Barrhill railway station

Barrhill railway station is a railway station serving the village of Barrhill, South Ayrshire, Scotland. The station is managed by Abellio ScotRail and is on the Ayr to Stranraer section of the Glasgow South Western Line, 74 miles (119 km) south of Glasgow Central. A passing loop 19 chains (380 m) long is located here on what is otherwise a single track route.

Barrhill Scottish Gaelic: Am Bàrr[1]
Location	Barrhill, South Ayrshire Scotland
Coordinates	55.0975°N 4.7822°W
Grid reference	NX225816
Owned by	Network Rail
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Transit authority	SPT
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	BRL
History
Original company	Girvan and Portpatrick Junction Railway
Pre-grouping	Glasgow and South Western Railway
Post-grouping	LMS
Key dates
5 October 1877	Opened[2]
Passengers
2015/16	10,150
2016/17	13,552
2017/18	12,980
2018/19	10,124
2019/20	7,144
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The station was opened by the Girvan and Portpatrick Junction Railway on 5 October 1877.[2] The station was briefly closed between 7 February 1882 and 16 February 1882,[2] and between 12 April 1886 and 14 June 1886.[2]

The station features in the novel Five Red Herrings by Dorothy L Sayers, first published in 1931.

Services

August 2020

On Monday to Saturday, there is a regular two-hourly service to both Kilmarnock and Stranraer with a total of eight trains per day in each direction (with a four-hour gap in between trains in the Stranraer direction in the evening), two trains extend beyond Kilmarnock to Glasgow Central and four run the other way.

On Sundays, there are five trains per day each way Stranraer and Ayr.[3]

December 2020

Mon-Sat: There are 4 trains per day to both Kilmarnock and Stranraer, running approximately every 4 hours. One train extends to Glasgow Central and two run the other way. Sunday service remains the same. [4]

From January 2021

Mon-Sat: There are three trains per day northbound to Kilmarnock and southbound to Stranraer. Only the 0734 service from Stranraer extends to Glasgow Central, and the 1013 service from Glasgow Central extends to Stranraer.

Sunday service remains the same.

The 1903 service from Stranraer to Kilmarnock and the 1809 service to Stranraer from Glasgow Central was suspended in January 2021 due to signalling staff availability due to the Covid 19 pandemic.[5]

Temporary closure (August–November 2018)

Ayr's old Station Hotel was found to be structurally unsound, so platforms 3 and 4 at Ayr were closed. This resulted in no trains being allowed to run south of Ayr, as well as ScotRail not being able to access Ayr Townhead depot to the south of Ayr railway station. A minibus operated from the station as the normal replacement buses were unable to reach the station.[6]

November 2018

All Stranraer services are now running, calling at the usual stations but Girvan–Ayr services are still operated by replacement buses.[6]

Signalling

The small signal box that houses the lever frame operating the loop was installed in 1935 after its predecessor was destroyed by fire - it was originally situated further down the line at Portpatrick but dismantled and moved to Barrhill after becoming redundant at its original location.[7] The box only houses the frame however - the tablet instruments and block bells are located in the main station building, which allows one railman to act as both stationmaster and signaller.

References

1. Brailsford 2017, Gaelic/English Station Index.
2. Butt (1995), page 28
3. "Train times" (PDF). www.scotrail.co.uk. 2020. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
5. "Tweet". twitter.com. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
6. "20/12/18: Services return to normal at Ayr station | ScotRail". www.scotrail.co.uk.
7. Barrhill Signal Box History Archived 24 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine www.signalbox.org; Retrieved 2009-06-15

Sources

• Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.
• 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.

External links

• Video and narration on Barrhill Railway Station.