Dumbarton Central railway station serves the town of Dumbarton in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. This station is on the West Highland Line and the North Clyde Line, 15+3⁄4 miles (25.3 km) northwest of Glasgow Queen Street.

History

The station was opened on 15 July 1850 by the Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Railway[citation needed] on their route from Balloch Pier to Bowling, where travellers could join steamships on the River Clyde to get to Glasgow. Connections with the Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Railway at Dalreoch Junction and at Bowling put the station on a through route between Glasgow Queen Street and Helensburgh Central by 1858. The company was subsequently absorbed by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in 1862 and eventually became part of the North British Railway three years later. However, in 1891, the North British was forced to come to an agreement with the rival Caledonian Railway to give the latter access to Balloch (and the Loch Lomond steamships) over C&DJR metals in order to prevent the building of a competing route by the Caledonian company - this resulted in the Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Railway arriving from Possil via Maryhill Central in 1896.[citation needed] Trains on the West Highland Railway also began serving the station following its completion on 1 August 1894 and these continue to call here to this day.

The station was built with two island platforms to permit convenient interchange between the various services that called, although only three faces remain in use (the former down loop on the southbound side having been removed). The Helensburgh and Balloch lines were electrified by British Railways as part of the 1960 North Clyde Line electrification scheme, but most of the L&DR route was closed (other than the short section through neighbouring Dumbarton East) when passenger services to Possil via Dalmuir Riverside were withdrawn on 5 October 1964 as a result of the Beeching Axe. As of 2022, the loop platform on the south side of the station receives no regular services.[3]

Building

It is a category A listed building under the Town and Country Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.[4]

Passenger Volume

Passenger Volume at Dumbarton Central[5]
2019-20 2020-21 2021-22
Entries and exits 718,088 75,242 309,658
Interchanges 102,905 8,003 53,273

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

North Clyde Line / Argyle Line

Mondays-Saturdays, six trains per hour go southeastbound to Glasgow Queen Street and beyond. 2tph are limited stop to Edinburgh, 2tph run to Springburn & Cumbernauld via Yoker and 2tph via Singer to Airdrie. Sunday services are via Singer to Edinburgh Waverley and via Yoker, alternating between Motherwell via Whifflet and Larkhall. Northwestbound services run twice-hourly each to Balloch and Helensburgh Central (the other 2tph terminate here).[6]

West Highland Line

Services to/from Glasgow Queen Street towards Oban (6 trains per day weekdays, 3 on Sundays) and to Fort William and Mallaig (3 per day weekdays, 1 or 2 on Sundays depending on the time of year) call here.[7]

The Highland Sleeper service also calls in each direction daily (except Saturday nights southbound and Sunday mornings northbound), giving the station a direct link to/from London Euston via Edinburgh, Crewe and the West Coast Main Line.

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Dalmuir   ScotRail
West Highland Line 		  Helensburgh Upper
Dalmuir   Caledonian Sleeper
Highland Caledonian Sleeper 		  Helensburgh Upper
Dumbarton East   ScotRail
North Clyde Line
   Dalreoch
  Historical railways  
Dumbarton East
Line and Station open 		  Caledonian
Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire Railway
   Terminus
Bowling
Line closed; Station open 		  Caledonian & North British Railway
Caledonian and Dunbartonshire Junction Railway
   Dalreoch
Line and Station open

References

Notes

  1. ^ Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. "Gaelic/English Station Index". Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN 978-0-9549866-9-8.
  2. ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "CHURCH STREET, DUMBARTON CENTRAL STATION (LB24877)". Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  3. ^ "UT Tracker". UT Tracker. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  4. ^ "List Buildings in West Dunbartonshire". Retrieved 10 February 2008.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  6. ^ GB eNRT 2016 Edition, Table 226 (Network Rail)
  7. ^ GB eNRT 2015-16 Edition, Table 227 (Network Rail)

Sources