Services northbound started on 8 July 1897 when the line to Daviot was opened, the line through to Inverness opened on 1 November 1898.[5]
The station was built with a passing loop on the otherwise single track railway, a signal box (automatic token-exchange apparatus was used) and several sidings on the north side of the line.[6][7]
The station building is thought to be by the architect William Roberts, dating from 1898.[8] A camping coach was positioned here by the Scottish Region from 1954 to 1965.[9]
Accidents and incidents
There have been two accidents at Carrbridge, one in 1914 and another in 2010.
1914 bridge collapse
Photograph of the 1914 accident by J. Barron of Inverness, published in The Sphere, 27 June 1914
On the afternoon of 18 June 1914, a tremendous thunderstorm struck the mountains to the north of the Highland Main Line. The road bridge carrying the road from Carrbridge to Inverness across the Baddengorm Burn was swept away, while further down the valley the burn entered a narrow gorge, crossed by the railway by means of a narrow arch span of only 15 ft (4.6 m). The water was at rail level when the six-carriage 11:50 Perth to Inverness train, 9 minutes late leaving Carrbridge Station at 15:24, crossed the bridge. The first two carriages reached the other side but the bridge then gave way, its foundations having been undermined by a vortex of water. The third carriage was left on the north bank of the burn but the next was plunged into the torrent which soon demolished the carriage, drowning five passengers; remarkably four survived.[10]
The enquiry laid no blame on the designers of the bridge as they could not have foreseen such a volume and force of water, which had never before occurred in the area. The bridge was rebuilt with a longer, concrete, span.
2010 freight train derailment
Derailed Class 66 locomotive 66 048 at Carrbridge, in 2010
On 4 January 2010, a freight train from Inverness to Grangemouth, hauled by a DB SchenkerClass 66 for Stobart Rail, derailed on the 1 in 60 (1.67%) gradient down from Slochd Summit at the run out or trap points at the northern end of the station, and ran down an embankment. The driver and technician on the train suffered minor injuries. The line was not reopened until 13 January.[11][12][13]
The RAIB report found the cause was found to be snow and ice that worked its way into the space between the wheels' brake blocks. This may have also interfered with other parts of the brake mechanisms on the freight wagons. It was also found that the way the driver performed running brake tests while on the trip contributed to the outcome. Other possible contributing factors were that ploughed snow may have been allowed to accumulate too close to the tracks, thus the train passing these snowbanks at speed may have pulled snow into the brake mechanisms.[14]
Facilities
The station has a car park, with bike racks, but is not permanently staffed. Flowering shrubs on the platforms are tended by volunteers as part of an 'adopt a station' initiative.[15] Platform 1 has a specific waiting shelter, whilst passengers on platform 2 have to make do with the station buildings. Both platforms also have benches, whilst platform 2 also has a help point. Only platform 2 has step-free access - platform 1 can only be reached via the footbridge.[16] As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.
Platform layout
It has a passing loop 30 chains (600 m) long, flanked by two platforms which can each accommodate a thirteen-coach train.[17]
The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.
Services
As of May 2022, there are 7 northbound trains per day to Inverness and 6 southbound trains per day to Perth, the latter continuing mostly to Glasgow Queen Street, with one continuing to Edinburgh. 4 trains call each way on Sundays, including the southbound Highland Chieftain to London King's Cross.[19]
^Deaves, Phil. "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
^Bridge, Mike, ed. (2017). TRACKatlas of Mainland Britain: A Comprehensive Geographic Atlas Showing the Rail Network of Great Britain (3rd ed.). Sheffield: Platform 5 Publishing Ltd. p. 94. ISBN978-1909431-26-3.
Gifford, John (1992). The Buildings of Scotland, Highland and Islands. Yale University Press. ISBN0-300-09625-9.
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. ISBN978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC22311137.
McRae, Andrew (1998). British Railways Camping Coach Holidays: A Tour of Britain in the 1950s and 1960s. Vol. Scenes from the Past: 30 (Part Two). Foxline. ISBN1-870119-53-3.
Thomas, John; Turnock, David (1989). A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain. Vol. 15 The North of Scotland (1st ed.). Newton Abbott, Devon: David & Charles. ISBN0-946537-03-8.
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