Dumfries railway station


Dumfries railway station serves the town of Dumfries in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located on the Glasgow South Western Line. The station is owned by Network Rail and managed by Abellio ScotRail who provide nearly all passenger train services. It is staffed on a part-time basis throughout the week. Train services are provided by Abellio ScotRail and Northern.

History

Opened by the Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Railway in 1848, the line serving it was extended northwards to Kilmarnock and Glasgow two years later. It subsequently became the junction for branches to Castle Douglas and Stranraer, and latterly to Moniaive. All of these later lines have now closed, leaving only the original G&SWR main line open to serve the town. The Beeching Axe cutting the Castle Douglas and Dumfries Railway and Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Railway has resulted in adverse mileage to connect Stranraer with a longer line via Kilmarnock and Ayr. The journey by railway and ferry via Stranraer to Larne Harbour or since the line closed to the Port of Belfast is much longer.
Historic Scotland have designated the station and separately the adjacent station hotel as category B listed buildings.
Carnation built an evaporated milk factory in Dumfries that opened in 1935, eventually constructing three units producing tin cans, evaporated milk and latterly Coffeemate. The original factory had private siding access to the station's goods yard, which gave access for milk trains to the facility, in both delivering raw product as well as distribution to London. Milk trains stopped in the mid-1970s. The United States parent company was bought by Nestle in 1985, after which a decline in the facility began. CoffeeMate production ceased in 2000, after which the site was fully redeveloped as an industrial estate.

In fiction

The station features in the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. Richard Hannay, fleeing from German secret agents, travels from London St Pancras to Galloway, changing trains at Dumfries. In 1939, T.S. Eliot included Dumfries in his Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. Skimbleshanks, the Railway Cat, speaks with the police at Dumfries Station during the night.

Services

ScotRail

The service from the station is somewhat infrequent with trains running to different patterns during the day, these are as follows:
In the 2019-20 winter timetable, Monday to Saturdays see a regular hourly service to Carlisle with extra trains at peak times with 3 trains a day extended through to Newcastle. There are 10 trains per day through to Kilmarnock and which operate to a roughly 2-hourly frequency however in the mornings there is a 3-hour gap.
On Sundays: There is a limited service of just 5 trains per day to/from Carlisle with 2 trains to/from Glasgow.

Gallery

1960

2009