Dunkeld & Birnam railway station

Dunkeld & Birnam railway station serves the towns of Dunkeld and Birnam in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It is located on the Highland Main Line, 15 miles 31 chains (24.8 km) north of Perth and is the first stop on the line north of there. It has a passing loop 28 chains (560 m) long, flanked by two platforms. Platform 1 on the up (southbound) line can accommodate trains having twelve coaches, but platform 2 on the down (northbound) line can only hold ten.[3] When no crossing is to be made, northbound trains are usually routed through platform 1 which is signalled for bi-directional running.

Dunkeld & Birnam
Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Chailleann & Braonan[1]
Location
Place	Dunkeld
Local authority	Perth and Kinross
Coordinates	56.5569°N 3.5783°W / 56.5569; -3.5783
Grid reference	NO030416
Operations
Station code	DKD
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	31,050
2015/16	32,022
2016/17	32,878
2017/18	37,982
2018/19	36,930
History
7 April 1856	Opened
Listed status
Listing grade	Category A
Entry number	LB11139[2]
Added to list	05 October 1971
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Dunkeld & Birnam from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

History

The station opened on 7 April 1856, as the terminus of the Perth and Dunkeld Railway from Stanley Junction (on the Scottish Midland Junction Railway).[4][5] Seven years later, it became a through station when the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway opened its line to Inverness via Pitlochry and Forres (the I&PJR had taken over the Perth & Dunkeld company that year - prior to this, the SMJR had worked the line).[6][7]

From 1863 to 1896 the station master was John Kinnaird.[8]

The station was host to a LMS caravan in 1935 and 1936 followed by two caravans from 1937 to 1939.[9]

The station was the last in Scotland to be lit by gas lights, these not being replaced by electric versions until the early 1980s. Although the trackbed has been raised following reballasting over the years, the platforms have not had similar treatment and are all considerably sub-standard in height. A couple of 'boxes' have been placed on both platforms to assist passengers to climb into the trains but, because the station is unstaffed, no assistance is available to move these aids into an appropriate position whenever a train arrives.

Services

There are 8 departures to Inverness and 11 to Perth each weekday, with trains to the south going to either Glasgow Queen Street or Edinburgh Waverley.[10]

On Sundays only, the London North Eastern Railway "Highland Chieftain" service calls southbound only en route to London King's Cross; there are 4 trains per day to Inverness and 4 trains per day to Edinburgh Waverley in total.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Perth		London North Eastern Railway Sunday, Southbound Only East Coast Main Line		Pitlochry
Perth		Abellio ScotRail Highland Line		Pitlochry
Perth		Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper		Pitlochry
	Historical railways
Rohallion Line open; station closed		Highland Railway Perth and Dunkeld Railway Inverness and Perth Junction Railway		Dalguise Line open; station closed

Services are provided by Abellio ScotRail, Caledonian Sleeper and London North Eastern Railway.

References

1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
2. Historic Environment Scotland. "Dunkeld and Birnam Station including footbridge (LB11139)". Retrieved 15 April 2019.
3. Brailsford 2017, map 19A.
4. Quick 2019, p. 352.
5. Thomas & Turnock 1989, p. 112.
6. Grant 2017, p. 279.
7. Crawford, Ewan. "Railscot - Perth and Dunkeld Railway". Railscot. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
8. "Retirement of Dunkeld Stationmaster". Dundee Advertiser. Scotland. 17 December 1896. Retrieved 30 August 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
9. McRae 1997, p. 22.
10. Table 229 National Rail timetable, May 2016

Bibliography

• 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Grant, Donald J. (2017). Directory of the Railway Companies of Great Britain (1st ed.). Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Troubador Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-78803-768-6.
• McRae, Andrew (1997). British Railway Camping Coach Holidays: The 1930s & British Railways (London Midland Region). Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part One). Foxline. ISBN 1-870119-48-7.
• Quick, Michael (2019) [2001]. Railway passenger stations in Great Britain: a chronology (PDF) (5th ed.). Railway and Canal Historical Society.

• Thomas, John; Turnock, David (1989). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain. 15 The North of Scotland (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. ISBN 0-946537-03-8.