Largs railway station

For the station in Adelaide, see Largs railway station, Adelaide.
Largs National Rail
Scottish Gaelic: An Leargaidh

BR style enamel sign in 1984
Location
Place Largs
Local authority North Ayrshire
Coordinates 55°47′34″N 4°52′02″W / 55.7928°N 4.8673°W / 55.7928; -4.8673Coordinates: 55°47′34″N 4°52′02″W / 55.7928°N 4.8673°W / 55.7928; -4.8673
Grid reference NS202592
Operations
Station code LAR
Managed by Abellio ScotRail
Number of platforms 2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05  0.376 million
2005/06 Increase 0.411 million
2006/07 Increase 0.413 million
2007/08 Decrease 0.406 million
2008/09 Increase 0.443 million
2009/10 Increase 0.470 million
2010/11 Increase 0.479 million
2011/12 Decrease 0.472 million
2012/13 Increase 0.486 million
2013/14 Decrease 0.449 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE SPT
History
Original company G&SWR Largs Branch
Post-grouping LMS
1 June 1885 Opened[1]
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Largs from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Largs railway station is a railway station in the town of Largs, North Ayrshire, Scotland. The station is managed by Abellio ScotRail and is on the Ayrshire Coast Line, 43 miles (69 km) south west of Glasgow Central.

History

Largs station in the 1960s
Three platforms and centre stabling lines in April 1984

The station was originally opened on 1 June 1885 by the Glasgow and South Western Railway,[1] as the terminus of the extension of the former Ardrossan Railway to Largs.

The station originally had four platforms with additional stabling lines, a glazed canopy and a footbridge spanning the platforms.[2]

By the time the electrification project commenced only three platforms and the centre stabling line were in operation. A fire in 1985 destroyed the station signal box and shortly afterwards work was undertaken to remodel & rationalise the track layout and modernise the signalling ahead of the planned electrification (as part of the wider Ayrshire Coast scheme). Once this was completed by British Rail in 1987, only two platforms remained in use with the line southwards having been reduced to single track. The standard 25kV A.C overhead system was used, with the signalling system supervised from Paisley signalling centre.

1995 demolition in accident

Aftermath of the accident

On 11 July 1995 an early morning Class 318 train from Glasgow Central failed to stop. It crashed through the buffers and the back of the ticket office, severely damaging parts of the station building, and demolished two shops before coming to a stop next to the taxi rank on Main Street. An eye-witness described the noise with the station shaking as the train "was ploughing through it like a set of dominoes", then "the whole corner of the building disintegrating". Although the driver, the guard and three others suffered injuries, there was considerable relief that no-one was killed.[3][4]

Reconstruction: new station building

New station building

For several years there were discussions of redevelopment and replacement buildings, and in 2001 a small ticket office was constructed.[4] A £200,000 makeover (including a new station building) was completed in 2005, albeit much simpler than the original.

Services

Class 380s were introduced in 2011.

There is a basic hourly service to and from Glasgow Central (including Sundays), with additional services during weekday peak periods.[5]

At the time of initial electric services in 1987, Class 318s with occasional Class 303s operated the service. Upon withdrawal of the Class 303s, introduction of the Class 334s and the redeployment of the Strathclyde electric fleet, the major class on the route became the Class 334, with support from the Class 318. In 2011, a new fleet of Class 380 units was being introduced to the line. By June 2011, the former classes became rare, with Class 380 having sole responsibility for the line by the end of 2011.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Terminus   Abellio ScotRail
Ayrshire Coast Line
   Fairlie
Historical railways
Terminus   Glasgow and South Western Railway
Largs Branch
   Fairlie
Line and station open

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Largs railway station.

Notes

  1. 1 2 Butt (1995), page 139
  2. ↑ Largs station in 1954Railscot, Retrieved 2 September 2016
  3. ↑ Wolmar, Christian (12 July 1995). "Thirteen hurt as trains crash through buffers - News". The Independent. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  4. 1 2 "125 years history of Largs Railway Station : News". Largs & Millport Weekly News. 21 July 2011. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  5. ↑ Table 221 National Rail timetable, May 2016

Sources

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/28/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.