Stranraer Harbour railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Stranraer
code = STR

---

caption = Stranraer Harbour station and ferry terminal
manager = First ScotRail
locale = Stranraer
borough = Dumfries and Galloway
latitude = 54.910
longitude = -5.02
platforms = 1
lowusage0203 = 47,921
lowusage0405 = 53,190
lowusage0506 = 55,377
lowusage0607 = 54,149
original = Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway
pregroup = CR, G&SWR, MR and L&NWR
postgroup = LMS
years = 1 October 1862
events = Opened

Stranraer Harbour railway station (or according to Network Rail simply Stranraer railway station) is a railway station that serves both the town of Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland and the port for ferries to Belfast, Northern Ireland. The station is the terminus of the line from Ayr.

History

It is alleged that a station was opened on 1 October 1862 by the Portpatrick Railway, [Butt (1995), page 222] but the current station buildings actually date from 1878 [Thorne (2005), page 90] under the Portpatrick Railways Act 1877 as prior to that the only facility was a concrete platform since the station was for goods. Passengers and mail were meant to use the station at Portpatrick. The Portpatrick ferry service never fully materialised owing to inaction by the Admiralty who felt, as has since been proved, that the harbour there was not suitable.

The Stena Line ferry service to Larne was moved to Belfast a number of years ago, although P&O stills sails there from nearby Cairnryan. Stranraer Harbour station is planned to be re-sited approximately 500m further east near the A77 overbridge.

A ferry service had commenced by 1861 but passengers made their way from Stranraer Town station to the steamers, not Stranraer Harbour station. The first daily ferry service started on the 1 October 1862 to Larne and was provided by the P.S. Briton. However, it only lasted until 31 December 1862.

rail line
next = Barrhill
route = First ScotRail

Glasgow South Western Line
col = FF80C0rail line
previous = Larne Harbour
via Cairnryan
route = P&O
Ferry
col = 333333rail line
next = Castle Kennedy
"Line open; station closed
route = Caledonian, Glasgow & South Western,
Midland and London North Western Railways

"'Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway
col = 444444
###@@@KEYEND@@@###

Future

As part of plans by SWESTRANS, the station is planned to be moved a few hundred metres South to create a new transport hub for Stranraer, this project is dependent on whether Stena Line moves it operations out of Stranraer or not. [ [http://www.dumgal.gov.uk/RTPB/MiniWeb.aspx?id=448&menuid=7106&openid=7106 MiniWeb: South West of Scotland Transport Partnership (SWESTRANS) - Strategy ] ]

References

Notes

ources

*
* Thorne, H.D (2005). "Rails to Portpatrick", G.C. Books, Wigtown. ISBN 1-8723-5063-1