Far North Line
The Far North Line is a rural railway line entirely within the Highland area of Scotland, extending from Inverness to Thurso and Wick. As the name suggests, it is the northernmost railway in the United Kingdom. The line is entirely single-track, with only passing loops at some intermediate stations allowing trains to pass each other. Like other railway lines in the Highlands and northern Lowlands, it is not electrified and all trains are diesel-powered.
Route
The line links the city of Inverness, the largest city in the Scottish Highlands, with the towns of Wick and Thurso at the northeastern tip of Britain.Like the A9 trunk road north of Inverness, the Far North Line broadly follows the east-facing coastline of the Moray Firth, with all three termini located on the coast. As such, the railway links many of the same places as the road.
Many more places were served by both the railway and the road before three new road bridges were built: across the Beauly Firth, the Cromarty Firth and the Dornoch Firth. As a result, at some locations the railway is now a long way inland from the modern route of the A9.
The railway also loops a long way inland between Tain and Golspie, running via Lairg, which has never been on the A9; it was envisaged at the time of construction that this diversion would open the centre of Sutherland to trade. It also takes a large inland detour north of Helmsdale, running via the Flow Country, which the A9 also never passed through; this diversion was dictated by the unfavourable terrain of the Caithness coastline.
Inverness–Tain: through Ross-shire
The railway line begins at Inverness station, where passenger connections are available for the Highland Main Line and the Aberdeen–Inverness line, as well as for bus services to destinations throughout the Scottish Highlands. While the A9 leaves Inverness by crossing the Beauly Firth on the Kessock Bridge, the Far North Line instead heads west and runs alongside the Firth.File:Beauly A862.jpg|thumb|250px|The 15.06-m platform of Beauly station, the shortest on the National Rail network.
The single track crosses both the River Ness and the Caledonian Canal before it leaves Inverness and parallels the A862 road towards the village of Beauly. After, the line crosses the River Beauly and then takes a sharp, almost 180° right turn ; Beauly station is located halfway along this curve. Closed in 1960, the station reopened in 2002 and its single operational platform has the distinction of being the shortest on the National Rail network, at just.
The line then carries on north, crossing the historic county boundary from Inverness-shire into Ross and Cromarty just before reaching Muir of Ord station, which has two platforms and is the site of the first passing loop on the line. The line continues to parallel the A862 as it passes through Conon Bridge station, which reopened in 2013 in a similar style to Beauly and whose platform is just longer than that at Beauly. Shortly afterwards, the line crosses the River Conon and passes through the village of Maryburgh before reaching Dingwall station – the busiest station on the line aside from Inverness, with just over 80 thousand passengers recorded in the 2019–20 financial year.
At Dingwall Junction just north of the station, the Kyle of Lochalsh line diverges to the west. The Far North Line, meanwhile, rejoins the coast and continues northeast along the shoreline of the Cromarty Firth; the railway meets the A9 again shortly after, at the north end of the Cromarty Bridge.
The next station on the line is, which closed in 1960 but reopened 13 years later. After Alness the line turns gently eastwards to reach Invergordon station before turning northeast again. The line continues in this direction for nearly without another station until. Located approximately west of Hill of Fearn, the primary source of traffic at the station, it is also the nearest railway stop to the Seaboard Villages. The railway then takes a sharp turn to run northwest for approximately until it reaches Tain station on the south side of the Dornoch Firth.
Tain–Helmsdale: Lairg loop and the Sutherland coast
A short distance west of Tain, the Far North Line and the A9 part ways again – while the road crosses the Dornoch Firth by means of a bridge, the railway line instead follows the coast of the Firth. In fact, the railway does not return to an open coastline for another until Golspie, even though the distance between Tain and Golspie as the crow flies is only. There have been many unsuccessful proposals to build a new, shorter railway line between the two villages via Dornoch, which led to the existing route via Lairg being sometimes unofficially called the "Lairg loop".Soon after the A9 splits away, the line crosses the lieutenancy area boundary from Ross and Cromarty into Sutherland. The track follows the route of the A836 until the next station on the line,, at the end of the Dornoch Firth. The station is in the village of Ardgay and also serves the slightly larger village of Bonar Bridge on the opposite side of the Kyle of Sutherland.
From Ardgay, the line runs northwards alongside the Kyle, and after just over it reaches the first two request stops en route – and, which lie on either side of the Invershin Viaduct over the Kyle. At just, the distance between these two stations is among the shortest in all of Britain. There is no direct road connection between the two sides of the Kyle at this location, and a public footpath was only built alongside the viaduct in 2000; prior to this, the railway was the only way to travel between the two stations without taking a detour via Bonar Bridge. The Kyle once also marked the boundary between the historic counties of Ross and Cromarty and Sutherland; however, the modern boundary between the respective lieutenancy areas lies several miles to the south, putting both stations in modern-day Sutherland.
The track then continues northwards along the River Shin for another until it reaches Lairg station, located about south of the village itself. This is the furthest point away from the coast on the Lairg loop; beyond the station the line curves sharply eastwards and heads back towards the Moray Firth along Strath Fleet, now paralleling the A839 road. The line then passes through another request stop,, which actually lies in the small hamlet of Pittentrail and about south of Rogart itself; the station briefly closed in 1960, only to be reopened less than 9 months later. Immediately east of the station there is an open level crossing – the only such crossing on the line. after Rogart, the railway meets the A9 again, as it passes by Mound Alderwoods and Loch Fleet. This was once the site of The Mound station and a junction with the Dornoch Light Railway to Dornoch; both the station and the branch closed in 1960. The railway then turns northeast and returns to the coast at Golspie, with the station located at the western end of the village.
Just east of Golspie, the line meets Dunrobin Castle station, which was built as a private, single-platform halt for the Duke of Sutherland to serve Dunrobin Castle a short distance south of the track. The station closed in 1965 but reopened in 1985; today, the station is a public request stop, although it is only open during the summer months, corresponding to the castle's annual opening times. The station is also notable for its lack of lighting; as such, no trains are scheduled to call at the platform before 9 am or after about 6 pm.
The line continues along the coast for another, occasionally coming just metres away from the shoreline, passing through Brora station before reaching the village of Helmsdale, located at the mouth of the river of the same name. Helmsdale station lies on the other side of the river from most of the village.
Helmsdale–Wick/Thurso: Strath of Kildonan and Caithness
Beyond Helmsdale, the railway is forced to divert away from the Moray Firth coast and from the A9 once again, avoiding the unfavourable terrain of the Ord of Caithness. Instead, the line takes a sharp turn northwest and heads inland towards the Flow Country – the largest expanse of blanket bog in Europe. This is by far the most remote section of the entire line: the majority of the intermediate stations along this stretch are request stops, and each station only serves a handful of isolated houses.Initially, the single track follows the course of the Strath of Kildonan together with the A897. Kildonan station, one of the least-used stations on the line, lies approximately halfway along the Strath; the station was the site of a second open level crossing until early 2022, when it was replaced with a more standard barrier crossing. The far end of the Strath, close to the point where the A897 meets the B871 road, marks the location of Kinbrace station.
Beyond Kinbrace, in stark contrast to the rest of the line, the topography of the surrounding area becomes flat and low-lying, and will remain so until the railway's two northern termini. The line carries on northwards alongside the A897 for until it reaches Forsinard station which, despite its isolation, is not a request stop. With two platforms, this station is the last place on the line where passenger trains running in opposite directions can pass each other. The station serves the Forsinard Flows National Nature Reserve, among other nearby parts of the Flow Country; an RSPB visitor centre is adjacent to the station platforms. At Forsinard, the line crosses the A897, turns east-northeast, and does not meet another public road for over. Soon, the line leaves the county of Sutherland and enters Caithness.
As the track passes through Caithness countryside, it eventually reaches Altnabreac station. This single-platform halt is often listed as one of Britain's most geographically isolated railway stations, being about from the nearest village and from the nearest paved road. There are, however, a handful of houses in the immediate vicinity of the station, accessed by a private dirt road, which is marked as a public cycle trail on Ordnance Survey maps.
The line then turns gently to the northeast, passing by several small lochs en route, before passing under the B870 road. This is the site of Scotscalder station, which is among the least-used stations on the line, typically averaging less than 1 passenger per day. After another, the track passes south of Halkirk – the first unscattered village in over, although there is no longer a railway station serving it. The line reaches its penultimate station,, at the point where the line crosses the A9 again. Adjoining the station on the south side is a freight terminal built in 2012 by Direct Rail Services; this was used by trains taking nuclear material from Dounreay to Sellafield.
At Georgemas Junction, which is not a request stop, the lines to Thurso and Wick diverge; this is the northernmost railway junction in the United Kingdom. The Wick-facing Thurso branch curves north immediately west of the station and runs alongside the River Thurso, paralleling the A9 until it reaches Thurso station – the northernmost railway station in Britain, by the northern coast of Scotland. Thurso is the nearest station to the ferry terminal at Scrabster, which has ferry services to and from the town of Stromness in the Orkney Islands. Meanwhile, the main line to Wick continues in an east-southeasterly direction, sandwiched between the A882 and B874 roads, and terminates at Wick station on the east coast. At, the distance between Georgemas Junction and Wick is the longest between any two adjacent stations on the line, although three other stations existed along this stretch until 1960. Wick is the nearest station to Wick Airport as well as to the village of John o' Groats at the northeastern tip of mainland Britain, which is linked to the town by a bus service operated by Stagecoach Highlands.