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Summary

Description

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

Timber framed windows, astragalled to upper section. 3 brick ridge stacks. Felt roof (originally cedar shingles).

INTERIOR: remodelled for use as Rannoch Moor Visitors Centre, opened 2005.

SIGNAL BOX: (Map Ref: NN 42256, 57908) on platform to NE of station building: square-plan, North British Railway Company, Type 6a signal box. Painted ashlar plinth, brick base with dentils below cills; glazed timber framed upper panels with fixed 9-pane glazing. 6-pane glazed panel to door. Piended roof, lead flashings; projecting eaves, exposed rafters. 17 lever locking frame. Building preserved as part of the Rannoch Moor Visitor Centre.

SCULPTED PORTRAIT: to N end of platform. Stone sculptured relief portrait of J H Renton.

Statement of Special Interest

Rannoch Station is one of a series of island platform stations designed specifically for the West Highland Railway (sponsored by the North British Railway Company) in the 1890s. They are built in a 'Swiss Chalet' style with a piended bell-cast roof extending to form a canopy over each elevation and attributed to the renowned Glasgow architect, James Miller.

The West Highland Railway, which runs between Craigendoran and Fort William, was opened in 1894. Rannoch station, like Garelochhead and Bridge of Orchy, is of the island platform type introduced by Charles De Neuville Forman, the engineer of the West Highland Railway. The Swiss-style architecture and island platform were deliberately chosen to fit with the scenic route covered by the railway and are understood to have been the work of James Miller, although Robert Wemyss may have contributed to the designs while working with J J Burnet. The scalloped shingles are believed to have been imported from Switzerland.

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 mechanical boxes still in operation on the public network due to become obsolete by 2021. The signal box at Rannoch is an important part of example of the characteristic Type 6a boxes by the North British Railway Company, modified specifically for use on the platforms of West Highland Railway stations. Its shallow, piended roof and overhanging eaves are in keeping with the Swiss-chalet style of the main station building. The associated group value with the station, and with the engineering and scenic interest of the West Highland Line more broadly, add to its value. Other examples on the line include Garelochhead, Tyndrum Upper and Bridge of Orchy (see separate listings). The box was restored as part of the Rannoch Visitors Centre in 2005.

To the north end of the platform is a sculptured relief of the head of Mr J H Renton, a director of the West Highland who saved the line from bankruptcy when financial crisis hit in summer 1893. It was cut by the railway workers.

The Rannoch Moor Visitors Centre which opened in 2005 occupies the station buildings and a standard Highland Railway lattice girder foot bridge has also been added more recently to the site.

Statutory address and list description revised as part of Scottish Signal Box Review (2013). Previously listed as 'Rannoch Station Including Portrait Plaque Of J H Renton'.

References

Bibliography

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