Corrour train station
| Corrour ( Scottish Gaelic Choire Odhar ) |
|
|---|---|
 Corrour station
|
|
| Data | |
| Location in the network | Through station |
| Platform tracks | 2 |
| abbreviation | CRR |
| opening | August 7, 1894 |
| location | |
| Unitary Authority | Highland |
| Part of the country | Scotland |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Coordinates | 56 ° 45 '36 " N , 4 ° 41' 26" W |
| Height ( SO ) | 408 m |
| List of train stations in the United Kingdom | |
Corrour ( English Corrour railway station , Scottish Gaelic Stèisean Choire Odhar ) is the highest station on a main line in the United Kingdom . It is on the West Highland Line between Glasgow and Mallaig .
location
The train station is located away from any larger settlement in an isolated location in Rannoch Moor and cannot be reached via public roads. The closest public road is 16 km away. Next to the train station there is only the Station House , the train station restaurant with a few guest rooms , which was temporarily operated as a hostel and reopened in August 2012 as a restaurant and hotel under a new operator.
With its height of 408 m above sea level, the station offers a suitable starting point for mountain hikers. This is where the “man without a name”, whose body was found on the Ben Alder in 1996 and only identified over a year later, began his tour. The Ossian Hostel, one of the most remote hostels in the UK, is about a mile from the train station and is right on the shores of Loch Ossian . Hiking trails lead from the train station to the northwest to Loch Treig and into Glen Nevis, and to the northeast past Loch Ossian and Ben Alder to Dalwhinnie . The station is also used by Munro excavators as a starting point for climbing various Munros in the vicinity, such as the 935 m high Beinn na Lap and the 941 m high Càrn Dearg .
The station is served by all trains on the West Highland Line, including the Caledonian Sleeper with sleeping cars to and from London . It has a turnout with an island platform , but since 1985 only one side of the platform has been used by passenger trains.
history
Sir John Stirling-Maxwell , 10th Baronet of Pollok and Knight of the Thistle Order , bought Corrour Estate and Corrour Lodge on the east end of Loch Ossian in 1891. The extensive land holdings at that time comprised around 14,000 hectares in the area of Rannoch Moor and the mountains east of today's train station. It was mainly used for hunting red deer and grouse ( stags and grouse ). In addition, parts were used for sheep breeding . In order to make Corrour Lodge accessible to its guests, Stirling-Maxwell gave the West Highland Railway Company access to its lands on condition that they build a train station for it. The station was opened on August 7, 1894 at the same time as the West Highland Line. Stirling-Maxwell had a path built from the train station to Loch Ossian and its guests were transported across the lake on their own steam yacht .
It wasn't until 1972 that the Scottish Forestry Commission built a private forest road to the station that could be used by motor vehicles . In 1988 the signal box in Corrour was shut down and route control switched to Radio Electronic Token Block . The signal box was retained, however. In 1996, scenes from the film Trainspotting were filmed in and around the train station. On average, around 12,000 passengers use the station each year. Since 2013, the signal box and the waiting room on the platform have been entered in the Historic Scotland list of monuments in category C. In a television film, the Norddeutscher Rundfunk reported in detail about the station and the restaurant.
Web links
- Travel report on www.geo.de: The Scottish Corrour is one of the most remote train stations in Great Britain
- Corrour Station on transportheritage.com (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jean Rafferty: Death of a knight errant. In: The Guardian , January 5, 2002.
- ^ The Herald: The man in the wrong shoes , August 6, 1997 , accessed January 24, 2017
- ↑ Entry on Corrour Lodge in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
- ^ Alan Rowan: Station in the movie Trainspotting is gateway to a fantastic mountain. In: dailyrecord.co.uk , May 24, 2013 (English).
- ↑ Office of Rail Regulation: Estimates of station usage (accessed October 29, 2014)
- ↑ Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- ↑ The magical train. In: NDR , October 23, 2014.