Top 5 stations in Scotland

Stuart Boyd • Mar 25, 2021

When ever I do a Q&A on Twitter one of the questions I always get is "Which is your favourite station so far?" It is very tough to choose a top 10 nationwide... So I have decided to split it up into a collection of Top 5's...

Well after 7 other Top 5 countdowns it's time for the final one, and for this one we head north of the border... When I was planning this in my head all I could think about was how this countdown will look very different in 6 months time, maybe even impossible to do, time will tell!

5. Wemyss Bay

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Station: Wemyss Bay

Line: Inverclyde Line

Managed By: Scotrail


Ok, cards on the table... I have said a few times this is one of my most over rated stations on the network. But blooming hell it's still beautiful and rightfully deserves its place in this top 5.


I remember visiting Wemyss Bay on a very rushed and very unplanned trip! It was when at the last minute they announced that IBM would be mothballed. So the next weekend I booked a hotel and headed north. After visiting the branch line to Largs I then hopped on a bus which took me to Wemyss Bay.


I remember wondering around the station and thinking about how beautiful it was, but truth be told, for me it's just missing something. Don't ask me what, I genuinely couldn't tell you.

4. Garelochhead

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Station: Garelochhead

Line: West Highland Line

Managed By: Scotrail


This is your stereo typical West Highland Station. Gravel platform with a station building in the centre. Stations in this style always look amazing. I am pretty confident that in the future I will need to do a West Higland Line top 5...


This was part of a day which was very much unplanned, I literally only decided to visit the Glasgow area 2 days previous. After visiting here and taking many photos I headed down to the village for a walkabout around the village and sat and chilled by the lake .


After all this I took the bus to Helensburgh. What a lovely bus route it was along the shores of the loch. This was unexpected and sometimes the unexpected things are the best!

3. Arrochar & Tarbet

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Station: Arrochar & Tarbet

Line: West Highland Line

Managed By: Scotrail


Let me set the picture for you... I was boarding the 0530ish train from Glasgow Queen Street, I'd had only 5 hours sleep, I slept most of the journey from Glasgow Queen Street, I arrived at Arrochar & Tarbet, I stepped out into what felt like the middle of the woods rather than at a station... I simply stood on the platform and looked around trying to wake up and take in where I was.


After I had woke up, I found the station setting was even better. I took a lovely walk through the village and to the edge of Loch Lomand where the views just left me speechless. I just stood on the edge of the loch gulping in all the beauty!


After this I headed back to the station where I was in time to catch a glimpse of the Caledonian Sleeper heading to Fort William.

2. Crianlarich

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Station: Crianlarich

Line: West Highland Line

Managed By: Scotrail


The train to Crianlarich from Helensburgh Upper was possibly the busiest trains I had been on since the start of the pandemic. Full of walkers all heading to the Scottish Highlands for walking. When I alighted at Crianlarich I knew I only had a matter of minutes before heading back down towards Glasgow. So I spent my few minutes running around trying to take as many photos as possible! Sadly I have lost some of the photos I took there! They just weren't on my phone when I got back to the hotel :(.


Happily though it gives me a great reason to revisit, which should be quite easy given it is the junction station for the Oban line. I mean, the scenery is breathtaking, the station is lovely. The trains are a plenty (in rural station terms anyway). I look forward to returning here!

1. Barrhill

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Station: Barrhill

Line: Glasgow South Western Line

Managed By: Scotrail


Ah Barrhill, to date my favourite station in Scotland. I was chatting about this with my mate Jack (@JackAllStation) and he asked me why Barrhill beats Crianlarich. It was a good question. The answer was simple though, Crianlarich was bustling with people, Barrhill was just me and the network rail staff who dealt with the token exchange.  I do love my peace and quiet.


I had spent the week before Barrhill working in Dumfries, after I had finished work on the Friday I headed on the bus to Stranraer where I would be working for the night. After dropping my stuff of at the delightful guest house I was staying at I headed to the station to visit Barrhill, ticking this off today would save me plenty of time the next day.


I alighted not really knowing what to expect, I hadn't google mapped this station or anything. I alighted to find a token exchange happening by a network rail member of staff (he was wearing shorts in March!) Once the train departed I had a nice conversation with said staff and he explained how rural the station was and what was nearby, other than the small village, not very much. But as you might of discovered from my previous blogs, these are the type of stations I love, the ones where it is just me, a platform, and nothing else. Barrhill is all that :)

DAY 3 Look back - Walking the scenic railways of Wales

by Stuart • 21 Sept, 2024
Day three of the walk saw me starting nice and early at Llandudno Junction. With one simple aim, to get as far along the Conwy Valley as possible! Betws-y-Coed was the minimum target for the day. On this day I was joined by KD ( @roadsignreporter over on YouTube ). Walking to Glan Conwy was easy enough for us both, I kicked myself that I hadn't pushed myself the day before! Blooming beer! After Glan Conwy it was time for the first of the many hills that Wales was going to throw at me during this walk. We had to head up the steep hills to avoid walking along the very busy footpathless A470. You can see the scale of the diversion on the Strava map at the bottom. Things improved at Tal-y-Cafn when we arrived at the lovely station. Had a good chat with the Network Rail level crossing staff there who refilled our water bottles for us. After this we headed across the fields and along the B5106 which we would follow mostly until Betws-y-Coed. Only really leaving the road to pop to the required stations to walk too. We had a nice surprise at Dalgarrog when we came across the Dolgarrog Railway Society platform where we chatted with one of the members. They told us about the work they are doing with the site. Was a really nice break from walking. Between Dolgarrog and Llanrwst our pace slowed down a fair bit, I think this was down to the heat, and it became clear Betws-y-Coed was going to be the end point for the day! We reached the village and the road kindly dropped us off at the Spar shop and bakery so was able to stock up on some essential cakes and drinks. Shout out to the TfW guard on the train back to Llandudno Junction who kindly wavered the fare for the journey. Was much appreciated!

DAY 2 Look back - Walking the scenic railways of Wales

by Stuart • 21 Sept, 2024
Day two of the walk saw me walking from Bangor to Llandudno Junction. This day was a lovely walk mostly along the North Wales Coast Path. With getting ahead of schedule the day before I was able to relax a little today. So the target today was Penmaenmawr, anything after that was a bonus. On this day I was joined by friend and boss. Special mention to Ian, honestly without him keeping me on full pay while on these charity walks they simply wouldn't be able to happen! We stopped at the beach café at Penmaenmawr where comically we was counting out pennies to pay for our lunch as the café didn't accept card! While having lunch we looked at how far we would be able to walk. We set our target on Glan Conwy. We was going well following the A55 right until we arrived at Conwy where we went to a pub for a pint... After this we decided that with beer in us we wasn't going to be making it to Glan Conwy. Instead we slowly made our way to Llandudno Junction where we called it a day!

DAY 1 Look back - Walking the scenic railways of Wales

by Stuart • 20 Sept, 2024
Day one of the walk would see me walk from Holyhead to Bangor. This was not the original plan. The original plan was to only walk to Bodorgan. But upon reaching Bodorgan and just missing a train I decided to push on and just see how far I could get! Sadly on day one I was on my own that day. But that was probably a good thing, I don't think many would of approved of walking 32 miles!

Stations to visit: KILDALE

by Stu • 28 Apr, 2024
Kildale station is located on the very scenic Esk Valley Line that runs from Middlesborough to Whitby. From the June 2024 timetable change the station will see 8 trains per day, 4 in each direction! Although this is a limited service it does give you the opportunity to do some exploring of the area.

Afternoon walk with Bailey

by Stuart • 27 Jan, 2024
I set of on a walk with my sisters dog and headed for the disused canal from Kendal. I followed along disused canal to the village of Natland. I then swapped the disused canal for the river. After following the riverside path, I came across a footbridge that I had planned to use, annoyingly it was closed! Annoyingly I was planning to use this footbridge, due to this there was a lenghty diversion. Thankfully the diversion wasn't a total waste of time, I was able to walk through the beautiful Sizergh Castle and then head back up to my original route plan and headed to Helsington church and view point. After spending a little time chatting with my Dad (who's ashs was scattered there) me and Bailey then headed up to Scout Scar before setting of back down towards Kendal. Upon reaching the River Kent I decided that my feet was still feeling good and I headed back along the river to Hawes Bridge. I then headed up into the village of Natland and then up to Oxenholme where my walk came to an end!

The Northumberland Line

by Stuart • 21 Jan, 2024
A blog about the new Northumberland Line that is scheduled to start opening in the Summer of 2024.

Walking the Great Western Railway - Day 4

by Stu • 06 Sept, 2023
This walk was a tail of two halves! The day started with walking through Reading suburbs and then through the city centre. Things mid morning took a positive turn as we headed to the The Kennet and Avon Canal which I then followed for the remaineder of the day. Only hopping away from the canal to go on to station platforms. A very enjoyable walk, even in the scorching heat! Stations visted today was: Reading, Reading West, Theale, Aldermaston & ended the day at Midgham. By walking between Aldermaston and Midgham I actually have managed to get a station ahead on my plan which can only be a good thing as I head down to the more difficult reagions of Somerset & Devon next week. Until tomorrow :)

Walking the Great Western Mainline gallery - Day 3

by Stu • 04 Sept, 2023
Todays walk was a little bit of a tough one, mainly due to the excessive heat which is only going to get worse as the week goes on. Thinking there will be some early starts coming up to try and miss the worst of the heat! Today was a mixture of roads and walks across fields. Discovered there is some beautiful countryside between Maidenhead and Twyford. I strongly encourage you to take this walk! Stations visited today: Burnham, Taplow, Maidenhead and ended at Twyford. Was great to have Nick Badley along with me today. Make sure to check out and subscribe to his YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@NickBadley . After the walk myself and Nick headed to Windsor where we met up with Coastway Will and had a Nandos dinner where the unlimited refils was very much used again and again! Until tomorrow :)

Walking the Great Western Mainline gallery - Day 2

by Stu • 03 Sept, 2023
Todays walk saw me starting at Southall and heading straight to The Grand Union Canal. We followed this for most of the walk today. Stations called at today was: Hayes & Harlington, West Drayton, Iver, Langley before finishing the walk at Slough. Was great to have pals Jack and Dave with me today. Laughed for the most part, especially when we got the wrong place for the London/Buckinghamshire borders. That video on twitter got filmed twice lol. Massive thank you to everyone supporting the event via donations to either/both: Donate to Samaritans: https://justgiving.com/page/greatwesternwalk Support me with the challenge: https://www.gofundme.com/f/GreatWesternWalk My photos from today are below. Daves photos from today can be found here on his Flickr photostream: https://flic.kr/ps/3ppCTV Until tomorrow :)

Gallery: Weekend Walking around Windermere & Oxenholme

by Stu • 20 Aug, 2023
Walk around Windermere:
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