Wick

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Wick (1874-)

Station code: WCK National Rail ScotRail
Where: Highland, Scotland
Opened on the Sutherland and Caithness Railway.
Opened on the Wick and Lybster Light Railway.
Open on the Far North Line.

Description

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.

The station is a stone building with a timber all-over roof covering the buffer end of a single platform. The trainshed is a wonderful survivor. The wooden end screen is a little different to that at Thurso, having been either entirely replaced or cut back to remove the curved portions at either side. The former screen supports can be seen on either side. Wick formerly had a second platform, a bay, on the north side of the island platform with a looped line, but that line is lifted. This was the platform for the Lybster branch. The station was designed by Murdoch Paterson.

Wick had an extensive goods yard, now largely lifted and both the goods sheds have been demolished. The yard had around six loading banks.

The locomotive shed (Wick Shed) has been rebuilt as a supermarket. This was on the south side of the goods yard and approached from the west. Lines ran through the double track shed to the turntable.

There was a signal box at the west end of the station, opened with the line. It was replaced with a new box in 1893, on the north side of the line.

Wick was formerly the junction for the Lybster branch, opened in 1903. The junction was at the west end of the station with the branch curving to the south. The branch closed in 1944.

The signal box closed in 1977.

Local

John O' Groats is 16 miles north of the station.

Wick Heritage Centre

Pulteney Distillery

Caithness Stone

Scotland on Screen - Around Wick Harbour

Tags

Station Terminus

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
NLS Map
07/12/2019




Chronology Dates

28/07/1874Sutherland and Caithness Railway
Line opened from Helmsdale (Duke of Sutherland's Railway) to Wick with stations at Salzcraggie (Private), Kildonan, Kinbrace, Forsinard, Altnabreac, Scotscalder, Halkirk, Georgemas Junction, Hoy, Thurso, Bower, Watten, Bilbster and Wick.
01/07/1903Wick and Lybster Light Railway
Line opened from Wick (Sutherland and Caithness Railway) to Lybster.
03/04/1944Wick and Lybster Light Railway
Lybster to Wick closed to all traffic (temporary, but final closure)
01/02/1951Wick and Lybster Light Railway
Lybster to Wick; official closure date (already closed by April 1944)
07/02/1989Inverness and Ross-shire Railway
Ness Viaduct, Inverness, collapses, separating the Thurso, Wick and Kyle of Lochalsh lines from the rest of the network. Dingwall becomes the southern terminus, Muir of Ord closes (although served by a minibus) and becomes a train maintenance depot. Buses operate between Inverness and Dingwall while a new bridge is built. Oil traffic to Lairg is suspended (it does not restart until 2001).
  /  /1991Sutherland and Caithness Railway
Pipes delivered by rail to Wick.

News items

23/12/2023Train line near Inverness reopens following landslip [Inverness Courier]
22/12/2023ScotRail secure rail replacement buses with services between Inverness and Wick still suspended [Inverness Courier]
04/12/2023The best way to build bridges with rail giant [Scotsman]
25/11/2023Update: Travel resumes on Inverness to Wick railway after crash causes closure of the line [Ross-shire Journal]
02/11/2023Rail chaos between Inverness and Wick to stretch into next week [John O Groat Journal]
01/11/2023Repairs on Far North Line set to cause major disruption on trains between Inverness and Wick [John O Groat Journal]
31/10/2023Passengers hit by rail chaos between Wick and Inverness [Inverness Courier]
25/10/2023Trains between Inverness and Wick facing cancellations today after almost a week of disruption [Inverness Courier]
24/10/2023Halt on trains on two main Highland lines continues today [Inverness Courier]
30/09/2023Network Rail engineering works to hit Highland train services in October [Inverness Courier]

Books


Highland Survivor