Barassie railway station

Barassie
Scottish Gaelic: Bàrr Fhasaidh
Location
Place	Barassie
Local authority	South Ayrshire
Coordinates	55°33′41″N 4°39′05″W / 55.5614°N 4.6514°WCoordinates: 55°33′41″N 4°39′05″W / 55.5614°N 4.6514°W
Grid reference	NS328328
Operations
Station code	BSS
Managed by	Abellio ScotRail
Number of platforms	2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	0.138 million
2011/12	0.143 million
2012/13	0.148 million
2013/14	0.154 million
2014/15	0.166 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Strathclyde Partnership for Transport
History
5 August 1839	Opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Barassie from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Barassie railway station is a railway station serving Barassie, South Ayrshire, Scotland. The station is managed by Abellio ScotRail and is on the Ayrshire Coast Line.

History

The station with four platforms in 1974

The station was originally opened on 5 August 1839 by the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Railway.^[1] At one point a halt existed nearby serving Barassie Workshops, however it was closed by July 1926.^[1]

Barassie station originally had four platforms, two of which were on the former Kilmarnock and Troon Railway line from Kilmarnock. These platforms went out of use after the local passenger service over the branch was withdrawn by British Rail on 3 March 1969.^[2] They are now derelict & fenced off, but the two platforms on the Ayr line are still operational today. Barassie was a staffed station until the line was electrified in 1986, but the main buildings have since been demolished and there are now only waiting shelters in use on each platform.

South of the station, there are a number of active engineers sidings that occupy the alignment of the original 1839 GPK&AR route southwards. As first built, this bypassed Troon to the east by around half a mile, leaving travellers with an inconvenient journey by coach or on foot from the town centre to the initial passenger station. It wasn't until 1892 that this problem was finally remedied by the Glasgow and South Western Railway, who opened a new deviation line and passenger station that was much better sited for the town. This line (known as the Troon Loop) is now the only one in use, as its predecessor closed to through traffic in November 1982 (though most passenger trains had been routed via the Loop line since April 1966) and was subsequently lifted at its southern end during the re-signalling & electrification work. The former K&TR line to Troon (Harbour) has also disappeared, closing to all traffic in 1973.

Passenger services over the Kilmarnock branch were subsequently reinstated in May 1975, when the twice-daily Stranraer Harbour - London Euston boat trains were diverted over the route. However the branch platforms were not reopened (as noted above) as the services concerned ran non-stop between Kilmarnock & Ayr. As a consequence of this, the current (more frequent) Kilmarnock - Ayr - Girvan DMU service cannot call here. The branch has also been singled, with control shared between the West of Scotland Signalling Centre in Glasgow (which supervises the entire Glasgow - Ayr route) and Kilmarnock PSB.

December 2013 services

Mondays-Fridays : Two trains per hour each way (with peak hour extras), to Glasgow and Ayr. On Saturdays only this rises to three per hour each way.^[3]

Evenings and Sundays see an hourly service in each direction.

May 2016 service

There are now three departures per hour to Glasgow Central & Ayr on weekdays as well as Saturdays. Two of the three Glasgow-bound trains are fast/limited stop from Kilwinning. The evening & Sunday service remains unchanged.^[4]

References

Notes

1. Butt, p. 26
2. Stansfield, p.8
3. GB National Rail Timetable 2013-14, Table 221
4. Table 221 National Rail timetable, May 2016

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.
• Stansfield, G. (1999). Ayrshire & Renfrewshire's Lost Railways. Ochiltree: Stenlake Publishing. ISBN 1-8403-3077-5.

External links

• Railscot - Barassie
• Canmore Site Record for Barassie Station