Stranraer Station

I was in Stranraer today for the first time in decades, travelling by rail.

The Station I imagine is much diminished from it's heyday before Stena pulled out in 2011.

Did it used to have a Buffet and other facilities ? - it seems a one man/woman operation today.

Interestingly the old Motorail Ramp is still there rusting away, and there is also what looks like an old maintenance building boarded up.

One good thing is you can get out onto the harbour from the station - there were people fishing there today. Handy for me to have a fag while waiting for the train.

There is barely nothing left of the old Ferry Terminal as all the buildings seem to have been flattened and it is all waste ground fenced off. The odd Stena sign exists and that's about it. Are there any plans to redevelop this massive area.

The trains I arrived and departed on had barely a dozen people going to "the end of the line" at Stranraer. Could it be axed completely ?

Another I noticed in the latter part of the journey were real signal boxes with staff actually in them !!

Also weirdly saw some "Greater Anglia" rolling stock just outside Kilmarnock !!

Stranraer was a sorry place when I first visited about 15 years ago and the ferries were running then.

I suspect it will now become like a lot of other coastal towns (Redcar, Morecambe, Margate) and become a place in ever rapid decline unless it receives serious investment.

What the area needs is some clever marketing which means Dumfries and Galloway becomes a 'must see' for tourists. At the moment very few 'turn left' at Gretna as there appears to be no reason to do so.

North Coast 500 has become a massive marketing success bringing tourists to what was a quiet and tough area part of Scotland to make a living. The south west needs something similar and quickly.

I did the journey to Stranraer a few weeks ago. My first ever trip on the line. The train was much busier than I had expected on the arrival in Stranraer at lunchtime. I hadn’t realised what remote countryside it travelled through. I didn’t realise that I would have such a long walk through dereliction from the station to the town. I actually found the town centre quite a pleasant and busy place. I was also surprised at how fast the line speed was over quite long sections. The 156 seemed to be going quite fast at times and was not always a very smooth ride. It appeared to be travelling at a much faster speed than the 60 mph on the Settle to Carlisle Line a few days previous but perhaps it just seemed that way on a 156 compared to a 158 on smoother track.

The Greater Anglia unit would have been a class 317 having accessibility modifications.

The station also featured the old BR ScotRail sign from the mid 80s plus an old Stena Sealink sign. Hen's teeth these days!

thejuggler said:

What the area needs is some clever marketing which means Dumfries and Galloway becomes a 'must see' for tourists. At the moment very few 'turn left' at Gretna as there appears to be no reason to do so.

North Coast 500 has become a massive marketing success bringing tourists to what was a quiet and tough area part of Scotland to make a living. The south west needs something similar and quickly.

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I agree 100%. Strange that SW Scotland is so overlooked - it is a fascinating place with beautiful scenery, mountains, moors, seascapes, fantastic small towns.

John Griffiths said:

I agree 100%. Strange that SW Scotland is so overlooked - it is a fascinating place with beautiful scenery, mountains, moors, seascapes, fantastic small towns.

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After the West Highland Line, Settle and Carlisle, and Dingwall to Kyle, the Stranraer line is possibly the most scenic line in the UK, with semaphore signalling as a bonus! Yet it receives practically no publicity. Moving Stranraer station to the site of the old Stranraer Town station would help, but what is really needed is awareness of its existence as one of the great railway journeys.

John Griffiths said:

I agree 100%. Strange that SW Scotland is so overlooked - it is a fascinating place with beautiful scenery, mountains, moors, seascapes, fantastic small towns.

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Entirely agree - but unfortunately Stranraer is at the end of the line/road geographically and so doesn't make a good tourism centre; on my last visit we stayed at Kirkcudbright and didnt get west of Whithorn.

It could be, though. My last visit was the same as yours - but the 'far end' is pretty good: the Rhinns of Galloway, Portpatrick etc.

Moderator note: if anyone wishes to discuss ideas for improving rail access to Stranraer please use this thread: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/suggestions-for-improving-rail-access-to-stranraer.187060/

There is some wonderful footage of Stranraer Harbour, shot shortly before closure of the 'Port Road', at the start of this video:-


Sealink, as then was, improved the facilities with a new reception area behind the ticket office sometime in the late 70s in the face of competition from Townsend Thoresen (now P & O) at Cairnryan.

I think the solution today is to cut the line back to the loch foreshore with a single platform with perhaps a mini 'transport hub' with a few bus bays and a ticket office / tourist information centre - there is certainly enough land available. Stranraer Town, despite its name, wasn't any more convenient for the town than the current station.

I seem to recall quite a alot of freight going to N Ireland via the Stranraer line, even in 1980s BR days. I presume this ended with the demise of Speedlink.

It's a pity that Cairnryan is so remote from onward travel links, the car park isn't even big enough during the summer months with no room for expansion.

muddythefish said:

I seem to recall quite a alot of freight going to N Ireland via the Stranraer line, even in 1980s BR days. I presume this ended with the demise of Speedlink.

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I was last there in 1983 and remember a compound full of new Ford cars which I presume had been delivered by rail.

Roast Veg said:

It's a pity that Cairnryan is so remote from onward travel links, the car park isn't even big enough during the summer months with no room for expansion.

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How many pax leave the ferry in foot of use sail and rail tickets?
In Rosslare / Ireland it is next to nothing.

duesselmartin said:

How many pax leave the ferry in foot of use sail and rail tickets?
In Rosslare / Ireland it is next to nothing.

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There are a couple of Stena sailings a day where there are bus connections to Birmingham and London. They carry 30 or 40 foot passengers but for most other sailings there are just a handful of foot passengers. Most people fly these days.