Dalmally railway station

Dalmally railway station is a railway station serving the village of Dalmally, near Loch Awe in Scotland. This station is on the Oban branch of the West Highland Line, originally part of the Callander and Oban Railway.

Dalmally
Scottish Gaelic: Dail Mhàilidh[1]
Dalmally station building
Location
Place	Dalmally
Local authority	Argyll and Bute
Coordinates	56.4010°N 4.9829°W / 56.4010; -4.9829
Grid reference	NN159272
Operations
Station code	DAL
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	8,338
2015/16	6,802
2016/17	5,618
2017/18	7,470
2018/19	6,588
History
Original company	Callander and Oban Railway
Pre-grouping	Callander and Oban Railway operated by Caledonian Railway
Post-grouping	LMS
1 April 1877	Opened[2]
Listed status
Listing grade	Category C
Entry number	LB13352[3]
Added to list	13 September 1993
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Dalmally from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

History

This station opened on 1 April 1877. For a while, it was the western extremity of the Callander and Oban Railway, until the line finally reached its ultimate destination, Oban, on 1 July 1880.[2]

The station was laid out with two platforms, one on either side of a passing loop. It once boasted a small engine shed and a turntable on the south side.

The station building was destroyed by fire on 16 November 1898.[4]

The red sandstone building and signal box are a Category C listed building as being a 'well detailed example of a small through station in the area'.[3]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Tyndrum Lower		Abellio ScotRail West Highland Line		Loch Awe
	Historical railways
Tyndrum Lower Line and Station open		Callander and Oban Railway Operated by Caledonian Railway		Loch Awe Line and Station open

Signalling

Dalmally signal box, which replaced the original box on 17 June 1896, was located on the Up platform. It contained 24 levers.

Dalmally lost all its semaphore signals on 9 February 1986, in preparation for Radio Electronic Token Block (RETB) signalling. RETB was commissioned on 27 March 1988, resulting in the closure of Dalmally signal box, amongst others. Dalmally is an RETB token exchange point, but with 'long section tokens' being available between Tyndrum Lower and Taynuilt, it is not necessary for every train to exchange tokens there.

The Train Protection & Warning System was installed in 2003.

Services

There are six departures in each direction Mondays to Saturdays, eastbound to Glasgow Queen Street and westbound to Oban. On weekdays only, an additional out and back trip between here and Oban operates in the late afternoon. On Sundays, there are three departures each way throughout the year, plus a fourth in the summer months only. The additional service runs through from and to Edinburgh Waverley rather than Glasgow.[5]

References

Notes

1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
2. Butt (1995)
3. Historic Environment Scotland. "DALMALLY RAILWAY STATION INCLUDING SIGNAL BOX (LB13352)". Retrieved 15 April 2019.
4. Thomas (1990), page 194
5. Table 227 National Rail timetable, May 2016

Sources

• 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.
• 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.
• Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
• Thomas, John (1966). The Callander and Oban Railway (1st ed.). Newton Abbot, Devon: David & Charles. OCLC 2316816.
• Thomas, John; Farrington, J.H. (1990). The Callander and Oban Railway (2nd ed.). Newton Abbot, Devon: David St John Thomas. OCLC 60059451.
• Thomas, John (2000). The Callander and Oban Railway (3rd ed.). Newton Abbot, Devon: David St John Thomas. ISBN 0-9465-3761-5. OCLC 228266316.