page_title: Georgemas Junction railway station
section_title: Operation
hierarchical_section_title: Georgemas Junction railway station / Operation
caption_attribution_description: Georgemas Junction
context_page_description: Georgemas Junction railway station is a railway station located in the Highland council area in the far north of Scotland. It serves several rural hamlets in the historic county of Caithness, including Georgemas, Roadside and Banniskirk. It is also the nearest station to the village of Halkirk, which lies approximately 1.6 miles west of the station.
  Georgemas Junction is the penultimate station on the Far North Line from Inverness to Wick, 147 miles 20 chains down the line from Inverness. Immediately to the west of the station lies a junction of the same name, where the branch to Thurso spurs off northwards; mileages on this branch are measured from the station. This junction is the northernmost railway junction in the United Kingdom.
  The station has a single platform which is long enough to accommodate a six-carriage train.
context_section_description: Until diesel multiple unit trains were introduced by British Rail in the early 1990s, all trains on the Far North Line were locomotive-hauled, initially by Highland Railway steam locomotives, then by LMSR steam locomotives and latterly by British Railways steam and finally Class 37 diesel locomotives. Northbound passenger trains would divide at Georgemas Junction, with the rear portion for Thurso and the front portion for Wick. A locomotive was stabled at Georgemas Junction to haul the Thurso carriages.
  Following the introduction of Class 156 diesel multiple units on the line, trains were always composed of two trainsets (four cars) and at Georgemas, these would split in half with the front portion heading to Wick, the rear to Thurso.
  This practice was halted with the introduction of Class 158 sets which operate as single sets. On arrival at Georgemas Junction from Inverness, trains reverse to reach Thurso, and then reverse again from Thurso back to Georgemas Junction (stopping a second time) and on to Wick. An easement to the National Routeing Guide allows passengers for Wick to stay on the train between Georgemas Junction and Thurso, which would otherwise technically be off-route.
  Georgemas Junction station has been used for several freight services. In the early 2000s, EWS operated a freight train for Safeway supermarket, running from Mossend to Georgemas. Containers were unloaded at Georgemas, then transported by road to Wick and Thurso, and by ferry to Orkney.
  In 2012, the former platform 1 was removed as part of a scheme to construct a new freight terminal on the site. As this platform was located on a passing loop which did not connect directly to the Thurso branch, it was very little-used by passenger trains, since all services through the station run to or from Thurso. The purpose of the passing loop dates back to the era of loco-hauled trains which divided/attached at the station – an Inverness-bound train from Wick would loop around the Thurso portion standing on the second (remaining) platform, and attach to it from behind.
caption: Georgemas Junction station in 2007, before removal of the footbridge and second platform in connection with provision of a new freight handling facility
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