Achnashellach railway station

Achnashellach railway station is a railway station serving Achnashellach on the Kyle of Lochalsh Line, in Wester Ross, Scotland. The station lies between Strathcarron and the Glen Carron platform.

Achnashellach
Scottish Gaelic: Achadh nan Seileach[1]
Achnashellach station in November 2019
Location
Place	Achnashellach
Local authority	Highland
Coordinates	57.4821°N 5.3331°W / 57.4821; -5.3331
Grid reference	NH002484
Operations
Station code	ACH
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Number of platforms	1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	800
2015/16	1,078
2016/17	878
2017/18	870
2018/19	820
History
Original company	Dingwall and Skye Railway
Pre-grouping	Highland Railway
Post-grouping	LMSR
19 August 1870	Station opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Achnashellach from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The line was opened on 5 August 1870. The station is 40 miles 34 chains (65.1 km) from Dingwall, and has a single platform which is long enough for a three-coach train.[2]

History

The station was opened by the Dingwall and Skye Railway, but operated from the outset by the Highland Railway. Taken into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway during the Grouping of 1923, the line then passed on to the Scottish Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

When Sectorisation was introduced by British Rail, the station became part of ScotRail until the Privatisation of British Railways.

In 1892, Achnashellach was the scene of a runaway train in which the brake in the brakevan had malfunctioned. Subsequently, this train moved off down the slope at considerable speed without a locomotive to keep it under control. Reaching the bottom of the slope, it had enough energy to proceed back uphill, before running down the slope once again. Unfortunately, another train was approaching Achnashellach in the opposite direction at that very moment, and the two trains collided at the bottom of the slope with great force, resulting in several injuries in what was a rare accident for the Highland Railway. The cause of the accident was thought to be a result of the HR's lack of using a continuous brake, and a habit of putting goods wagons at the front of mixed passenger and goods trains.

Service

Four trains each way call (on request) on weekdays/Saturdays and one each way all year on Sundays, plus a second from May to late September only.[3]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Achnasheen		Abellio ScotRail Kyle of Lochalsh Line		Strathcarron
	Historical railways
Glencarron Platform		Highland Railway Dingwall and Skye Railway		Strathcarron

Notes

1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
2. Brailsford 2017, map 22E.
3. GB eNRT May 2016 Edition, Table 239

References

• Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Butt, R. V. J. (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.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
• 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.
• Station on navigable O.S. map

External links

• Photograph
• Dingwall and Skye Railway (map of the line)