Aviemore railway station

Aviemore railway station serves the town and tourist resort of Aviemore in the Highlands of Scotland. The station, which is owned by Network Rail (NR) and managed by ScotRail, is on the Highland Main Line, 83 miles 31 chains (134.2 kilometres) from Perth, between Kingussie and Carrbridge, and is also the southern terminus of the Strathspey preserved railway.[3]

Aviemore

Scottish Gaelic: An Aghaidh Mhòr[1]
Aviemore railway station in 2018
General information
LocationAviemore, Highland
Scotland
Coordinates57.1886°N 3.8288°W / 57.1886; -3.8288
Grid referenceNH895123
Owned byNetwork Rail
Managed byScotRail
Platforms3 (2 Network Rail) (1 Strathspey Railway)
Other information
Station codeAVM
History
Original companyInverness & Perth Junction Railway
Pre-groupingHighland Railway
Post-groupingLMS
Key dates
3 August 1863Station opened
1898Station rebuilt and expanded
Passengers
2016/17 0.145 million
 Interchange  50
2017/18 0.148 million
 Interchange  44
2018/19 0.138 million
 Interchange  52
2019/20 0.133 million
 Interchange  177
2020/21 25,492
 Interchange  8
Listed Building – Category A
Designated18 August 1986
Reference no.LB257[2]
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History
Strathspey railway services have operated from this station since 1998.

The line was opened by the Inverness & Perth Junction Railway (I&PJR) in 1863,[4] subsequently becoming part of the Highland Railway.

The current station was opened in 1898,[5] to designs by the architect William Roberts[6] when the "direct" line to Inverness via Slochd was built, making Aviemore an important junction and replacing the original 1863 building. William Roberts also provided an engine shed to the north of the station in 1896.

It became part of the London, Midland & Scottish Railway after the Grouping of 1923, then passed on to the Scottish Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

The original I&PJR line to Forres fell victim to the Beeching cuts, closing to passengers in October 1965.

When Sectorisation was introduced by British Rail in the 1980s, the station was served by Scotrail until the privatisation of British Rail.

In 1998 the station was restored and refurbished, and the Strathspey Railway was finally allowed to use the island platform.[7] Following the moving of services, the Strathspey Railway closed their Aviemore (Speyside) railway station. The platform remains, as fears over asbestos contamination have stalled its removal. The original footbridge also still stands but is unsafe.

Stationmasters
  • Mr. McArthur 1863[8] - 1866 (formerly station master at Findhorn)
  • John S. Lawrence 1866 - 1898[9] (formerly station master at Grandtully)
  • James McLean 1898 - 1906[10]
  • John Junor 1906 - 1909[11]
  • Thomas Fraser from 1909[12] (formerly station master at Brodie)
  • John Campbell until 1926[13] (formerly station master at Strathpeffer)
  • W. Budge 1926 - 1942[14]
  • George A. Cumming from 1950[15] (formerly station master at Brechin)

Facilities

The new building on the northbound platform of the main line comprises a ticket hall, booking office and shop, and the three original buildings are waiting rooms (with historical displays), staff offices, and toilets. Parking is on the station's west side, and passenger access to the Strathspey part of the station is via a foot-crossing across the junction spur. This foot crossing also provides disabled access to platform 2.[16] As there are no ticket machines, if the ticket office is closed, passengers must buy one in advance.

Platform layout

The station has a passing loop 40 chains (800 m) long, flanked by two platforms. Platform 1 on the down (northbound) line can accommodate trains having fourteen coaches, whereas platform 2 on the up (southbound) line can hold fifteen.[17] The junction between the Strathspey Railway and Network Rail lies to the south of the station and is controlled from the station signal box, which also controls a large portion of the main line either side of here (from Kingussie all the way to Culloden Moor since 1979) as well as the immediate station area.[18]

Passenger volume
Passenger Volume at Aviemore[19]
  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 70,272 80,977 91,456 101,294 115,431 121,090 124,972 132,336 132,052 136,456 141,311 150,724 152,082 145,200 147,964 138,490 132,618 25,492
Interchanges N/A 36 58 45 113 86 72 72 14 59 82 37 56 50 44 52 177 8

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

Services are provided by ScotRail, Caledonian Sleeper, and London North Eastern Railway on the Highland Main Line and Strathspey Railway on the former Inverness & Perth Junction Railway to Boat of Garten and Broomhill.

In the December 2021 timetable, there are six trains each weekday to Edinburgh Waverley (including the Highland Chieftain to London King's Cross) and four to Glasgow Queen Street southbound, plus one train per day to Perth and the overnight sleeper to London Euston (the latter does not run southbound on Saturday nights & northbound on Sundays). Northbound there are twelve departures to Inverness. On Sundays there are six trains to Edinburgh (including the King's Cross service) and two to Glasgow, along with seven to Inverness, tow of which extend to Elgin.[20]

From 2018, this station was to be one of those to benefit from a package of timetable enhancements introduced by Transport Scotland and Scotrail. The current Perth to Inverness timetable was to increase to hourly each way, with trains south of there running on alternate hours to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Journey times were also to be reduced by 10 minutes to both cities.[21] As of 2021, this has still not taken place.[20]

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Kingussie   ScotRail
Highland Main Line		   Carrbridge or
Inverness
Kingussie   London North Eastern Railway
East Coast Main Line		   Carrbridge or
Inverness
Kingussie   Caledonian Sleeper
Highland Caledonian Sleeper		   Carrbridge or
Inverness
  Heritage railways
Terminus   Strathspey Railway   Boat of Garten
  Historical railways  
Kincraig
Line open; station closed		   Highland Railway
Inverness & Perth Junction Railway
  Boat of Garten
Line and station open
  Highland Railway
Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway
  Carrbridge
Line and station open

References
  1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
  2. "AVIEMORE RAILWAY STATION WITH ISLAND PLATFORM, FOOTBRIDGE AND FENCING". Historic Scotland. Archived from the original on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  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. 94. ISBN 978 1909431 26 3.
  4. Butt (1995), page 21
  5. RAILSCOT
  6. The Buildings of Scotland, Highland and Islands. John Gifford. Yale University Press. 1992. ISBN 0-300-09625-9
  7. "Aviemore station reopens after £2.2m restoration". RAIL, No. 333. EMAP Apex Publications. 17–30 June 1998. p. 10.
  8. "Mr. M'Arthur". Nairn Telegraph and General Advertiser for the Northern Counties. Scotland. 22 July 1863. Retrieved 13 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. "Aviemore. Presentation to Mr. Lawrence". Northern Chronicle and General Advertiser for the North of Scotland. Scotland. 19 October 1898. Retrieved 13 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. "Aviemore Presentation". Inverness Courier. Scotland. 13 July 1906. Retrieved 13 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. "Aviemore Stationmaster's Resignation". Inverness Courier. Scotland. 10 December 1909. Retrieved 13 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. "Brodie". Forres News and Advertiser. Scotland. 11 December 1909. Retrieved 13 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. "Sad Aviemore Affair". Dundee Evening Telegraph. Scotland. 19 March 1926. Retrieved 13 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  14. "44 years with Railway Co". Aberdeen Weekly Journal. Scotland. 29 October 1942. Retrieved 13 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  15. "Back to Aviemore". Dundee Evening Telegraph. Scotland. 30 May 1950. Retrieved 13 November 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  16. "National Rail Enquiries -". www.nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  17. Brailsford 2017, map 19D.
  18. Scottish Signal Boxes Archived 20 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine Jessop, R; "Ronrail"; Retrieved 2013-12-20
  19. "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  20. eNRT December 2021 Edition, Table 213
  21. "‘Rail revolution’ means 200 more services and 20,000 more seats for Scots passengers" Archived 20 August 2016 at the Wayback MachineTransport Scotland press release 15 March 2016; Retrieved 18 August 2016

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 (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.
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