page_title: Kyle of Lochalsh railway station
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Kyle of Lochalsh railway station / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Kyle station
context_page_description: Kyle of Lochalsh railway station is the terminus of the Kyle of Lochalsh Line in the village of Kyle of Lochalsh in the Highlands, northern Scotland.
  The station is 63 miles 64 chains from Dingwall, and has two platforms which can each accommodate a nine-coach train.
context_section_description: The station was opened on 2 November 1897 by the Highland Railway, following the completion of the extension of the Dingwall and Skye Railway from Stromeferry.  The extension took more than four years to complete due to the unforgiving nature of the terrain through which it was driven - 29 bridges had to be constructed and more than 30 cuttings excavated through solid rock, which led to it costing £20,000 per mile (making it the most expensive rail route to be built in the UK at the time).  As built, the station consisted of a broad island platform on a pier next to the water's edge and a chalet-style station building close to the western end.  Access to the station was (and still is) via a sloping access road.  Several sidings were provided, along with a signal box and small locomotive shed. The station was host to two LMS caravans from 1935 to 1937 followed by one caravan in 1938 to 1939.
  Until the early 1970s, the station provided a connection to the ferry services for the Outer Hebrides. The ferry terminal at the Kyle of Lochalsh was 71 miles (114 km) from Stornoway, and Ross and Cromarty council created a new £460,000 (equivalent to £7,167,700 in 2019) ferry terminal at Ullapool which was only 43 miles (69 km) from Stornoway.
  The signal box closed in 1984, when Radio Electronic Token Block working was introduced on the line by British Rail - although no longer operational it is still intact and has been adapted for use as a holiday cottage. Both platforms however remain, though only the western face (platform 1) is normally used by passenger trains.  Three sidings are also still intact, including a run-round loop for loco-hauled trains alongside platform 1 and a loading bank siding adjacent to this (which has seen use by timber trains in recent years).  Access to each of the sidings and platform 2 is by means of ground frames.
  The station is located next to the piers that used to offer sailings to Skye, the ferries being superseded on 16 October 1995 by the Skye Bridge that lies close to the station.
caption: Kyle station in September 1973
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