Scottish capital and Aberdeen by an hour.

The station has been through several renamings in the past: it was renamed to Montrose Central in the early days of British Rail, before being renamed to Montrose East in 1952, and finally reverting to just Montrose again in 1961.[5]

The station was host to a LMS caravan in 1936 followed by three caravans from 1937 to 1939.[6]

The section of line across the viaduct and on to Usan is the only single track section on the entire line between Edinburgh & Aberdeen - though the rest of the route was doubled by the NBR in the years after opening, the cost of widening or rebuilding the viaduct to accommodate double track was deemed prohibitive and so it remained single. Until recently, the section was worked by signal boxes at each end (Usan and Montrose South) using tokenless block regulations, but a 2010 resignalling scheme saw both boxes closed and control transferred to the former Montrose North box - this now supervises the entire area including the single line over the viaduct. The work also made the southbound platform at the station bi-directional.[7]

Facilities

The station is equipped with a ticket office, toilets, a car park, bike racks and a payphone adjacent to platform 1. Both platforms have benches and help points, whilst platform 2 has a shelter, and are linked by a step-free access footbridge.[8]

Passenger volume

Passenger Volume at Montrose[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 274,458 319,072 345,974 348,029 369,377 365,922 355,978 378,284 386,600 390,140 396,209 404,136 388,864 354,190 350,126 337,860 333,808 35,086 188,344 243,796

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

The station is served by four train operating companies:

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Arbroath   CrossCountry
Cross Country Route
Southbound only		   Stonehaven
Arbroath   ScotRail
Dundee–Aberdeen line		   Laurencekirk
Terminus   ScotRail
Aberdeen Crossrail		   Laurencekirk
To Inverurie
Arbroath   Caledonian Sleeper
Highland Caledonian Sleeper		   Stonehaven
Arbroath   London North Eastern Railway
East Coast Main Line		   Stonehaven
  Historical railways  
Lunan Bay
Line open; Station closed		   North British, Arbroath and Montrose Railway   Hillside
Line open; Station closed
Terminus   Montrose and Bervie Railway   Broomfield
Line closed; Station closed

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. ↑ 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. 95. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
  4. ↑ "Opening of the Montrose and Arbroath Railway". Dundee Courier. Scotland. 2 May 1883. Retrieved 13 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ↑ Quick 2022, p. p=322.
  6. ↑ McRae, Andrew (1997). British Railway Camping Coach Holidays: The 1930s & British Railways (London Midland Region). Vol. Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part One). Foxline. p. 22. ISBN 1-870119-48-7.
  7. ↑ Signal Boxes to closeMontrose Review news article 28-01-2010; Retrieved 2014-02-03
  8. ↑ "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  9. ↑ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  10. ↑ "Aberdeen Cross Rail | NESTRANS". Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  11. ↑ Table 229 National Rail timetable, May 2017

Bibliography

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