Falls of Cruachan railway station

Falls of Cruachan railway station is a railway station located at the foot of Ben Cruachan in Scotland. This station is on the Oban branch of the West Highland Line, originally part of the Callander and Oban Railway. It is sited between Taynuilt and Loch Awe, sited 52 mi from Callander via Glen Ogle. ScotRail manage the station and operate all services.

History
The station (on the lower slopes of Ben Cruachan, above Loch Awe) opened on 1 October 1893 with a single platform, but was later closed on 1 November 1965.

Reopening
The station was reopened on 20 June 1988.

Signalling
Although Falls of Cruachan station has never had any signalling directly associated with it, its platform falls within the four mile stretch of railway that is protected by the Pass of Brander stone signals.

Accidents and incidents
The area near the station has been the site of five derailments due to the rock fall: in 1881, 1946, 1997, and in 2010, which proved the most significant.

On 6 June 2010, a two carriage train from Glasgow to Oban derailed near Falls of Cruachan station. The train derailed shortly before 8.53 p.m. and was left balanced precariously on a 15 m embankment. There was also a minor fire. Sixty passengers had been on board the train, but all were safely evacuated down the line to the station with no major injuries. Nine people were injured. The train hit a boulder that had fallen onto the track. The train crew later received a commendation for the actions they took to protect their passengers.

Facilities
The station has no facilities bar an electronic display and a bench. There is no car park or drop-off point, as the only entrance is directly off the A85. The station does not have step-free access. As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train. As the station does not have lighting, trains cannot call between dusk and dawn.

Passenger volume
The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

The Falls of Cruachan Railway Viaduct
The viaduct carries the West Highland Line over the Falls of Cruachan, near Loch Awe. It was engineered by John Strain, and is dated 1880. It was built for the Callander and Oban Railway. It was listed as a Category A listed building in 2007.

It has three arches, with a main centre span of 24 ft and side arches of 19 ft. The piers are made of bull-faced stone, and the arches from mass concrete, a material not previously employed on British railways. There is a parapet with a central crenulation, topped with a recent steel safety rail.

The viaduct spans the small gully created by the Falls of Cruachan, close to the entrance to the pumped-storage Cruachan Power Station, which is located in a chamber within Ben Cruachan.

Services
All services at Falls of Cruachan are operated by ScotRail. However, unlike other stations on the line, the station is only open in the summer months from March to October every year. This is because the station is mainly used by hikers in the summer months, who walk past the falls to climb Ben Cruachan.

When the station is operational, there are five trains each way (eastbound to Glasgow Queen Street, westbound to Oban) on weekdays and Saturdays, along with four each way on Sundays.