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Summary

Description

Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Planning Authority

Attributed to James Miller, 1893-4. Single storey, rectangular-plan, near-symmetrical island station building with swept bell-cast roof carried over canopy on either side. Painted base course; brick plinth; timber-framed with scalloped timber shingle cladding. Panelled angle pilasters. Glazed end screens to outer left and right bays. Timber panel doors with 3 light fanlights; bipartite and canted windows. Swept eaves extend on carved consoles to form canopy.

Timber windows (originally small-pane glazing). Graded grey slates with terracotta ridge tiles. Rendered stacks with red clay cans. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

UNDERPASS: entry to station via underpass to N of station: bull-faced sandstone retaining walls with moulded copes. 2-leaf cast-iron gates. Concrete steps.

FORMER SIGNAL BOX: (Map Ref: NN 33387, 20220): on platform to S end of station building: North British Railway Company (Type 6a), 1984. 3-bay, square-plan, piend-roof signal box with 3 large windows to S, E and W elevations. Painted ashlar plinth; brick base with rounded brick corbells below projecting cills; glazed timber framed upper panels with fixed 9-pane glazing. Deep bracketed eaves. Slate roof.

Statement of Special Interest

Tyndrum Upper is one of a series of single storey island stations designed for the West Highland Railway (sponsored by the North British Railway Company) in the 1890s. Featuring a piended bell-cast roof extending to form a canopy over each elevation and glazed end screens to provide shelter from the wind, they are built in a distinctive and picturesque 'Swiss Chalet' style chosen to compliment the mountainous scenery on the route.

The design is understood to be the work of the influential Glaswegian architect, James Miller, although Robert Wemyss may have contributed to the designs while working with J J Burnet. Miller had formerly worked as an assistant in the architectural office of the Caledonian Railway, thereby gaining considerable experience designing railway stations.

Signal boxes are a distinctive and now rare building type that make a significant contribution to Scotland's diverse industrial heritage. Of more than 2000 signal boxes built across Scotland by 1948, around 150 currently survive (2013) with all pre-1948 mechanical boxes still in operation on the public network due to become obsolete by 2021. The signal box at Tyndrum is an example of the characteristic Type 6a boxes by the North British Railway Company, modified specifically for use on the platforms of the West Highland Railway. Its shallow, piended roof and overhanging eaves are in keeping with the Swiss-chalet style of the station building and is an important part if this significant group of historic railway buildings.

The West Highland Railway, running between Craigendoran and Fort William, opened in 1894 demonstrating exceptional engineering innovation in an outstanding natural setting.Tyndrum is an excellent example of an island platform station which also include those at Garelochhead, Bridge of Orchy and Rannoch (see separate listings). The island platform arrangement with track to either side of the central platform reservation, was introduced by Charles De Neuville Forman, the engineer of the West Highland Railway.

The station was renamed 'Tyndrum Upper' in the 1950s to avoid confusion with the earlier station built at Tyndrum for the Callander and Oban railway line.

List Description revised as part of Scottish Signal Box Review (2012-13).

References

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