Rannoch

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Rannoch (1894-)

Station code: RAN National Rail ScotRail
Where: Perth and Kinross, Scotland
Opened on the West Highland Railway.
Open on the West Highland Line.

Description

This island platform station retains its original building and signal box (closed 1985 and 'B' listed) to the north of the station building. Access is by means of a footbridge, not the original footbridge but a replacement (from Corrour) installed in the 1980s after entry was by means of a pedestrian level crossing to the south end of the platform for several years. Parking is on the east side of the station.

A goods siding remain here, in use as a permanent way depot. This is on the west side of the station, approached from the north.

On the east side were sidings and a turntable, approached from the south. Camping coaches were based here for many years.

By the station is the Moor of Rannoch Hotel , to the east.

To the north is a harsh climb which starts by crossing the Rannoch Viaduct and continues north by the Cruach Rock Shed, a snow shed located at a particularly exposed cutting, to Corrour station. Southbound freight brakes heavily on the was south to Rannoch, the heat of the brakes can be felt on the platform!

The station is approached by a single track public road from Kinloch Rannoch, some 18 miles distant, by way of Loch Rannoch.

Rannoch Station Tearoom is based in the station building.

Local

Moor of Rannoch Hotel

Tags

Station scenic

External links

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

Facilities

Gaelic name: Raineach




Nearby stations
Gorton [WHR]
Corrour
Fersit Halt
Bridge of Orchy
Tulloch
Dalnaspidal
Roy Bridge
Loch Tay
Killin [2nd]
Upper Tyndrum
Tyndrum [1st]
Tyndrum Lower
Luib
Spean Bridge
Killin Junction
Rannoch Viaduct
Gaur Viaduct
Cruach Rock Shed
Abhainn Duibhe Viaduct
Lubnaclach Lineside Cottage
Lubnaclach Gravel Pit
Tourist/other
Rannoch Hotel
Fish Ladder
Loch Laidon
Soldiers^ Trenches
Corrour Old Lodge
Rannoch Barracks
Lubnaclach
Carn Dearg
Rannoch Lodge
Location names in dark blue are on the same original line.


The Renton Stone


At the north end of the station is the 'Renton Stone' a relief carving of James Hall Renton, a director of the West Highland Railway who helped with a shortfall in funding while the difficult section across the extremely boggy Rannoch Moor was built. The navvies created this commemoration stone by way of thanks. On the moor the line runs n a brushwood raft but the station site was made stable with the dumping of tonnes of rock.

Family relations probably had a part to play in the financial rescue of the line's construction over Rannoch Moor. In 1886 James Hall Renton's daughter Alicia Ellen married the son of John Aird (of Lucas and Aird the contractor) also John.

JH Renton was no stranger to railways in trouble, in 1887 he was the chairman of the Ayrshire and Wigtownshire Railway which was created to take over the insolvent Girvan and Portpatrick Junction Railway.


Chronology Dates

02/02/1889West Highland Railway
A blizzard covers Rannoch Moor and the party have to work their way through deep drifting to reach Tyndrum [CandO] station on the Callander and Oban Railway.
31/07/1894West Highland Railway
Helensburgh Upper, Shandon, Garelochhead, Glen Douglas, Arrochar and Tarbet, Ardlui, Crianlarich, Tyndrum [WHR], Bridge of Orchy, Gorton, Rannoch, Corrour, Inverlair, Roy Bridge, Spean Bridge signal boxes opened.
07/08/1894West Highland Railway
Public opening from Fort William to Craigendoran. Stations opened at Craigendoran Upper, Helensburgh Upper, Row, Shandon, Garelochhead, Arrochar and Tarbet, Ardlui, Crianlarich, Tyndrum [WHR], Bridge of Orchy, Gortan (private), Rannoch, Corrour (private), Inverlair, Roy Bridge, Spean Bridge and Fort William [1st].
03/11/1985West Highland Railway
Rannoch signal box closed.
29/05/1988West Highland Railway
Tyndrum Upper, Bridge of Orchy, Rannoch, Corrour, Tulloch, Spean Bridge block posts eliminated by RETB.
15/09/2005West Highland Railway
David Bellamy opens visitors centre at Rannoch station.
  /05/2008West Highland Railway
UPM Tilhill and CSP Forestry are awarded a £250,000 Freight Facilities Grant to assist with the movement of 120,000 tonnes of timber by Colas from Rannoch to the Caledonian Paper Mill, near Barassie and Irvine, over eight years. A lineside loading pad is to be built by Tilhill.

News items

15/11/2023Walk in the footsteps of explorers with West Highland Line audio drama [Community Rail Network]
18/10/2023Audio drama accompanies walks from stations along the West Highland Line [Community Rail Network]
10/09/2023Trainspotting: Take the train to iconic film location and walk to Rannoch Station [The Courier]
21/06/2022Rail strike costs remote Highlands hotel 75% of bookings [BBC News]
04/04/2022£7m improvement project completed on the West Highland Line [Network Rail]
24/03/2021 Rannoch timber rail project 'on track' with Memorandum of Understanding [Scottish Construction Now]
17/02/2021ScotRail rides to the rescue of remote Highland community [ScotRail]
20/07/2019Dazzling views and a boy wizard keep magical rail route on track [The Guardian]
07/04/2018Brief Encounter tribute to star at West Highland railway stations [Scotsman]
24/12/2012The restaurant at the end of the universe gets into wedding mode [Herald]

Books

All Stations to Mallaig!: West Highland Line Since Nationalisation
Argyll and the Highlands Last Days of Steam

Argyll and the Highlands' Lost Railways

Ben Nevis and Fort William, The Mamores and The Grey Corries, Kinlochleven and Spean Bridge (OS Explorer Map)

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

Mountain Moor and Loch on the Route of the West Highland Railway

On West Highland Lines

Railway World Special: West Highland Lines

Rannan Rathad Iarainn nan Eilean =: The West Highland Line

Road To The Isles Dvd: Part One The West Highland Line Between Crianlarich to Fort William, From the Drivers Cab Of A Class 37, With The Caledonian Sleeper
The Mallaig Railway: The West Highland Extension 1897-1901 (RCAHMS Broadsheet)
The New Railway: The Earliest Years of the West Highland Line

The Story of the West Highland

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

The West Highland Railway

The West Highland Railway (Railways of the Scottish Highlands)

The West Highland Railway 120 Years

Trossachs and West Highlands: Exploring the Lost Railways (Local History Series)

Victorian Travel on the West Highland Line: By Mountain, Moor and Loch in 1894

Walks from the West Highland Railway (Cicerone Guide)

West Highland Line: 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
West Highland Railway: Plans, Poltics and People