Rhu is a closed

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

located in the village of Rhu, in

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute (; , ) is one of 32 unitary authority, unitary council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, on the east shore of

Gare Loch The Gare Loch or Gareloch () is an open sea loch in Argyll and Bute in the west of Scotland, and it bears a similar name to the village of Gairloch in the north west Highlands. The loch is well used for sailing, recreational boating, list of ...

. It is located towards the southern end of the

West Highland Railway The West Highland Railway was a railway company that constructed a railway line from Craigendoran (on the River Clyde west of Glasgow, Scotland) to Fort William, Highland, Fort William and Mallaig. The line was built through remote and difficul ...

History

This station opened as "Row" on 7 August 1894. The station was laid out with two platforms linked by a footbridge, one on either side of a

crossing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains o ...

. The use of

side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms, ...

s here was slightly unusual, since the West Highland Railway was otherwise built with

island platform An island platform (also center platform (American English) or centre platform (British English)) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway inte ...

s at stations, apart from at its northern end. There were sidings on the south side of the station. On 24 February 1927, the spelling of the station's name was altered to "Rhu". The station was host to a

LNER LNER or L.N.E.R. may refer to: *London and North Eastern Railway (1923–1947), a former railway company in the United Kingdom *London North Eastern Railway (2018–), a train operating company in the United Kingdom * Liquid neutral earthing resi ...

camping coach Camping coaches were holiday accommodation offered by many Rail transport, railway companies in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland from the 1930s. The Coach (rail), coaches were old passenger vehicles no longer suitable for use in tr ...

from 1935 to 1939. A camping coach was also positioned here by the Scottish Region from 1954 to 1956. The station was initially closed to passengers in January 1956, but reopened in April 1960. A second (and final) closure came on 15 June 1964, when the Craigendoran (Upper) to local service fell victim to the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts, also colloquially referred to as the Beeching Axe, were a major series of route closures and service changes made as part of the restructuring of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain in the 1960s. They are named ...

. Much of the structures have been demolished, but part of one platform is still visible. There have been proposals to reopen the station as part of an experiment to open ‘pop-up’ stations in Scotland.Pop up train stations at Rhu and Shandon Proposed
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References

Sources

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History

See also

References

Sources

Further reading