Does Anyone Use Barry Links Station?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 มิ.ย. 2024
- On the line between Dundee and Aberdeen, are three least used stations in Scotland - Balmossie, Golf Street, and the splendidly named Barry Links. But with only three trains a day ( or is that four? ) does anyone actually USE the station on a regular basis? I meet up with my friend Lewis to take a ride on the evening service to Barry ...
The 1610 Glasgow Queen Street to Arbroath is the only evening service that calls at Balmossie, Barry Links and Gold Street heading northbound. In the morning there are only TWO trains that call heading south.
The Wikipedia article (at time of publishing this video) for Barry Links station, says "... whilst northbound there is a 6:11pm and a 6:48pm, both to Arbroath" - I think this is wrong as I could only find one Northbound train that stops in the timetable ... who wants to double check it, and correct Wikipedia? :-)
[ UPDATE : Someone corrected Wikipedia within 8 minutes of this video being published! ]
Double-checked on RTT and now fixed on Wiki!
Before December 2023 the service pattern had two trains shuttling between Arbroath and Dundee all day (giving an hourly service at Broughty Ferry, Monifieth and Carnoustie). One train per day in each direction stopped at Balmossie, Barry Links and Golf Street (with the second service at these stations being the daily return service from Arbroath to Glasgow, the northbound journey of which you travelled on).
However in December one of these units was removed to provide trains for the Levenmouth line's re-opening. The shuttle service is now only every two hours, with the Glasgow-Aberdeen HSTs making these three stops in the opposite hours. The northbound service I believe was in an hour when the shuttle was removed and the HST makes the stops instead, but it obviously wasn't efficient to slow an express service down any more by stopping an extra three times.
The second northbound train was only 45 mins or so after the previous one, so of limited use anyway compared to the roughly 2 hour gap between the southbound trains in the morning. Hope this helps!
Now updated the reference to the May/June 2024 timetable on wiki
@@Ulleskelfyou just saved scotrails career
As somebody who once waited over an hour for a train at Barry Links before giving up, I commend you on the achievement of finding a train that stops there, Geoff.
I live halfway between Barry Links and Golf Street, and use both stations a few times a year. Some things to comment on;
-The passenger numbers at both stations will be higher than reported, but the numbers will go on Carnoustie's figures. Fairly often I will leave Carnoustie in the morning, with a return ticket, and get off at Golf Street in the evening.
-I never noticed until this video how massively out of date the map at Barry Links station is. There are three things all built in around 2005 which are missing; A main road northbound to the A92 which dissects the old Carnoustie Panmure football ground, the A930 Barry bypass, and my house, shown on the map as a golf driving range.
-Barry Links is at the north end of the Barry Buddon army training camp, and has been MoD land for many years, hence why the infrastructure indicates it was much bigger than it is today. When the red flags are not hoisted you can walk or cycle over it, and after a couple of miles of flat tarmacked road you get to a lighthouse and a fantastic deserted beach.
-edit; one more thing, Scotrail also did a £1million giveaway to be shared between anyone who had a smartcard season ticket on a particular date in 2018, in order to encourage people to move away from paper tickets and move to smartcards. It didn't have a huge take up and each person received £89. I had a Barry Links to Golf Street 1 week season ticket for that, costing around £10, for a nice £79 profit. Details of the promo are still available at www.scotrail.co.uk/million
that's some great local info - thank you! especially the Map being out of date! heh he.
There is an army base behind the station. I believe the third platform was used in the past to transport servicemen and supplies there.
It is Barry Buddon Camp (and artillery range). Very much run down now with no need to use Platform 3, but units from all over Scotland still come here to train.
That woulkd make sense. The military sometimes expects (and pays for) infrastructure way beyond the normal need. The three stations on the Ropes Creek line in Sydney were more than sufficient for the passenger traffic they received.
When I was the Manager in charge of these stations, the wonderful man in charge of Golf Street Halt always showed me that he had managed to sell a 1st class ticket to London Kings Cross.
Yeah, Barry does!
Why did i laugh
@@Thatspuremental 😂
😂😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
But who does he link with? (ho ho!)
But 470 people used Barry Links station in FY 2022-23. In that time, Scotscalder Station on the Far North Line was only used by 124 passengers. So isn’t Scotscalder the least used station in Scotland?
Reason there was an island platform was to serve the adjacent military training area.My dad was sent there on the outbreak of WW2.
Golf street and Balmossie definately deserve more service, especially because of their location! Great video Geoff.
That's one heck of a backpack Lewis is wearing. Looks like he carries all his worldly possessions around with him.
Yay another Lewis appearance!
It’s always nice to see Lewis appear! Looks like he enjoys it a lot as well.
That schedule almost mimics the two rail lines nearest my house in western Connecticut in the US. And, they can't imagine why people prefer to drive their cars.
Car industry lobbies government
Railways get destroyed and timetables gets cut back
People cannot board trains that don't run / stop at stations
The railway is admonished for being unsustainable / a bad investment because nobody is boarding the trains that don't exist
Like the crazy conductor chap in shorts I’m a guard at Dundee and we work this service and I CAN CONFIRM that at least 1 regular passenger alights at Barry Links usually! I worked this train on Friday last week and 3 people alighted, 1 person on platform I thought was boarding but they were just meeting 2 of the passengers off the train.
Golf Street like Balmossie usually has about 5 - 10 passengers alighting.
The depot group chat regularly has figures of the 1L51, 7th May one of our guards sold a Monifieth to Barry Links ticket. Friday 1st March on the 1T30 second southbound morning service the following was recorded @Gerry Dailly @Jean Donaldson this mornings all shacks pax numbers….
Golf Street - 10! Barry Links - 2 Balmossie - 3
The HST was going slower because it’s following your all stopper and can’t proceed beyond Carnoustie until your 170 clears Arbroath into the siding. It’s a ridiculous schedule as it’s held everyday at Carnoustie but isn’t scheduled to call there even tho it sits at the signal just beyond the platform!
When I’m next on this train and I see the regular passenger that goes to Barry Links I will show her this video!!
oh my! this is Fantastic info .. Thank you!! do we know why they cut the second Nb service, so that it's now just two southbound, and only one Northbound? Shame no one got off the day we were there, would have loved to have spoken to a genuine passenger getting off ...
@@geofftech2 The second service cut was due to shortage of DMU’s with Leven training happening so rather than have 2 158’s used on Dundee to Arbroath shuttles all day we just have 1 now. The train that was cut at 18:31 is now replaced by an HST from Edinburgh to Aberdeen calling at Broughty Ferry and Carnoustie. Monifieth gets an HST at 19:11 from Dundee which also calls at Broughty Ferry and Carnoustie! It’s hopefully only a temporary change and Barry Links might get it’s 4th train back again! It was great when it went from 2 trains a day to 4 initially so hope it happens.
@@RoyTheMouth Roy, you're brilliant ... ta! that's great to know.
@@geofftech2 number 1 guard at Dundee, after Arthur 😊🤣🤣🤣
I thought the HST just dreaded going to Aberdeen since the place is so awful.
Nice video of the area that I was brought up in. As a complete aside went to Wemyss Bay the other day thanks to you highlighting it on All The Stations. Loved it!! Great work Mr M.
Used Balmossie every weekend when I was a kid in late 70's as My Grandad was a train driver. We used to get to go the drivers cab all way into Dundee, and back or visit the railway depot which used to be a roseangle , just west of the current Dundee station.
Thanks for another great video Geoff, and it's great to see the lovely Lewis again, helping to inject some fun into a deserted rainy station.
I once used Balmossie station because I was staying in a hotel nearby. At the time I didn't realise it was the only evening train that stopped there. I nearly didn't make it because the departure screens made NO mention that only the front door would be opened (and I wasn't in the front carriage). Given it's location in a suburb of one of the largest cities in Scotland it seems odd it gets such a poor service and I'm sure with a regular service it would be well used.
I’d use it a lot more often if it was closer to Barry island, it’s a pain to trek all the way up to Scotland when I want to gotocardiff
I used to sit on the bench at Balmossie as a kid. It's a very narrow platform and trains fly through at 100mph, quite exciting about 3 inches from your feet!
8:53 love that BBC editing when it goes from a Class 158 from the footbridge to a Class 170 DMU at the level crossing but was a really great video Geoff and also had the pleasure of meeting Lewis in Dalmeny on Saturday evening as well.
There's a lovely national cycle route that runs parallel to the line here. Cycled it a few years ago going Edinburgh to Aberdeen.
I remember using Barry Links station (and other stations between Dundee and Arbroath) circa. 1981 when it was served by Class 122 DMU bubble cars operating under the "Tayway" banner. On my return to Dundee, I'd head for a great bakers in Dundee High Street called "Andrew G. Kidd". Great days.
0:39 i love how he looks up to where the title is as if hes trying to read it
The title has been below the video for years! 😅
Ah the old self-fulfilling prophecy of a lesser used station having few services - timeless!
Really cool to see this serie back !
As a Scotrail Driver, would have loved to have seen you on the platform 😂
HST was likely slow/slowing down as many services now stop at Broughty Ferry, Monifeith and Carnoustie before Arbroath…
As other comments have stated, platform was larger for the Army base that was busy back in the day.
Great to see you guys up this neck of the woods, will happily give a toot if ever see you passing/filming 😂😂
Thank you for sharing the video Geoff it was very interesting. ❤
A bit of history for you Geoff. My grandad was the Provost of Newport On Tay in the 1960s & was one of the important dignitaries at the time that opened up The Tay Road Bridge in 1966 & The Forth Road Bridge also opened in 1966 & The Queensferry Crossing opened in 2017 if I remember correctly Geoff. 👍
There are literally dozen of us use Golf Street to Dundee at 0751 on a week day
Totally of subject but I saw you this morning at a coffee shop in Hove. I did try waiting for a bit to say hello but it seemed like you was busy talking to someone from the bus service. Just wanted to say that I love your vids and seeing you was more exciting then bumping into PewDiePie!
Excellent fun little video as always! Love to see Lewis, he’s very fun
Great video, Geoff - it’s always good to see Lewis as well :)
This video was really good!
My memories of two visits to wonderful Scotland, ☔️ Nonetheless must go back again. Great video Geoff
The third platform was used as a terminus for the near by army training grounds at Barry buddon. I also wish I knew you were coming I’d have come met you guys.
I'm one of those responsible for the 2019 blip, when I took advantage of the Scotrail season ticket offer. I went twice, buying a Barry Links - Golf Street weekly one time, and a Greenfaulds - Cumbernauld the other. Each (unused) weekly season cost £7.10. And I've still not done Barry Links.
I nearly brought a ticket for Barry Links once. I actually wanted Barry. 😂
Same, but wanted Barry Island. Luckily the self service machines say no tickets available so didn't spend hundreds of pounds instead of a £5odd fare.
And you met Arthur, Dundee's #1 conductor
After me 😂
ha ha ha !! HELLO Neil !!! say hello to Arthur for us ( show him the vid! ) and 'hello' to you too Roy!!
As someone who grew up in nearby Arbroath, this is so cool to me. I took the train to Dundee so many times as a kid and had no idea this station existed...until one day in 2016, I was travelling home from uni and I spotted it on the dot matrix for the train I was getting on. I even tweeted you about it at the time Geoff asking what the deal was because I was so confused!
Barry links used to be an army camp and still is a training area. The third platform would troop trains? There is direct access from the station to the camp (the rifle ranges are clearly visible)
Just like Redcar British Steel station (which I believe you've visited) - No trains stop there anymore, because The steelworks has closed. They basically have a station with no services !
I always wondered if Golf Street and Barry Links would get an odd spike in passenger numbers when The Open is played at Carnoustie.
Golf Street did in the past, but not Barry Links.
@martenkats6915 only when Scotrail laid on additional trains to Golf Street which is pretty much at the Chanpionship Course. I don't think they've bothered to do that for either the Open or Women's Open which have been held after 1999.
There used to be a small loading depot parallel to the south bound platform, and if you notice the footbridge is extra wide to accommodate troops marching 2 abreast over it..
So I work alongside Lewis. I actually jumped out my skin when he appeared on my screen. Terrifying haha
he's been in a couple of other videos! when we went to Kintore, and also on the Elizabeth line at Paddington, and we did Edinburgh Trams vid together!
"Barry Links" sounds like a route indication on a South Wales motorway sign.
Never been to Barry Links before and I also haven’t been to Dundee as well. I wonder why it’s called Barry Links. Plus no matter you go it always rains in Scotland.
Great video Geoff
I tried to once a couple of years ago! I bought a campervan from the garage just up the road from Barry Links. After getting the train from Berwick I had to get off at Arbroath and the garage owners lovely wife picked me up.
Nice video, going to film some crossings along here soon
Nice how Lewis's camera work got letterboxes.
As kids we used to play football on the pitches next to Barry's military training base, the story was to be careful going to retrieve your ball if the red flag was up as there would be stray bullets flying around, lol.
Barry Island to Barry Links is crying out for a Nick Badley video
From some research and old maps it seems that the third platform would have been primarily for military use as there is a large military training ground on the south side of the station. There was a separate goods yard on the north east side of the station with a few small sidings and a crane. The military site is still in use today and held shooting events at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth games.
Thanks for this video Geoff. I remember your video from 2017 well. It's sad that John's miniature railway closed down in Arbroath. I'm surprised you went to Leven again this morning. Are you making another video?
saw the title and thought this was a new station between Barry , Barry Docks & Barry Island
A few people use Barry Links but how many of them are called Barry and how many have bought a Barry Links to Barry Island ticket?
From early winter night in Levin NZ... it just Looks so collld.......
I've been there.... way back in 1995! I even have a video of it uploaded to YT (when i was chasing signal boxes & semaphores at Broughty Ferry), the trees have taken over now, comparing your vid to mine, there's a lot more greenery, and by default, a lot more leaves to land on the line..... railways should not be linear forest's! Back in 95 there was a signal box (called Barry West, i assume in the distant past there was an East box also) although still a sparse service, i arrived & departed by bus from what i recall of the day, and happily my trip was rain free!
I was sure there was a signal box too but thought maybe it was something I misremembered as a child. Cycling out to Barry Links from Carnoustie in the summer I remember the signal box and this area looking quite different as well.
Enjoyed your video, was much more like how I remember it all those years ago.
Yes, I used it once a good few years ago. I used to live in Broughty Ferry so it was a bit of a novelty! I am sure I recall one year when the golf was at Carnoustie, GNER stopped HSTs at Golf Street.
1999
I was brought up in Monifieth in the 60s and went to school by train to Arbroath every day. The train always stopped at Barry Links and I remember the island platform and the old NB builing on it. As ever, if there is no service noone uses the station. Back in the 90s there were regular trains stopping. They keep the token service going because it's cheaper than closing them but it you provide a service and advertise it people will come.
Nice video Geoff , can you answer my one question. I thought that it would be request stops that would have had the lowest passenger numbers so are request stops counted as stations or stops ? On the West Highland Railway to Mallaig & also Kyle to Lochash Lines have these request stops as an example but because these railway lines are very scenic with outdoor activities people use these request stops.
My partner used to commute to and from Dundee from BYL because we live that end of Carnoustie. Did it regularly for most of the past couple of years until taking redundancy. I think the most number of people that ever alighted on the northbound service with him was 2.
nice video!
A 35 minute walk from Barry Links to Golf St and then a 14 minute walk to Carnoustie. So close to each other!
Yeah I have used it back when I lived down there. Rarely, I suppose the people living at that far end of Carnoustie used it semi-regularly.
I think it got more regular use when there was a golf competition happening, the Open etc. Not even sure it used to stop regularly at Golf Street.
This is pretty much my neck of the woods, I sometimes do walks in the area around Balmossie station, and of course I've been at Barry Links too when watching the trains go by. I always wondered why Golf Street even needs to be there when it's just a short walk from Carnoustie itself 🤷
I used to work with a bloke called Barry Links. His nickname was Blinks #truestory
I was driving that service the other day and wondered if you'd be up at Leven. Stopped at Barry Links and immediately thought of a dodgy cabaret singer. Hope you're well sir!?
hello sir! how the heck are you? i did think of you when i was at Dundee!! i had a busy day ... squeezing Leven and Barry all into one day, and then back to Glasgow to do something else. Do you drive the Leven service, or is that Edinburgh drivers?
There actually was two northbound evening services back in March 2020, the first from Glasgow and the second from Edinburgh 40 minutes later, which I used to first to arrive at Barry Links and the second to depart for Arbroath. Not sure why one of the evening services was cut, but there were definitely two of them once upon a time
There's technically 5 golf courses in the area - Panmure and Monifieth as you mentioned, but Carnoustie has 3 of its own - The Championship Course, The Burnside Course, and The Buddon Course.
The free travel promotion was a bit of a shambles, like Abellio in general. You needed to have a Smartcard season ticket, which I did. You used a webpage to add your promotional tickets to your smartcard and I decided on a trip from my local station, Carluke, to Inverness. Lo and behold, the tickets were never added to my smartcard despite having an email confirmation. So, I had to explain what happened to every Conductor and Ticket Examiner and the barrier staff at Inverness and Waverley. I got so much grief from a conductor on the Edinburgh to Perth train that I considered giving up and going home.
A week later, my wife, also a season ticket holder, tried again with a trip to Dundee (IIRC i got two free days as an annual pass holder). Same thing! Between that, and the Smartcard season ticket never letting me pass through barriers at intermediate stations, the following year I switched back to paper.
A practice area and 9 holes are an extension of carnoustie links from 1981. Making it adjacent to the railway all the way from Barry Links to golf street. Made the MOD area a little smaller
That was interesting, even though there's not much at Barry Links! 🙄
I was in the area in 1990 in connection with my work which included visiting the Army training area at Barry Buddon. This must have generated much traffic at one time.
Can you do the craigellachie bridge and the malt whiskey trail?
Wasn't there a bit of an uproar when Barry Links became a least used station? The local councillor saying that lots more people used the station and then the ORR came back and said that it was only an estimate.
i remember someone saying "several peopl use it everyday!", and it turned out, that ... no ... no they really didn't
But if no trains stop then no-one can use it.
There’s a service between Perth and Glenrothes that seems to run only 3 a day (2 north 1 south), it often gets longer trains but I’ve never seen anyone use it
I would guess that Barry Links was to serve Barry Buddon training area but not these days.
I know that the cavalry regiment based at Leuchars regularly use Barry Buddon ranges but they travel by minibus and MAN SV trucks.
I have used Barry Links station - and Balmossie and Golf Street, 2 years ago when there were two northbound trains! Then, you could start at Balmossie, alight at Barry, hang around until the next train came and then alight at Goff Street! (It is worth saying they had an all-day service until 1992). As evidenced by the extra-wide footbridge - that allowed soldiers to march in formation; Barry Links used to serve the large Army training & firing range to its' immediate south, which closed only a few years ago. It had been used only occasionally in recent years, but until the end of the Cold War it was more or less permanently manned, and even further baclk, long troop trains from all over the UK arrived here - hence the third platform! Are you aware of Springfield in Fife, Geoff? It had been served by only two southbound and three northbound trains for decades - despite there being a sizeable village, an agricultural college and a large hospital nearby...
Balmossie might.... might get more passengers with the improved walking paths by the seaside from Broughty Ferry all the way to Monifieth
Remember to visit Springfield Station Geoff! Another one of these odd anomaly stations that barely gets a service despite being on the mainline! 😁
A minor point perhaps, but you say near the start that there are 3 golf courses by the line in this area. The actual number is 5 as Carnoustie Links comprises 3 courses.
I think this was the old map
While you are there, can you do the Tay Bridge?
There is or was an army camp at Barry Budden which may explain the older long platform. I ended up in hospital after falling off the assault course there in the 70s lol😂
Did there used to be specials for military as its near a training ground?
No intro or title, does this mean Least Used Stations is dead as a series?
Been waiting for you to do Springfield - the least used station in Fife. It’s my second closest station. I believe it also has a 2-1 service pattern which is moderately useless!
The third platform was used by military trains during the First World War as there was a large military barracks at Barry
I use Barry Island, Barry and Barry Dock if that helps ….
Geoff is it possible you could find the cheapest ticket either for a single or return ticket a great journey that gives you the best value ever at the present moment and go it? Throw in a challenge to find as many different landmarks/ visitors attractions on the way ? It could be London or along the UK coastline or inland or somewhere really remote . You could do the history behind the line or industrial heritage that goes along with it . Obviously it must be within the UK or Northern Ireland Railway Network.
If someone called Barry Links got off at Barry Links that would be amazing. I think you mean Westbound, not Southbound.
Army would of probably sent thousands of men and equipment there in the past
Even though it wasn't technically a Least Used video, I did find myself humming the Least Used music!
I visited it in december 2018. It has not changed at all! (I went to tick it off same as you)
How were you just down the road from me! Hahaha
Okay, Barry Links is in the middle of nowhere, so I understand why it only has a limited service.
But Golf Street is in the middle of a residential area, so it deserves more trains.
Springfield is also one between Ladybank and Cupar that has a very Low Service
Maybe a fellow calls Barry uses it?