Blair Atholl railway station

Blair Atholl Scottish Gaelic: Blàr Athall[1]
General view, looking south
General information
Location	Blair Atholl, Perth and Kinross Scotland
Coordinates	56.7653°N 3.8496°W / 56.7653; -3.8496
Grid reference	NN870652
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	BLA[2]
Key dates
9 September 1863	Opened as Blair Athole[3]
1872	Possibly renamed to Blair Athol[3]
1893 or 1894	Renamed to Blair Atholl[3]
Passengers
2019/20	18,388
2020/21	3,688
2021/22	11,870
2022/23	13,402
2023/24	15,126
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Blair Atholl railway station is a railway station serving the village of Blair Atholl, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The station is managed by ScotRail and is on the Highland Main Line, 35 miles 9 chains (56.5 km) from Perth, between Pitlochry and Dalwhinnie. There is a crossover at the north end of the station to allow trains to turn back if the line south to Pitlochry is closed.^[4]

History

Looking north from the station in 1962

The station was opened by the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway on 9 September 1863.^[3]

One of the first visitors to the station was Queen Victoria, who arrived in a Royal Train on 15 September 1863 during a visit to Blair Castle to see George Murray, 6th Duke of Atholl, who was very ill.^[5] For its first thirty years until 1893, the station was named 'Blair Athole';^[3] the present B-listed station was renamed to its current name in the 1890s.^[3]

It originally had a 770-yard (700 m) long passing loop, which was flanked by the two platforms, but this has since been extended northwards as double track as far as Dalwhinnie.^[6]

Facilities

There are benches on both platforms, with a waiting shelter on platform 2 and natural shelter from the station buildings on platform 1, with a small car park and bike racks adjacent to the latter. As well as the footbridge between the platforms, there is also step-free access to both platforms (from the car park to platform 1 and from the level crossing to platform 2).^[7] As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

Platform layout

The station has a passing loop 35 chains (700 m) long, with two platforms. Platform 1 on the southbound line can accommodate trains having seven coaches, whereas platform 2 on the northbound line can hold eleven. Beyond here the line is double track as far as Dalwhinnie.^[4]

Passenger volume

Passenger Volume at Blair Atholl^[8]

	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	8,613	11,708	11,896	10,491	10,443	10,580	11,572	13,948	12,608	14,280	14,084	16,062	16,652	17,598	19,802	21,008	18,388	3,688	11,870	13,402

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

As of the May 2022 timetable, on weekdays and Saturdays there are 5 trains per day northbound (all going to Inverness), and 6 trains per day southbound (three to Glasgow Queen Street, two to Edinburgh and the southbound Caledonian Sleeper, picking up only, weekdays only). A reduced service operates on Sundays, with 3 trains per day to Inverness (1 of which extends to Elgin), and 2 trains to Glasgow and 2 trains to Edinburgh, including the Highland Chieftain to London Kings Cross, as well as the Caledonian Sleeper.^[9]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Pitlochry		London North Eastern Railway Sundays, Southbound Only Highland Main Line		Newtonmore
Pitlochry		ScotRail Highland Main Line		Dalwhinnie or Newtonmore or Kingussie
Pitlochry		Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper Southbound only		Dalwhinnie
	Historical railways
Killiecrankie Line open; station closed		Highland Railway Inverness and Perth Junction Railway		Black Island Platform Line open; station closed

See also

• Public transport in Perth and Kinross

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. Quick 2022, p. 87.
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. 93. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
5. "The Queen at Blair Athole". Daily Review (Edinburgh). Scotland. 17 September 1863. Retrieved 14 August 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
6. Byrom, Bernard (2022). Old Blair Atholl, Killiecrankie and Struan. Catrine: Stenlake Publishing Ltd. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-84033-929-1.
7. "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
8. "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
9. eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 213

Bibliography

• Quick, Michael (2022). Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain: A Chronology (PDF) (5th ed.). London: Railway and Canal Historical Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 March 2023. Retrieved 1 May 2023.

External links

• Train times and station information for Blair Atholl railway station from National Rail