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Notes
	Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Scotscalder

Scottish Gaelic: *Caladal nan Gall*^[1]
Scotscalder; Scottish Gaelic: Caladal nan Gall
	The platform at Scotscalder, looking southwest
General information
Location	Scotscalder, Highland; Scotland
Coordinates	58°28′58″N 3°33′08″W / 58.4829°N 3.5521°W
Grid reference	ND096560
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	1
Other information
Station code	SCT
History
Original company	Sutherland and Caithness Railway
Pre-grouping	Highland Railway
Post-grouping	LMS
Key dates
28 July 1874	Open
Passengers
2019/20	232
2020/21	18
2021/22	116
2022/23	124
2023/24	242
Notes
Notes
	Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Scotscalder railway station is a railway station located in the Highland council area in the far north of Scotland. It serves several rural hamlets in the historic county of Caithness, including Scotscalder, Olgrinmore, Westerdale and Calder. It is accessed from the B870 road, two miles (3 km) south of Scotscalder Hall.

The station is situated on the Far North Line, 143 miles 2 chains (230.2 km) down the line from Inverness, between Altnabreac and Georgemas Junction.^[4] It has a single platform which is long enough to accommodate a four-carriage train.

Owing to its geographical remoteness, limited services and lengthy journey times, Scotscalder's patronage is extremely low: the station has not seen more than 500 passengers in a year since at least the 2002–03 financial year. In 2017–18 the station only saw 182 passengers, making it the 12th least-used railway station in Britain and the least-used on the Far North Line. In 2018–19 the patronage increased to 238, making Scotscalder the second least-used station on the line (behind Kildonan) and the 15th least-used in Britain.

The station is managed by ScotRail, who operate all trains serving the station.

History

The station was opened by the Sutherland and Caithness Railway on 28 July 1874.^[3]^[5]

In 1988 the station house was sold by the British Railways Board for conversion to a residential dwelling. Following the conversion, in 1993, the station house was sold again and renovated further, for which the owner won the Ian Allan Railway Heritage Award. The station house was used as a holiday home during this period, but was available to rent for short periods. The station house is now a private residence and is no longer available to rent or open to the public.^[6]

Facilities

The station has minimal facilities, including bike racks, a help point and a small waiting shelter.^[7] As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

On 15 August 2022, Transport Scotland introduced a new "Press & Ride" system at the station on a trial basis.^[8]^[9] Previously, passengers wishing to board a train at Scotscalder 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 had 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 station, thus improving reliability on the whole line.^[10] Following the successful trial at Scotscalder, this system was expanded on 20 December 2022 to cover five more request stops on the line, namely Kinbrace, Kildonan, Rogart, Invershin and Culrain; the last two kiosks, at Altnabreac and Dunrobin Castle, are expected to be in operation from spring 2023.^[11]

Services

On weekdays and Saturdays, the service pattern from the station consists of four trains per day northbound to Wick via Thurso and three trains per day southbound to Inverness via Helmsdale, Golspie, Lairg, Tain and Dingwall. (There is a fourth train bound for Inverness but it is not scheduled to call at Scotscalder.) On Sundays there is just one train per day each way.^[12]

This station is designated as a request stop. This means that passengers intending to alight must inform the guard in advance, and any passengers wishing to board must press a "request" button located at the kiosk on the platform.

Preceding station	National Rail		Following station
Altnabreac		ScotRail Far North Line	Georgemas Junction
	Historical railways
Altnabreac Line and station open		Highland Railway Sutherland and Caithness Railway	Halkirk Line open, station closed

References

^ Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
^ Deaves, Phil. "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
^ ^a ^b Butt (1995)
^ 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. 104. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
^ "The Sunderland and Caithness Railway". The Scotsman. British Newspaper Archive. 27 July 1874. Retrieved 14 August 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ Caton, Peter (2018). Remote Stations. Leicestershire: Matador. p. 263. ISBN 978-1-78901-408-2.
^ "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
^ "Far North request-stop kiosk on trial". Today's Railways UK. No. 248. Platform 5. October 2022. p. 16. ISBN 9771475971140.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link)
^ "First of Scotland's request-stop kiosks goes live". The Railway Magazine. Mortons of Horncastle. September 2022. p. 8. ISBN 9770033892354.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link)
^ Far North Line Review Group – Transport Scotland
^ "More request stop kiosks on Far North Line". Today's Railways UK. No. 252. Platform 5. February 2023. p. 14. ISBN 9771475971140.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link)
^ eNRT December 2021 Edition, Table 219

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.
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.
Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.