Helensburgh Upper railway station

Helensburgh Upper railway station (Scottish Gaelic: Baile Eilidh Àrd) serves the town of Helensburgh, Scotland, on the north shore of the Firth of Clyde to the west of Glasgow. It is located in a residential area uphill from the town centre and is by far the smaller of the town's two stations. It is on the West Highland Line, 2 miles 8 chains (3.4 km) from Craigendoran Junction, near Helensburgh, the first station on the line before Garelochhead.^[4] ScotRail manage the station and operate most services, with others provided by Caledonian Sleeper.

Helensburgh Upper Scottish Gaelic: Baile Eilidh Àrd[1]
The station in 2020
General information
Location	Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute Scotland
Coordinates	56.0124°N 4.7304°W / 56.0124; -4.7304
Grid reference	NS298833
Managed by	ScotRail
Transit authority	SPT
Platforms	1
Other information
Station code	HLU[2]
History
Original company	West Highland Railway
Pre-grouping	North British Railway
Post-grouping	LNER
Key dates
7 August 1894	Opened[3]
Passengers
2019/20	13,372
2020/21	1,520
Interchange	285
2021/22	6,916
Interchange	1,073
2022/23	9,320
Interchange	737
2023/24	11,706
Interchange	9,827
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The station seen in 1985

The station opened in 1894.^[3]

Originally built with an island platform in a cutting, the Up platform was taken out of use in 1968 although the station building remained in use for another few years. Until the 1960s, the station was served by a local shuttle service between Craigendoran and Arrochar & Tarbet in addition to main line trains to Fort William and Mallaig. Latterly operated by a Wickham diesel railbus, it fell victim to the Beeching Axe in 1964.^[5]

Location

The station is within a short walk of the Hill House, built by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and now preserved by the National Trust for Scotland. By using Helensburgh Upper station to visit the Hill House, visitors can avoid the walk uphill from Helensburgh Central railway station. However, Helensburgh Upper has an infrequent train service compared with that available to and from Helensburgh Central.^[6][7]

Facilities

The single platform is equipped with a shelter, a bench, a help point and bike racks. The station has step-free access.^[8] As there are no facilities to purchase tickets, passengers must buy one in advance, or from the guard on the train.

Passenger volume

Passenger Volume at Helensburgh Upper^[9]

	2002–03	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Entries and exits	148	213	173	600	17,025	22,444	23,294	23,466	14,204	14,072	11,964	15,731	15,127	14,276	14,432	14,046	13,372	1,520	6,916	9,320
Interchanges	–[nb 1]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1,947	285	1,073	737

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

Monday to Saturday, there are six services to Oban and three to Mallaig (the latter combined with Oban portions, dividing at Crianlarich), and one service to Fort William (the Highland Caledonian Sleeper, weekday mornings only) northbound. Southbound, there are six services to Glasgow Queen Street High Level and one service to London Euston via Queen Street Low Level & Edinburgh Waverley (the Highland Caledonian Sleeper - does not run on Saturday).

On Sundays, there are two trains northbound to Mallaig, the Caledonian Sleeper to Fort William and one extra to Oban only, plus an extra summer service to Oban; Southbound there are three trains southbound to Glasgow Queen Street. In summer months, the extra summer Sunday service returns to Edinburgh, avoiding Glasgow.^[7][10][11]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Dumbarton Central		ScotRail West Highland Line		Garelochhead
Dumbarton Central		Caledonian Sleeper Highland Sleeper		Garelochhead
	Historical railways
Craigendoran Upper Line open; Station partially closed		North British Railway West Highland Railway		Rhu (Row) Line open; Station closed

Notes

1. No data available.