Helensburgh Upper railway station

Helensburgh Upper

Scottish Gaelic: Baile Eilidh Àrd[1]
National Rail
The station in 2020
General information
LocationHelensburgh, Argyll and Bute
Scotland
Coordinates56°00′45″N 4°43′49″W / 56.0124°N 4.7304°W / 56.0124; -4.7304
Grid referenceNS298833
Managed byScotRail
Transit authoritySPT
Platforms1
Other information
Station codeHLU[2]
History
Original companyWest Highland Railway
Pre-groupingNorth British Railway
Post-groupingLNER
Key dates
7 August 1894Opened[3]
Passengers
2019/20Decrease 13,372
2020/21Decrease 1,520
 Interchange  285
2021/22Increase 6,916
 Interchange Increase 1,073
2022/23Increase 9,320
 Interchange Decrease 737
2023/24Increase 11,706
 Interchange Increase 9,827
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Helensburgh Upper railway station (Scottish Gaelic: Baile Eilidh Àrd) serves the town of Helensburgh, Scotland, on the north shore of the Firth of Clyde to the west of Glasgow. It is located in a residential area uphill from the town centre and is by far the smaller of the town's two stations. It is on the West Highland Line, 2 miles 8 chains (3.4 km) from Craigendoran Junction, near Helensburgh, the first station on the line before Garelochhead.[4] ScotRail manage the station and operate most services, with others provided by Caledonian Sleeper.

History

The station seen in 1985

The station opened in 1894.[3]

Originally built with an island platform in a cutting, the Up platform was taken out of use in 1968 although the station building remained in use for another few years. Until the 1960s, the station was served by a local shuttle service between Craigendoran and Arrochar & Tarbet in addition to main line trains to Fort William and Mallaig. Latterly operated by a Wickham diesel railbus, it fell victim to the Beeching Axe in 1964.[5]

Location

The station is within a short walk of the Hill House, built by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and now preserved by the National Trust for Scotland. By using Helensburgh Upper station to visit the Hill House, visitors can avoid the walk uphill from Helensburgh Central railway station. However, Helensburgh Upper has an infrequent train service compared with that available to and from Helensburgh Central.[6][7]

Facilities

The single platform is equipped with a shelter, a bench, a help point and bike racks. The station has step-free access.[8] As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

Passenger volume

Passenger Volume at Helensburgh Upper[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 148 213 173 600 17,025 22,444 23,294 23,466 14,204 14,072 11,964 15,731 15,127 14,276 14,432 14,046 13,372 1,520 6,916 9,320
Interchanges –[nb 1] 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1,947 285 1,073 737

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

Monday to Saturday, there are six services to Oban and three to Mallaig (the latter combined with Oban portions, dividing at Crianlarich), and one service to Fort William (the Highland Caledonian Sleeper, weekday mornings only) northbound. Southbound, there are six services to Glasgow Queen Street High Level and one service to London Euston via Queen Street Low Level & Edinburgh Waverley (the Highland Caledonian Sleeper - does not run on Saturday).

On Sundays, there are two trains northbound to Mallaig, the Caledonian Sleeper to Fort William and one extra to Oban only, plus an extra summer service to Oban; Southbound there are three trains southbound to Glasgow Queen Street. In summer months, the extra summer Sunday service returns to Edinburgh, avoiding Glasgow.[7][10][11]

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Dumbarton Central   ScotRail
West Highland Line 		  Garelochhead
Dumbarton Central   Caledonian Sleeper
Highland Sleeper 		  Garelochhead
  Historical railways  
Craigendoran Upper
Line open; Station partially closed 		  North British Railway
West Highland Railway
   Rhu (Row)
Line open; Station closed

Notes

  1. ^ No data available.

References

  1. ^ Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
  2. ^ "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  3. ^ a b Butt (1995)
  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. 83. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
  5. ^ "The 'Wee Arrochar'" Archived 16 April 2016 at the Wayback MachineHelensburgh Heritage Trust website; Retrieved 27 April 2016
  6. ^ eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 206
  7. ^ a b eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 218
  8. ^ "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  9. ^ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  10. ^ eNRT December 2021 Edition, Table 218
  11. ^ eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 220

Bibliography

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