Alloa railway station
Alloa railway station is a railway station in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, which was re-opened on Monday, 19 May 2008.[2]
- This article refers to the former North British Railway station, and its Network Rail successor. For the former Alloa Railway station see Alloa railway station (Alloa Railway).
Alloa  | |
|---|---|
| Scottish Gaelic: Alamhagh[1] | |
 | |
| Location | |
| Place | Alloa |
| Local authority | Clackmannanshire |
| Coordinates | 56.1179°N 3.7883°W |
| Grid reference | NS888931 |
| Operations | |
| Station code | ALO |
| Managed by | Abellio ScotRail |
| Number of platforms | 1 |
| Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries | |
| Annual rail passenger usage* | |
| 2014/15 |  |
| 2015/16 |  |
| 2016/17 | |
| 2017/18 | |
| 2018/19 | |
| History | |
| Original company | Stirling and Dunfermline Railway |
| Pre-grouping | North British Railway |
| Post-grouping | LNER |
| 28 August 1850 | Opened |
| 7 October 1968 | Closed |
| 15 May 2008 | Official reopening ceremony of new station |
| 19 May 2008 | New station opened to regular passenger traffic on different site |
| National Rail – UK railway stations | |
| |
History
The original Alloa station was opened by the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway on 28 August 1850 when the line was opened. Passengers for Stirling were transported via ferry along the River Forth to Stirling. This situation continued until the line to Stirling was opened on 1 July 1852, however the terminus was to the north of the Forth. On 1 July 1853, the bridge across the Forth was opened and the line extended to the Scottish Central Railway station. Subsequent links were added southwards to Larbert via the Alloa Railway in 1889 and northwards to Tillicoultry from 1851, where an end-on junction with the Devon Valley Railway was made some years later. The network was finally completed in 1906 with the opening of a second line to Dunfermline via Kincardine and Longannet along the northern bank of the Forth estuary.[3] This carried a passenger service until July 1930.
As built, the station consisted of a wide island platform, with two inset bays at its west end used by trains southwards to Larbert and Grangemouth and on the Alva branch line.
As the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway was part of the North British Railway, the station was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station then passed on to the Scottish Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. It was closed by the British Railways Board in 1968.
Closure
During the mid-1960s the lines in West Fife around Alloa were progressively closed. The Devon Valley Railway passenger service was the first to go in June 1964 (with total closure following in 1973, with the ending of coal-mining at Dollar), whilst the line across the swing bridge to Larbert followed in January 1968. The main S&DR line via Cambus through Alloa and on to Dumfermline Upper was then closed on 7 October 1968.[3]
Freight services continued until 1970, though the nearby Alloa marshalling yard to the west remained open until 1988 (latterly used only by the trip freights to the yeast factory at Menstrie). The remainder of the original S&DR through the station towards the east continued in use for colliery traffic until 1979 (this has since been lifted) and the Kincardine branch until 1980.[3] This latter route was left derelict but intact for some years and has since been reopened, along with the station (see below).
Following the full closure of Alloa station, a leisure centre was built on the site, though a narrowed formation and a single track was kept for freight services.
Re-opening
The new station building was designed by IDP Architects.[4]
In 2008, the railway reopened, with a new Alloa station situated to the east of its predecessor, due to the earlier construction of the leisure centre. A passenger-operated self-service ticket machine was installed in July 2008; the illustrated ticket was issued at Stirling station.
Under Scottish Executive funding, the line between Stirling and Alloa was reopened to both passenger and freight traffic, with a key benefit being a reduction in congestion on the Forth Railway Bridge.[5] Construction work started in 2005, with track laying commencing at the end of September 2006. It was originally projected that the station would reopen to passenger traffic in the Summer of 2007 but this date was then put back to allow for the upgrading of a level crossing.
The official opening took place on Thursday, 15 May 2008.
Passenger use of the new railway station has greatly exceeded forecasts and since re-opening the service has been improved by increasing evening and Sunday frequencies from two-hourly to hourly and by adding the peak hour service to Edinburgh in 2009. In its first year the station was used by 400,000 passengers, against a forecast of 155,000.[6]
Facilities
The station has a nearby car park with 64 spaces but is not permanently staffed.[7] The completion of electrification of the railway between Polmont Junction, Stirling, Dunblane and Alloa during 2018 allowed the introduction of electric-powered rolling stock for services from 9 December 2018.[8]
Services
The current service gives an hourly train to Stirling and Glasgow seven days a week, with an additional peak hour commuter service to Edinburgh running six days a week. The journey time to Stirling is timetabled to take 9–10 minutes. Services are usually operated by a Class 385, Class 170 or a Class 158.
| Preceding station | |
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stirling | Abellio ScotRail Croy Line |
Terminus | ||
| Historical railways | ||||
| Cambus Line open; station closed |
North British Railway Stirling and Dunfermline Railway |
Clackmannan Road Line and station closed | ||
| North British Railway Stirling and Dunfermline Railway Tillicoultry Branch |
Sauchie Line and station closed | |||
| Terminus | North British Railway Kincardine Line |
Clackmannan & Kennett Line open; station closed | ||
| Throsk Platform Line and station closed |
Caledonian Railway Alloa Railway |
Terminus | ||
References
Notes
- Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. "Gaelic/English Station Index". Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- "First passenger takes Alloa train". BBC News. 19 May 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
- Railscot - Stirling and Dunfermline Railway Railscot; Retrieved 2014-02-14
- "Alloa Station". IDP Architects. IDP Architects. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
- "Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine re-opening Web Site". Sakrailway.co.uk. 15 May 2008. Archived from the original on 5 November 2007. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- "Stirling Alloa Kincardine Railway celebrates first anniversary". Transport Scotland. 11 May 2009. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
- http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/ALO.aspx
- "Stirling - Dunblane/Alloa electric services begin". International Railway Journal. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2018.
Sources
- Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
- Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
- Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
- RAILSCOT on Stirling and Dunfermline Railway
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alloa railway station. |