Wick and Lybster Light Railway

Introduction

This light railway is closed. The line ran south from Wick to the terminus at Lybster. Heavy fish traffic was hoped for, but did not arise. The nearest passenger services are provided by ScotRail between Wick, Thurso and Inverness.





Locations along the line

These locations are along the line.

This is the end of the Far North Line from Inverness, the most distant station from the rest of the network. The furthest north station is Thurso. The station is to the south of the River Wick, in the west of the town. The town has a considerable harbour on Wick Bay, built for the once large fishing fleet.
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See also
Sutherland and Caithness Railway
Scotrail Class 156 2-car DMU 156446 tucks itself away under the trainshed at Wick, as it awaits time for the late morning departure back to Thurso and ...
David Pesterfield 17/03/1999
The exterior of Wick station, seen from the east in 1989. Note the Red Star Parcels sign. ...
Ewan Crawford 04/01/1989
With departure imminent, parcels are loaded onto a Wick-Inverness service at Wick in 1989. ...
Ewan Crawford 04/01/1989
Wick station opened 145 years ago on 28th July 1874 and was almost Beechinged, along with Thurso and the entire line back to Inverness, as well as the ...
David Bosher 17/06/2019
4 of 40 images. more


This station stood alongside the A99. The station building backs onto the A road. The platform was on the east side of the line. There was a goods siding to the south, approached by a reversing spur parallel with the platform line - the buffer stop by the building was the end of the headshunt.
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The old station building at Thrumster on the former Wick and Lybster Light Railway, see here in the summer of 2007. The mainly wooden structure has ...
John Furnevel 28/08/2007
Ian Giles collects the Stagecoach Volunteers Award at the National Railway Heritage Association for the restoration of Thrumster station. 6th ...
John Yellowlees 06/12/2017
A plaque was unveiled at Thrumster on the 21st of August to celebrate an award from the National Railway Heritage Awards for the former station's ...
John Yellowlees 21/08/2018
A photograph of the ticket office window at the restored Thrumster Station, which closed in 1944. ...
John Yellowlees 17/08/2017
4 of 11 images. more


Looking north near the former Welshs Crossing Halt. ...
Ewan Crawford //
1 of 1 images.


This was a single platform station. The platform was on the east side of the line with a building typical of the line, such as that preserved at Thrumster.
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Opened in 1903 by the Wick and Lybster Light Railway, the single platform station at Ulbster was equipped with basic goods facilities, comprising a ...
John Furnevel 28/08/2007
The abandoned platform at Ulbster on the Wick and Lybster Light Railway, seen here in August 2007, more than 63 years after closure of the line. View ...
John Furnevel 28/08/2007
Looking north at the former Ulbster station. ...
Ewan Crawford //
The modified former station master's house at Ulbster on 28 August 2007. ...
John Furnevel 28/08/2007
4 of 5 images. more


This was a single platform station. The platform was on the east side of the line. North of the station were two sidings and a loading bank, all on the east side of the line and served from the south alongside the station.
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Looking north at the former Mid Clyth station. ...
Ewan Crawford //
The former station at Mid Clyth (closed April 1944), on the Wick and Lybster Light Railway, photographed in August 2007. A successor to the original ...
John Furnevel 28/08/2007
2 of 2 images.


Looking south at the former Roster Road Halt. ...
Ewan Crawford //
1 of 1 images.


This was a single platform station. The platform was on the south side of the line. The station building was of the same style as that which survives at Thrumster.
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Looking east at the former Occumster level crossing. The station was in the distance. ...
Ewan Crawford //
A former crossing keeper's cottage west of Occumster on 28 August 2007. Much of the surrounding area has now been agriculturally landscaped. ...
John Furnevel 28/8/2007
2 of 2 images.


Looking north at the former Parkside Halt. ...
Ewan Crawford //
1 of 1 images.


This was a single road timber shed at the Lybster terminus. The shed was at the east end of the site and on the south side of the railway. It was reached by reversing from the goods shed. The turntable was located in the 'V' between the railway and shed siding.
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This was the southern terminus of the single track line from Wick. It was a one platform station with a generously sized goods yard. It was in the northern part of Lybster. Lybster Harbour was once a busy fishing port established by the British Fisheries Society but suffered with the collapse of over-fishing of herring around 1900.
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Lybster station building in 1986. Now the clubhouse for the local golf club. The branch closed on 3 April 1944. ...
Bill Roberton //1986
Lybster goods shed in 1986, over forty years after closure. It lingered on for a number of years after this but has since been demolished. ...
Bill Roberton //1986
Lybster goods shed in 1998 looking to the buffers. This building has been demolished but the terminus, now a golf club building, remains - this is out ...
Ewan Crawford //1998
Approaching the Lybster terminus of the Wick and Lybster Light Railway on 28 August. The former station building still stands along with partial ...
John Furnevel 28/8/2007
4 of 8 images. more