Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway

Inverness and Aberdeen
Junction Railway

Locale	Scotland
Dates of operation	21 July 1856 – 1 February 1865
Successor	Highland Railway
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in)

Legend

Inverness and Nairn Railway

Nairn

Auldearn

Brodie

Inverness and Perth Junction Railway

Forres

Forres (old)

Kinloss

Findhorn

Hopeman

Cummingston

Burghead

Roseisle

Coltfield Platform

Alves Junction

Alves

Mosstowie

Elgin

Elgin (East)(MR)

Morayshire Railway to Rothes

Morayshire Railway to Lossiemouth

Lhanbryde

Fochabers Town

Balnacoul Halt

Orbliston Junction

Orton

Morayshire Railway to Rothes

Mulben

Tauchers Platform

Buckie and Portessie Branch (HR)

Keith and Dufftown Railway (GNoSR)

Keith Junction

Great North of Scotland Railway

Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway is an historic railway in Scotland.

History

The Inverness an Aberdeen Junction Railway was a railway station that constructed a line between Nairn and Forres in Scotland. It opened in 1857 and 1858. It merged with the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway to form the Highland Railway on 1 February 1865.

Its main line remains in use today as part of the line between Aberdeen and Inverness.

Findhorn Railway

When the line between Elgin and Keith was opened in August 1858, its route ran inland, away from the coast, between Elgin and Nairn, and many small coastal settlements were remote from the new railway.

Local interests in Findhorn, finding themselves rather isolated between Findhorn Bay and the open waters of Burghead Bay, promoted a branch line, and this received authorising powers on 19 April 1859, incorporating the Findhorn Railway with capital of £9,000.^[1] The terrain was easy, mostly running on sand, and a three-mile line was designed, making a junction a short distance east of Kinloss station on the I&AJR main line. Joseph Mitchell was the engineer and Charles Brand of Montrose was the contractor.^[2]

The line opened on 16 April 1860,^{[note 1]} and trains were worked by the company itself, although rolling stock mat have been hired from the larger company. The wooden station building of Kinloss was relocated so as to be at the point of junction of the Findhorn line, a distance of about 300 yards. The Company had one locomotive, an 0-4-0 saddle tank built by Neilson & Co of Glasgow in 1860.

Once opened, the company immediately found that available traffic did not cover basic operating expenses, and it was soon in serious financial difficulty. The Findhorn Railway appealed to the I&AJR for help, and the larger company took it over, effective from 1 March 1862.^{[note 2]} (The I&AJR became a constituent of the Highland Railway in 1865.) The I&AJR too found that it was impossible to cover operating expenses, estimated at £800 annually, and it was renegotiated with the Highland Railway in March 1867 and again in 1867. At the latter date the Findhorn Railway's directors were made responsible for the future shortfall, but they withdrew that undertaking in January 1869, and the line closed at the end of January 1869.^{[note 3]} Occasional goods trains ran until 1880.^{[note 4]} The Findhorn Company's own locomotive was disposed of to the I&AJR in 1862, becoming that company's no 16A.^{[note 5]} The Kinloss station was relocated to its earlier position.^[2]^[3]

Findhorn's activity as a port was severely limited by silting and a sand bar at the entrance to the harbour, which prevented all but the smallest vessels from entering.^[4]^[5]

Little remains of the track bed, partly because of the construction of the RAF base, Kinloss, over its route. Its junction with the mainline can be still be traced and is overgrown with a group of pine trees.

Connections to other lines

Inverness and Nairn Railway at Nairn
Inverness and Perth Junction Railway at Forres
Morayshire Railway at Elgin and Orton
Buckie and Portessie Branch of the Highland Railway at Keith Junction
Keith and Dufftown Railway at Keith Junction
Great North of Scotland Railway at Keith Junction

Current operations

Brodie station in 1974

The main line continues in use as part of the Aberdeen to Inverness line: passenger services are provided by Abellio ScotRail at approximately a two-hourly interval on weekdays; there is a minimal service on Sundays. Stations within the original extent of the line are open at Nairn, Forres, Elgin and Keith.

Connections to adjacent lines are also closed, with the exception of the Hopeman Branch which was used for freight traffic to Burghead Maltings until 1992 - it remains intact through to Burghead but was mothballed in 1998 and has seen no traffic since then (it is now heavily overgrown).

The old station at Forres is closed and only one platform out of the previous six at the new station at Forres is now in service. The Keith and Dufftown Railway platform at Keith Junction is still in use, though the branch beyond a short stub is closed.^[6]

Freight traffic is limited to occasional trainloads of whisky & containers to/from Elgin, where the former GNSR Elgin East station yard is still operational.

Heritage lines

The Keith and Dufftown Railway heritage group reopened the Dufftown line beyond Keith Town in 2001, and they hope to reinstate the missing link back to the national network at Keith in the long term.

Notes

↑ Vallance Carter and Quick say 18 April 1860.
↑ Vallance; Ross says the agreement was made 4 March and effective 30 March.
↑ Vallance says "at the end of 1868". Quick says 1 February 1869, referencing Vallance.
↑ Vallance; Ross says 1881.
↑ Vallance says directly to a contractor.

References

↑ E F Carter, An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles, Cassell, London, 1959
1 2 David Ross, The Highland Railway, Tempus Publishing Limited, Stroud, 2005, ISBN 0 7524 3479 9
↑ M E Quick, Railway Passenger Stations in England Scotland and Wales—A Chronology, The Railway and Canal Historical Society, 2002
↑ H A Vallance, The Findhorn Railway, Journal of the Railway and Canal Historical Society, Volume 2, number 2, March 1956
↑ H A Vallance, The Highland Railway, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, fourth edition 1985, ISBN 0 946537 24 0
↑ Network Rail, Sectional Appendix, Scotland

Sources

Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
RAILSCOT on Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway
RAILSCOT on Findhorn Railway
RAILSCOT on Hopeman Branch

Historical Scottish railway companies

Primary companies	Caledonian Railway Glasgow and South Western Railway Great North of Scotland Railway Highland Railway North British Railway

Caledonian Railway	Aberdeen Railway Alloa Railway Alyth Arbroath and Forfar Busby Railway Cathcart District Clydesdale Junction Crieff Junction Crieff and Comrie Crieff and Methven Junction Dumfries, Lochmaben and Lockerbie Dunblane, Doune and Callander Dundee and Perth Dundee and Perth and Aberdeen Forfar and Brechin General Terminus and Glasgow Harbour Garnkirk and Glasgow Glasgow Central Railway Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock Greenock and Wemyss Bay Hamilton and Strathaven Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Lanarkshire and Dumbartonshire Leadhills and Wanlockhead Lesmahagow Railway Lochearnhead, St Fillans and Comrie Paisley and Barrhead District Perth, Almond Valley and Methven Polloc and Govan Rutherglen and Coatbridge Scottish Central Scottish Midland Junction Scottish North Eastern Solway Junction Symington, Biggar and Broughton Talla Railway Wishaw and Coltness Lines built by the Caledonian Railway Balerno line CR Cleland and Midcalder CR Main Line CR Douglas Branch CR Hamilton Branch CR Hamiltonhill Branch CR The Switchback Independent lines worked by the Caledonian Railway Callander and Oban Killin Railway

Glasgow and South Western Railway	Ardrossan Railway Ardrossan and Johnstone Ayr and Dalmellington Ayr and Maybole Junction Ayr to Mauchline Ayrshire and Wigtownshire Barrhead Branch Bridge of Weir Railway Cairn Valley Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction Castle Douglas and Dumfries Dalry and North Johnstone Darvel Branch Girvan and Portpatrick Junction Glasgow, Dumfries and Carlisle Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr Greenock and Ayrshire Kilmarnock and Troon Largs Branch Maidens and Dunure Maybole and Girvan Paisley and Renfrew Paisley Canal Line

Great North of Scotland Railway	Aberdeen and Turriff Aboyne and Braemar Alford Valley Banff, Macduff and Turriff Junction Banff, Portsoy and Strathisla Boddam Branch Deeside Denburn Valley Formartine and Buchan Inverury and Old Meldrum Junction Keith and Dufftown Moray Coast Morayshire St Combs Light Railway Strathspey Railway

Highland Railway	Buckie and Portessie Branch Dingwall and Skye Duke of Sutherland Findhorn Railway Fortrose Branch Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Inverness and Aviemore Direct Inverness and Nairn Inverness and Perth Junction Inverness and Ross-shire Kyle of Lochalsh Extension Perth and Dunkeld Sutherland and Caithness Sutherland Railway Independent lines worked by the Highland Railway Dornoch Light Railway Wick and Lybster Light Railway

North British Railway	Aberlady, Gullane and North Berwick Anstruther and St Andrews Railway Ballochney Bathgate and Coatbridge Blane Valley Border Counties Railway Border Union Railway Campsie Branch Carlisle and Silloth Bay Railway and Dock Company Charlestown Railway and Harbour Company Coatbridge Branch Devon Valley Railway Dunfermline and Queensferry East of Fife Railway Edinburgh and Bathgate Edinburgh and Dalkeith Edinburgh and Glasgow Edinburgh and Hawick Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway Edinburgh, Loanhead and Roslin Railway Edinburgh and Northern Edinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Esk Valley Eyemouth Railway Fife and Kinross Railway Forth and Clyde Junction Gifford and Garvald Glasgow, Bothwell, Hamilton and Coatbridge Glasgow City and District Glasgow, Dumbarton and Helensburgh Glasgow and Milngavie Junction Glasgow, Yoker and Clydebank Kelvin Valley Railway Kincardine Line Kinross-shire Railway Kirkcaldy and District Railway Leadburn, Linton and Dolphinton Leven Railway Leven and East of Fife Railway Macmerry Branch Monkland and Kirkintilloch Monkland Railways Montrose and Bervie Mallaig Extension Newburgh and North Fife Railway (worked by NBR) Newport Railway North Berwick Branch North British, Arbroath and Montrose Peebles Railway The St. Andrews Railway Stirling and Dunfermline Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Slamannan Slamannan and Borrowstounness Wemyss and Buckhaven Railway West Highland Railway West of Fife Mineral Railway Wilsontown, Morningside and Coltness

Joint lines	Caledonian and Dumbartonshire Junction City Union Dundee and Arbroath Darvel and Strathaven Glasgow and Paisley Joint Glasgow and Renfrew District Glasgow, Barrhead and Kilmarnock Joint Kilsyth and Bonnybridge Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint

Other lines	Brechin and Edzell District Campbeltown and Machrihanish Light Railway Cromarty and Dingwall Light Railway Dundee and Arbroath Hagdale Chromate Railway Invergarry and Fort Augustus Lealt Valley Diatomite Railway Lochaber Narrow Gauge Perth, Almond Valley and Methven Rothesay and Ettrick Bay Light Railway Skye Marble Railway Tranent to Cockenzie Waggonway

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