Taynuilt railway station

Taynuilt Scottish Gaelic: Taigh an Uillt[1]
General information
Location	Taynuilt, Argyll and Bute Scotland
Coordinates	56.4309°N 5.2394°W / 56.4309; -5.2394
Grid reference	NN003312
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	TAY
History
Original company	Callander and Oban Railway
Pre-grouping	Callander and Oban Railway operated by Caledonian Railway
Key dates
1 July 1880,[2]	Opened
Passengers
2019/20	18,416
2020/21	35,054
2021/22	35,456
2022/23	42,026
2023/24	45,776
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Taynuilt railway station is a railway station serving the village of Taynuilt in western Scotland. This station is on the Oban branch of the West Highland Line, originally part of the Callander and Oban Railway, between Falls of Cruachan and Connel Ferry, sited 58 miles 55 chains (94.4 km) from Callander via Glen Ogle.^[3] ScotRail manage the station and operate all services.

History

Class 27 in 1979 - the building on the left was destroyed by fire after 1994

Taynuilt station opened on 1 July 1880, when the Callander and Oban Railway was extended from Dalmally to Oban.^[4]

The station is laid out with two platforms, one on either side of a crossing loop. There are two sidings on the south side of the station.

On 11 January 1987, the crossing loop was altered to right-hand running. The original Down platform has thus become the Up platform, and vice versa. The change was made in order to simplify shunting at this station, by removing the need to hand-pump the train-operated loop points to access the sidings.^{[citation needed]}

Facilities

Facilities at the station are basic, consisting of shelters on both platforms, a bench on platform 2, bike racks and ca car park adjacent to platform 1 and a help point on the wall of the old signal box. All of the station has step-free access.^[5] As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

Passenger volume

The increase in station usage recorded in the 2020/21 Office of Rail and Road statistics, at a time when passenger numbers across the UK fell drastically in the Covid-19 pandemic, was attributed^{[by whom?]} to the introduction of school services on the Oban line.^{[citation needed]}

Passenger Volume at Taynuilt^[6]

	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
Entries and exits	7,537	11,334	9,873	10,005	9,925	10,268	11,364	11,802	11,940	12,980	12,660	21,968	22,226	21,916	24,788	22,472	18,416	35,054	35,456

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

There are 6 departures in each direction on weekdays and Saturdays, with trains heading eastbound to Glasgow Queen Street and westbound to Oban. On weekdays only, an additional service in each direction between Dalmally and Oban calls here in the late afternoon. On Sundays, there are 3 departures each way throughout the year, but there is a fourth in the summer from late June–August which runs from Edinburgh Waverley to Oban and back.^[7][8]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Falls of Cruachan or Loch Awe		ScotRail West Highland Line		Connel Ferry
	Historical railways
Falls of Cruachan Line and station open		Callander and Oban Railway Operated by Caledonian Railway		Ach-na-Cloich Line open; station closed

References

1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
2. Railway Passenger Stations by M.Quick page 445
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. 87. ISBN 978-1909431-26-3.
4. Thomas, John; Turnock, David (1989). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume 15: North of Scotland. Newton Abbot: David & Charles (Publishers). ISBN 0-946537-03-8.
5. "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
6. "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
7. eNRT December 2021 Edition, Table 218
8. eNRT May 2022 Edition, Table 218

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.
• Fryer, Charles (1989). The Callander and Oban Railway. Oxford: Oakwood Press. ISBN 0-8536-1377-X. OCLC 21870958.
• 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.

External links

• Video footage of the station on YouTube