Dingwall railway station serves Dingwall

Dingwall

Dingwall is a town and former royal burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It has a population of 5,026. It was formerly an east-coast harbor but now lies inland. Dingwall Castle was once the biggest castle north of Stirling. On the town's present-day outskirts lies Tulloch Castle, parts...

, in the Highland

Highland (council area)

Highland is a council area in the Scottish Highlands and is the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole. It shares borders with the council areas of Moray, Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross, and Argyll and Bute. Their councils, and those of Angus and...

 council area of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. It is located just south of the junction of the Far North Line

Far North Line

The Far North Line is a rural railway line entirely within the Highland area of Scotland, extending from Inverness to Thurso and Wick.- Route :...

 and the Kyle of Lochalsh Line

Kyle of Lochalsh Line

The Kyle of Lochalsh Line is a primarily single track railway line in the Scottish Highlands, running from Dingwall to Kyle of Lochalsh. The population along the route is sparse in nature, but the scenery is beautiful and can be quite dramatic, the Kyle line having been likened to a symphony in...

, and is served by First ScotRail

First ScotRail

ScotRail Railways Ltd. is the FirstGroup-owned train operating company running domestic passenger trains within Scotland, northern England and the cross-border Caledonian Sleeper service to London using the brand ScotRail which is the property of the Scottish Government...

. To the south is the proposed station of . A recent increase of services has increased usage dramatically (see figures right).

History

The station was built by the Inverness and Ross-shire Railway

Inverness and Ross-shire Railway

The Inverness and Ross-shire Railway was incorporated on 3 July 1860 with the aim to build a line to Invergordon. The line opened in stages:* 11 June 1862 - Inverness to Dingwall* 23 March 1863 - Dingwall to Invergordon...

 (I&RR) and opened on 11 June 1862 when the company's line was opened from Inverness to Dingwall. The extension to Invergordon

Invergordon railway station

Invergordon railway station is a railway station serving the town of Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth, in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is located on the Far North Line. The station consists of two side platforms with two tracks forming a passing loop on the predominantly single-track...

 came on 23 March 1863. The I&RR was consolidated with the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway

Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway

Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway is an historic railway in Scotland.- History :It was authorised by an Act of Parliament on 21 July 1856 as an extension to the Inverness and Nairn Railway, the line was opened in stages:...

 on 30 June 1862. The operating name became the Highland Railway

Highland Railway

The Highland Railway was one of the smaller British railways before the Railways Act 1921; it operated north of Perth railway station in Scotland and served the farthest north of Britain...

 (HR) on 29 June 1865. The HR became a constituent of the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSR) in 1923.

The main passenger services through the station were to Wick and Thurso and to Kyle of Lochalsh. Between 1885 and 1946 there was a branch line service to Strathpeffer

Strathpeffer railway station

Strathpeffer railway station was a former station serving the small town of Strathpeffer in the county of Ross and Cromarty, , Scotland.-First station:...

.

The Highland Railway built a small steam locomotive shed near the station and this continued in use by the LMSR and British Railways until closure at the end of steam locomotive operations in the area in the early 1960s. It was a sub-shed of the large Inverness facility.

Station signage

The town's name in Scottish Gaelic is Inbhir Pheofharain; however, the Gaelic on the station sign reads Inbhirpheofharain (incorrectly written as one word). Transport Scotland

Transport Scotland

Transport Scotland was created on 1 January 2006 as the national transport agency of Scotland. It is an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government's Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department and accountable to Scottish Ministers...

 has acknowledged the error and indicated that the correct signage will be erected during 2014.

New annunciator LED

LEd

LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....

 screens have been installed on both platforms, giving information on the next three trains to arrive, and general security information.

2010 derailment

On 22 January 2010, a Class 158 Express Sprinter unit

British Rail Class 158

British Rail Class 158 Express Sprinter is a diesel multiple-unit train, built for British Rail between 1989 and 1992 by BREL at its Derby Works. They were built to replace many locomotive-hauled passenger trains, and allowed cascading of existing Sprinter units to replace elderly 'heritage' DMUs...

 (158701) working the 17:15 to service derailed at Dingwall, leaving one female passenger injured.

Services

Service provision at Dingwall forms part of the Far North and Kyle of Lochalsh Lines