Thurso railway station

Thurso railway station is a railway station located in Thurso, in the Highland council area in the far north of Scotland. It serves the town of Thurso and its surrounding areas in the historic county of Caithness. It is also the nearest station to the port of Scrabster (about 2.2 miles (3.5 km) to the northwest), which has ferry services linking the mainland with Stromness on the Orkney Islands. It is the northernmost station on the National Rail network.[2]

Thurso

Scottish Gaelic: Inbhir Theòrsa[1]
158701 departing Thurso bound for Inverness
General information
LocationThurso, Highland
Scotland
Coordinates58.5900°N 3.5278°W / 58.5900; -3.5278
Grid referenceND112679
Managed byScotRail
Platforms1
Other information
Station codeTHS
History
Original companySutherland and Caithness Railway
Pre-groupingHighland Railway
Post-groupingLMS
Key dates
28 July 1874Opened
Passengers
2016/17 37,322
2017/18 39,174
2018/19 39,974
2019/20 39,702
2020/21 6,474
Listed Building – Category B
Designated28 November 1984 (amended 15 December 1998)
Reference no.Historic Scotland Building ID 42035
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The station is situated at the end of a short branch line off the Far North Line. It is 6 miles 50 chains (10.7 km) down the line from Georgemas Junction (the other end of the branch), and 153 miles 70 chains (247.6 km) from Inverness.[3]

Thurso station is managed by ScotRail, which also operates all trains serving the station.

History

The station opened on 28 July 1874.[4] A wrought-iron turntable, 45 feet (14 m) in diameter, was built at the station by the Railway Steel and Plant Company of Manchester.[5]

The station was threatened with closure in the 1960s under the Beeching Axe.

Until 2000, trains from Inverness would split in half at Georgemas Junction, with one portion going to Wick and the other to Thurso. In the age of locomotive-hauled trains prior to the introduction of diesel multiple units by British Rail, a locomotive was based at Georgemas Junction to take the Thurso portion to and from the junction. The practice of splitting trains ended when Class 158s were introduced on the line – since then all services run in full between Inverness and Wick via Thurso, in both directions, meaning they call at Georgemas Junction twice.[6]

Stationmasters
  • James W. Mackenzie 1875[7] - 1900 (formerly station master at Garve)
  • William Douglas 1901 - 1922[8]
  • Mr. Cameron from 1922 (formerly station master at Newtonmore)
  • Mr. MacLennan until 1932
  • Mr. Mackay from 1932[9] (formerly station master at Lairg)
  • William Clyde Leggatt B.E.M. 1941 - 1946[10]
  • C. McEachern 1946 - 1949[11] (afterwards station master at Wick)
  • Alexander Hendry from 1950[12] (formerly station master at Dufftown)

Facilities

There is one platform, which is long enough to accommodate a nine-carriage train.[13] The station is fully wheelchair-accessible, but it is not monitored by CCTV.[14] The station has a ticket office, staffed between approximately 10:00 and 17:00 every day except Sundays. There are no self-service ticket machines or smartcard top-up facilities, although there are smartcard validators. Other facilities include: a free car park with 3 parking spaces, a sheltered bike stand with 10 spaces, a payphone that accepts both cash and card, waiting rooms with designated seating areas, toilets (only open during staffing hours) and a post box.[14]

There is a bus stop located directly outside the station,[14] although the majority of bus services call at the nearby Miller Academy stop, 150 metres (160 yd) to the north.

Passenger volume
Passenger volume at Thurso station[15]
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
Entries and exits 38,112 37,338 35,083 32,906 37,064 43,450 47,792 48,172 48,090 46,024 43,802 42,082 38,426 37,322 39,174 39,974 39,702 6,474

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services
158710 standing at Thurso bound for Wick

Despite being located at the end of the branch line, Thurso is not the terminus for any passenger services. On weekdays and Saturdays, the station is served by eight trains per day to Georgemas Junction, of which four continue to Inverness (via Helmsdale, Golspie, Lairg, Tain and Dingwall), and four continue to Wick. On Sundays the frequency drops to just two trains per day to Georgemas Junction, of which one goes to Inverness and one to Wick.[6]

An hourly shuttle between Wick and Thurso making use of Vivarail's Class 230 Battery Multiple Units has been proposed by the Friends of the Far North line, but to this date nothing has been confirmed.[16]

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Georgemas Junction   ScotRail
Far North Line		   Georgemas Junction
  Historical railways  
Terminus   Highland Railway
Sutherland and Caithness Railway
Thurso Branch
   Hoy
Line open, station closed

References
  1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
  2. Pipe, Vicki; Marshall, Geoff (2018). The Railway Adventures. September Publishing.
  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. 104. ISBN 978 1909431 26 3.
  4. "The Sunderland and Caithness Railway". The Scotsman. British Newspaper Archive. 27 July 1874. Retrieved 14 August 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. "The Sutherland and Caithness Railway". John o’Groat Journal. Scotland. 9 July 1874. Retrieved 15 July 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  6. eNRT December 2021 Edition, Table 219
  7. "Thurso". John o’Groat Journal. Scotland. 18 March 1875. Retrieved 8 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. "Well known native of Dowally". Dundee Evening Telegraph. Scotland. 14 October 1929. Retrieved 8 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. "RNorthern Station Agents. Changes at Thurso, Lairg and Strathpeffer". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Scotland. 5 October 1932. Retrieved 8 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. "Retirement of Stationmaster". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Scotland. 4 September 1946. Retrieved 8 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. "Appointments for Scots Rail Agents". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Scotland. 6 December 1949. Retrieved 8 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. "Mr Alexander Hendry". Aberdeen Press and Journal. Scotland. 12 January 1950. Retrieved 8 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. Brailsford 2017, map 20E.
  14. "Facilities". ScotRail. ScotRail. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  15. "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  16. "The Friends of the Far North Line - Newsletter - January 2019". www.fofnl.org.uk. Retrieved 22 April 2020.

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. (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 (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.
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