Arisaig

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Arisaig (1901-)

Station code: ARG National Rail ScotRail
Where: Highland, Scotland
Opened on the Mallaig Extension (West Highland Railway).
Open on the West Highland Line.

Description

This is a two platform station with a passing loop. The original station buildings still stand, the larger on the down (Mallaig bound) platform. The signal box (closed in 1983 and 'B' listed) still stands at the Fort William end of the station on the northbound platform. The station is to the north of the village of Arisaig.

There is a goods siding serving a loading bank. It is now a permanent way siding, accessed from the down loop by reversal. There is no footbridge, crossing between the platforms is by barrow crossing.

A short camping coach siding was at the east end of the station, opposite the box.

A number of station cottages remain. The station has been severed from the village by the Arisaig bypass.

Arisaig station has been adopted by the Arisaig Community Trust .

North of the station the line crosses Keppoch Moss. The line 'floats' on brushwood over this bog, much like further south for the crossing of Rannoch Moor.

Arisaig Slip is down in the village by the sea. Summertime passenger ferry services operate to Eigg, Muck and Rum.

Local

The Traigh Golf Course , the most westerly on mainland Britain and with the small isles as a backdrop, is about two miles to the north.

Arisaig Hotel

Arisaig House is about two and a half miles to the east, closer to Beasdale station.

Arisaig Slip is down in the village by the sea. Summertime passenger ferry services operate to Eigg, Muck and Rum.

Tags

Station

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
06/01/2022

Facilities

Gaelic name: Àrasaig
Listing: B




Nearby stations
Beasdale
Morar
Mallaig
Lochailort
Lech-a-vuie Platform
Glenfinnan
Locheilside
Loch Eil Outward Bound
Kyle of Lochalsh
Corpach
Kentallen
Duror
Fort William [1st]
Fort William
Banavie
Larichmore Viaduct
Borrodale Viaduct
Borrodale Tunnel
Beasdale Bridge
Beasdale No 119 Tunnel
Morar Viaduct
Beasdale No 118 Tunnel
Loch nan Uamh No 117 Tunnel
Tourist/other
Arisaig Slip
Creag Mhor Level Crossing
Arisaig House
Borrodale House
Traigh Golf Course
Camusdarrach House
The Prince^s Cairn
Location names in dark blue are on the same original line.


Furthest West


This is the furthest west station in mainland Britain, approximately 12 miles further west than Penzance.

Longitude

Penzance5°31'57.49"W
Arisaig5°50'22.10"W



Chronology Dates

30/03/1901West Highland Railway
Mallaig Extension (West Highland Railway)
Banavie Junction [2nd], Banavie Canal Bridge, Tomonie Signal Box, Glenfinnan, Lochailort, Arisaig, Mallaig signal boxes opened. Banavie Junction [1st] signal box and junction renamed Mallaig Junction.
01/04/1901Mallaig Extension (West Highland Railway)
Line opened from Banavie (Banavie Junction [2nd]), over the Caledonian Canal and on through Banavie, Corpach, Locheilside, Glenfinnan, Lochailort, Beasdale, Arisaig and Morar to Mallaig, extending the West Highland Railway to the western seaboard. There was no official opening ceremony.
13/11/1983Mallaig Extension (West Highland Railway)
Arisaig signal box closed.
29/04/1984Mallaig Extension (West Highland Railway)
Arisaig becomes a block post again.
06/12/1987West Highland Railway
Mallaig Extension (West Highland Railway)
RETB, based at the signalling centre at Banavie, comes into operation. Takes over Glenfinnan, Arisaig. Annat Signal Box reduced to gate box.
05/03/2005West Highland Railway Mallaig Extension (West Highland Railway)
Class 50s reach Mallaig on a Pathfinders tour for the first time (50031 Hood and 50049 Defiance). Arrived Fort William on the 4th, Mallaig on the 5th (having to run to Arisaig and back to pass a Sprinter due to its length before the return journey) and to Dundee from Fort William on the 6th.

News items

05/07/2023Beasdale Station Cottage, Beasdale, Nr Arisaig [Mcintyre & Company]
07/04/2018Brief Encounter tribute to star at West Highland railway stations [Scotsman]
22/01/2018Train trapped by tonnes of mud after landslip [BBC News]
01/10/2015Community Rail Awards 2015

Books


A Mallaig Boyhood (Flashbacks)
All Stations to Mallaig!: West Highland Line Since Nationalisation
Captains and Commanders: Memoirs of a Scottish West Coast Fisherman

Chapels of the Rough Bounds

Highland Steam: A Scrapbook of Images from the 'Kyle, Mallaig and Highland Lines

History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands: West Highland Railway v. 1

History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands: West Highland Railway v. 1

Iron Road to the Isles: A Travellers and Tourist Guide to the West Highland Lines

Iron Roads to the Isles: A Travellers and Tourists Souvenir Guide to the West Highland Lines

Landranger (40) Mallaig & Glenfinnan, Loch Shiel (OS Landranger Map)

Mallaig Line: An Illustrated History and Guide

Old Mallaig, Morar and Arisaig

On West Highland Lines

Railway World Special: Fort William and Mallaig

Railway World Special: West Highland Lines

Rannan Rathad Iarainn nan Eilean =: The West Highland Line
Steam to Mallaig
The Mallaig Railway
The Mallaig Railway: The West Highland Extension 1897-1901 (RCAHMS Broadsheet)
The Story of the West Highland

The Story of the West Highland: The 1940s LNER Guide to the Line

The West Highland Mallaig Extension in B.R.Days

The West Highland Railway

The West Highland Railway (Railways of the Scottish Highlands)

The West Highland Railway 120 Years

Walks from the West Highland Railway (Cicerone Guide)

West Highland Extension: Great Railway Journeys Through Time

West Highland Railway
West Highland Railway (History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands v. 1): West Highland Railway v. 1