Helensburgh Central railway station

Helensburgh Central
Scottish Gaelic: Baile Eilidh Meadhain
Location
Place	Helensburgh
Local authority	Argyll and Bute
Coordinates	56°00′14″N 4°43′53″W / 56.0038°N 4.7315°WCoordinates: 56°00′14″N 4°43′53″W / 56.0038°N 4.7315°W
Grid reference	NS297823
Operations
Station code	HLC
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Number of platforms	3
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2002/03	0.855 million
2004/05	0.889 million
2005/06	0.948 million
2006/07	0.929 million
2007/08	0.895 million
2008/09	1.165 million
2009/10	1.140 million
2010/11	1.179 million
2011/12	1.210 million
2012/13	1.192 million
2013/14	0.826 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	SPT
History
Original company	Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway
Pre-grouping	North British Railway
Post-grouping	LNER
28 May 1858	Opened as Helensburgh
8 June 1953	Renamed Helensburgh Central
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Helensburgh Central from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Helensburgh Central railway station serves the town of Helensburgh on the north shore of the Firth of Clyde, near Glasgow, Scotland. The station is a terminus on the North Clyde Line, 24 miles (38 km) north west of Glasgow Queen Street railway station. Passenger services are operated by Abellio ScotRail on behalf of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport.

The station is Helensburgh's main railway station, the other being the much smaller Helensburgh Upper on the West Highland Line. The station was opened in 1858 (as Helensburgh), as the terminus of the Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway and is located in the centre of the town.^[1] The GD&HR was taken over by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway company in 1862, which in turn was absorbed by the North British Railway three years later. The route became part of the London and North Eastern Railway at the 1923 Grouping and then the Scottish Region of British Railways at nationalisation on 1 January 1948. It was given its current name in June 1953, with electric operation beginning in November 1960 as part of the North Clyde modernisation scheme.

Three of the four original platforms at the station remain in use, though the old engine shed and signal box have both been closed, the latter in 1989, when the entire North Clyde network came under the control of Yoker signalling centre. The line from Craigendoran Junction had previously been singled in 1984.^[2]

Services

Services at this station are provided by Class 320, Class 334 and the occasional Class 318 electric multiple units.

2006/07 service pattern

There are two services per hour Monday-Sunday, with trains running to Glasgow Queen Street and the 1989 Drumgelloch station in North Lanarkshire. There were additional trains in both the morning and evening peaks.

Winter 2009/10

• 2tph to Drumgelloch (1989). From May 2010 services only ran as far as Airdrie.

Winter 2010/10 (interim timetable from 12 December 2010)

As a result of delays with commissioning of the Class 380 trains, insufficient Class 334 trains for the full service have been available for introduction of intended timetable from 12 December 2010.^[3]

Monday to Friday

• 1tph to Edinburgh Waverley
• 1tph to Airdrie

Saturday and Sunday

• 2tph Helensburgh Central to Edinburgh Waverley

Winter 2010/11 (Full service from 12 December 2010)

Following the opening of the line between Airdrie and Bathgate, the service is combined with Edinburgh to Bathgate service, the complete service when sufficient rolling stock is available is two trains per hour to Edinburgh Waverley (Monday to Sunday)^[4]

Spring 2016

The December 2015 timetable consists of a basic half-hourly service to/from Edinburgh Waverley via Dalmuir, Partick, Queen Streen L.L and Airdrie. On weekdays & Saturday daytimes, these run limited stop south of Dumbarton East through to Queen Street then call at all stations east of there. In the evenings, these call additionally at all stations via Yoker whilst on Sundays they serve stations via Singer.^[5]

A Class 334 ready to start its journey to Edinburgh

References

Notes

1. Railscot - Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway, Railscot. Retrieved 27 January 2014
2. Helensburgh Central Station in 1987, Railscot. Retrieved 27 January 2014
3. "We've added something new to Central Scotland".
4. "National Rail Timetable 226; December 2010" (PDF). Retrieved 17 November 2010.
5. GB NRT December 2015-May 2016, Table 226 (Network Rail)

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 1-8526-0508-1. 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 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.
• Yonge, John (May 1987). Gerald Jacobs, ed. British Rail Track Diagams - Book 1: ScotRail (1st ed.). Exeter: Quail Map Company. ISBN 0-9006-0948-6.
• Yonge, John (February 1993). Gerald Jacobs, ed. Railway Track Diagams - Book 1: Scotland and the Isle of Man (2nd ed.). Exeter: Quail Map Company. ISBN 0-9006-0995-8.
• Yonge, John (April 1996). Gerald Jacobs, ed. Railway Track Diagams - Book 1: Scotland and the Isle of Man (3rd ed.). Exeter: Quail Map Company. ISBN 1-8983-1919-7.
• Yonge, John (2007). Gerald Jacobs, ed. Railway Track Diagams - Book 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (Quail Track Plans) (fifth ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps (formerly Quail Map Co). ISBN 978-0-9549866-3-6. OCLC 79435248.