Achnashellach

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Achnashellach (1870-)

Station code: ACH National Rail ScotRail
Where: Highland, Scotland
Opened on the Dingwall and Skye Railway.
Open on the Kyle Line.

Description

This is a one platform station. There are not many facilities, just the platform. There is no parking here, but it may be possible nearby on the main road to the south of the station.

The station served Achnashellach Lodge, a little to the south. The station is on a short (and steep) deviation enforced by Rowland Hill on the company in order to avoid his lodge. As part of the agreement the station was also provided.

The signal box, to the west of the station building, opened in 1893 and a loop was installed here in 1900. (The box appears to have been replaced around 1920.)

During the Second World War a light railway connected the station to a saw mill, for timber traffic.

The up (eastbound) line was taken out in 1966 and the up platform is increasingly overgrown. The box closed in 1966.

The up platform station building has been relocated (it is in the village, about half a mile east), the down platform buildings demolished and the goods siding to the west lifted (closed 1964). There was a watertank on a trestle at the east end of the up platform, also removed. This was for a water column at the east end of the eastbound platform, there being a steep climb from Strathcarron to Luib Summit. The signal box, (apparently a replacement, formerly of Newtonmore where the north and south boxes were replaced with a single box in 1920) has also been demolished. The lattice footbridge remained in place for several years after becoming redundant.

The stationmaster's cottage and railwaymen's cottages remain.

Tags

Station

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67

Facilities

Gaelic name: Achadh nan Seileach



Chronology Dates

01/06/1900Dingwall and Skye Railway
Achnashellach box and loop opened.
27/01/1964Dingwall and Skye Railway
Achnashellach closed to goods.
22/03/1966Dingwall and Skye Railway
Achnashellach box and loop closed.

News items

22/03/2021Railway bridge inspection to spark key road closure [Ross-shire Journal]

Books


Highland Railway: People and Places - From the Inverness and Nairn Railway to Scotrail

History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands: Skye Railway v. 5

Insider Rail Guide: Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh (The Insider Rail Guide)

OS Explorer Map (428) Kyle of Lochalsh, Plockton and Applecross (OS Explorer Active Map)

Rails to Kyle of Lochalsh: Story of the Dingwall and Skye Railway Including the Strathpeffer Branch (Oakwood Library of Railway History)

The Dingwall & Skye Railway: A Pictorial Record of the Line to Kyle of Lochalsh

The Highland Railway

The Highland Railway : The History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands - Vol 2

The Kyle Line: An Illustrated History and Guide

The Kyle of Lochalsh and Far North Lines

The Kyle of Lochalsh Line: Great Railway Journeys Through Time