Fort William railway station

Fort William Scottish Gaelic: An Gearasdan
The station entrance, 2017
General information
Location	Fort William, Highland Scotland
Coordinates	56.8207°N 5.1047°W / 56.8207; -5.1047
Grid reference	NN105741
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	FTW
History
Original company	British Rail
Key dates
7 August 1894	First station opened
9 June 1975	First station closed
13 June 1975	Present station opened
Passengers
2018/19	0.160 million
2019/20	0.140 million
Interchange	377
2020/21	22,316
Interchange	39
2021/22	0.114 million
Interchange	197
2022/23	0.146 million
Interchange	204
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Fort William railway station serves the town of Fort William, in the Highland region of Scotland. It is on the West Highland line, between Spean Bridge and Banavie, measured 99 miles 37 chains (160.1 km) from Craigendoran Junction, at the southern end of the line near Helensburgh. The station is managed by ScotRail, who operate most services from the station; Caledonian Sleeper and The Jacobite, an excursion operated by West Coast Railways, also use the station.

History

The original station in 1957

The original station alongside the loch

The first station was constructed by the West Highland Railway which was later absorbed by the North British Railway. They chose a site for the station alongside the town shipping pier, which required the purchase of a strip of the foreshore. The railway company bought this for £25 (equivalent to £3,500 in 2023) an acre. Purchase of this land displaced some people from their houses and the railway company was obliged to provide replacement housing. Other residents realised too late that the railway line cut the town off from the shore and the company responded by providing some wicket gate crossings.

It was opened by the Marchioness of Tweedale, Candida Louisa Bartolucci, wife of the chairman of the North British Railway, William Hay, 10th Marquess of Tweeddale on 7 August 1894. They had departed by special train comprising two locomotives and eleven carriages from Glasgow at 8.15am, and arrived in Fort William at 1.30pm. It was sited to the west of the present station on what is now the A82 town bypass, alongside Loch Linnhe at Station Square, at the time in close proximity to then location of the former Caledonian MacBrayne bus station. The old station was a stone built construction featuring a turret and a double arched entranceway and had three platforms. Two of the platforms terminated under the platform canopy, but the third continued past the station, crossing the MacBrayne pier and terminated at the jetty just beyond.

In 1970 the British Railways Board put forward proposals to re-site the station 700 yards (640 m) north of its location to allow the improvements to the A82 to be implemented. The last train from the old station departed on 7 June 1975 and the station closed on 9 June. It was demolished immediately afterwards to permit construction of the bypass.

The present Fort William station of grey concrete construction was opened on 13 June 1975. The current station lies in the shadow of Ben Nevis.

Accidents and incidents

During high winds in February 1980 a brick wall at the station collapsed onto the track and blocked a platform.

Signalling

Since its opening in 1975, the present Fort William station has been equipped with colour light signals. The signalling is controlled from an 'NX' (entrance-exit) panel in Fort William Junction signal box. The single line between the junction and the station is worked by the Track Circuit Block system, so no tokens are needed for that part of the route.

Facilities

Refurbishment of the facilities at Fort William railway station was completed in 2007 thanks to a £750,000 investment. The refurbishment includes new shower facilities and refurbished toilets. The shower facilities include two showers for ladies, two for gentlemen and one unisex shower facility for disabled people.

The island platform is also equipped with a few shops and restaurants, a ticket office, bike racks, a car park and a taxi rank, and some benches. All areas of the station are step-free.

Passenger volume

Passenger Volume at Fort William

	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	2021-22	2022-23
Entries and exits	115,510	120,333	121,920	134,302	135,488	138,870	135,556	145,504	144,106	139,808	138,514	155,856	160,418	139,722	22,316	114,230	145,564
Interchanges	192	211	247	295	365	414	458	440	387	339	355	393	414	377	39	197	204

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

Caledonian Sleeper and ScotRail services standing at Fort William station

Fort William has three daytime trains per day in each direction on Mondays to Saturdays, running between Glasgow Queen Street and Mallaig. There is also a daily early morning service to Mallaig that starts at Fort William, with a similar return service in the evening, which connects with the Caledonian Sleeper. The regular Sunday service consists of two train per day each way between Glasgow and Mallaig, with the schedule in the peak season supplemented by one service between Fort William and Mallaig.

The Caledonian Sleeper operates six nights per week (not Saturday nights) to and from London Euston, starting and terminating at Fort William. The sleeper also carries seated coaches and can thus be used as a regular service train to/from Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley.

The Jacobite operates non-stop between Fort William and Mallaig. This runs all year round, with a maximum of two trains per day Monday to Saturday and one on Sunday. A reduced Jacobite timetable is operated later in the summer.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Spean Bridge		ScotRail West Highland Line		Banavie
Terminus				Terminus
Spean Bridge		Caledonian Sleeper Highland Caledonian Sleeper		Terminus
	Heritage railways
Mallaig		West Coast Railways The Jacobite		Terminus
	Historical railways
Spean Bridge Line and station open		North British Railway West Highland Railway		Banavie Pier Line mostly open; station closed
Terminus		North British Railway West Highland Railway
Banavie Line and station open		North British Railway Mallaig Extension Railway of West Highland Railway		Terminus

See also

• West Highland Railway

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. (October 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. OL 11956311M.
• 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.

External links

• Train times and station information for Fort William railway station from National Rail
• "West Highland Railway". RAILSCOT. 2 April 2012.
• "Mallaig Extension Railway". RAILSCOT. 24 March 2012.
• "schotland 2006". treintjes.info (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 5 February 2012.