Site Information

Welcome to Aberdeen's Lost Railways
This website is dedicated to exploring the history of now-closed railways and stations in the North-East of Scotland, United Kingom. Less than fifty years ago the district around the City of Aberdeen was served by a network of railway lines reaching such places as Ballater, Banff, Fraserburgh, Alford and Craigellachie. For various reasons these lines were closed, mostly in the 1960's during the period known as the "Beeching" era (so named for Dr Beeching, then chairman of the British Railway Board). This website aims to give information on these lines, when they were built, the stations on the lines and tries to explain the reasons for why these lines are no longer with us.
I recommend that you read this page before exploring the site fully.

Railways in the North-East of Scotland

Rail travel first reached Aberdeen in 1853 with the opening of the Aberdeen Railway which allowed passengers to travel by train from Aberdeen to Glasgow. It was soon followed with the opening in 1854 of the "true" Deeside Railway which shared a station in Aberdeen with the Aberdeen Railway and ran to a terminus in Banchory, allowing easy access to Deeside. From there the railway system was expanded until it was possible to travel throughout the area by rail. The Great North of Scotland Railway (GNSR) which built the line from Keith to Aberdeen in stages took over it's smaller neighboring companies and, whilst it was always the smallest of the Scottish Railway companies, it always managed to change with the times, with it's smart 4-4-0 engines (the company having a strong liking for this particular type of engine) and wooden carriage stock serving the district well throughout the years.

The eventual terminus of the Deeside Railway - Ballater Station

Ballater Station - terminus of the Deeside Branch

The spacious interior of Aberdeen Joint Station, after its 1915 rebuild

In it's early history the GNSR did not share a happy relationship with neighboring companies leading to the construction of separate terminus stations at Aberdeen & Elgin. Passengers wishing to travel from Dundee to Inverness would have to disembark at Aberdeen Guild Street station and walk along to Aberdeen Waterloo station to continue their journey to Inverness. This situation was resolved in 1867 with the completion of the Denburn Valley Railway and Aberdeen Joint Station, which allowed through travel between the two systems. Rail traffic increased to the point where in 1915 the Joint Station was majorly rebuilt to a form which it more or less retains today.

In 1923 the GNSR was swallowed up by the new London North Eastern Railway (LNER). Little changes were performed other than routine maintainance and in 1949 the system became part of the Scottish Region of British Railways. Unfortunately most of the lines had been losing traffic to roads and sadly that trend was to continue. Under the LNER traffic fell so low on the Oldmeldrum branch that passenger services were removed in 1931. British Railways closed the Alford & Macduff branches to passenger traffic in 1951. However it was not until the mid 1960's that the remainder of the branchlines were closed to traffic and the track lifted, leaving only the lines to Inverness & Dundee which survive today.
The Formartine & Buchan and Keith & Dufftown branches were retained until the 1980's for freight traffic, the former is now lifted whilst the latter is now open as the Keith & Dufftown Railway.

A North British Type 2 passes Cults on the Deeside Line

Why did the lines close?
There are several reasons as to why the Great North of Scotland Railway system was closed and lifted. Many people blame Dr Beeching, who instigated the "Beeching Cuts" which closed thousands of railway lines around Scotland, England & Wales. In truth however there are several reasons as to why the system is no longer with us :

The Beeching Report
- The Banff, Lossiemouth, Formartine & Buchan & Deeside branches were all listed as being loss-making lines (the Banff & Lossiemouth branches were listed in the top ten loss making branches!) so it could be argued that the system was a victim of Dr Beeching. However, this is not really an wholly true answer - for one thing Beeching only became chairman of the British Railways Board in 1961, by which point a large number of railway lines across the country (including the Alford & Macduff lines) had already been closed. Beeching merely signed the "death warrents" for a system that was doomed anyway. But read on....
Development of the motorcar
- This is more likely to have been the main reason for the closure of the system. Travelling figures for the system were low by the time it was closed, most of the traffic having switched to the more modern motorcar
Mis-management
- It is also known that British Railways did not do anything to encourage travel. For example, they did nothing to harnass the tourist potential of the Deeside branch that was undoubtably there but British Railways did not attempt to capture it. Thus, when Dr Beeching said that the branch was making a loss - he was correct (mostly). The argument of course is that the railway should have had much higher travelling numbers than it did. It can of course be seen now that if some of the lines still survived, they would be swamped with traffic (especially since there are now too many cars on the roads).
Bad Construction
- Several lines on the GNSR system can be seen to have been poorly designed. For example, the Inverurie & Oldmeldrum Railway which took a very indirect route can be said to have been doomed from the day it was built. The same is true of the Formartine & Buchan Railway - if it had been built as a single line linking Aberdeen - Ellon - Peterhead - Fraserburgh instead of the roundabout route through Maud Junction it would probably still be part of the Scotrail network today.

Regardless of what reason is given for the GNSR system having closed, the railways of the North-East of Scotland still deserve attention, from the beauty of the Deeside branch (travelled by members of the Royal Family en route to their summer home of Balmoral) to the tranquil Banff Harbour branch. Several of the branches are open as public footpaths / cyclepaths and many of the stations and platforms can still be seen. Other remnants survive also, from the impressive viaducts at Cullen to the sealed tunnel at Aboyne. As well as the aforementioned Keith & Dufftown Railway, the Royal Deeside Railway Preservation Society are now working to reopen a portion of the Deeside Branch between Crathes and Banchory (having recieved planning approval in 2003), and are restoring several items including GNSR wooden-bodied carriages and the Battery Railcar, which travelled the branch in the 1960's after being introduced as an experiment by British Rail.

Although there have been no plans to reopen a GNSR branch for mainline services, some closed stations have been reopened, including Dyce (formerly Dyce Junction) and plans exist for the introduction of a local train service which will see the former Kintore Junction reopened.

About the Site & Author

This site was set up in 2001 by David A. Allan, then a fifth-year student at Westhill Academy in Aberdeenshire. The site was started mainly because of a lack of similar sites and information on the abandoned railway system. The site was set up mainly because of a lack of suitable sites dealing with the abandoned railway system and has evolved over several versions.

The author now resides in the city of Dundee, slightly to the south of Aberdeen and in September 2003 was commencing the second year of studying BSc (Hons) Web Design & Development at the University of Abertay Dundee.

As well as maintaining this site I am also involved in railway preservation, specifically the project to reopen a portion of the Aberdeen-Ballater "Deeside Line". As of October 2002 I am responsible for maintaining the website for the Royal Deeside Railway Preservation Society, the address for which is http://www.deeside-railway.co.uk

Contacting the Author
If there is anything that I haven't been able to explain adequately, or if you have some query that you think I may be able to help with, then please feel free to email me by clicking here. Please be aware that it may take me up to a week to respond, but I do aim to reply to all messages recieved!

Can You Help??
Do you have information on the north-east railway system featured in this site?? Do you have pictures that you'd be prepared to allow me to use? If so, then please email me by clicking here. Specific areas where I would welcome assistance are listed below :

Aberdeen Ferryhill Engine Shed (61B)
- Do you have pictures of the shed or MPD site, either in steam or diesel days?? Although this site now has a large volume of information and pictures on the shed thanks to two generous contributors, any further help that can be provided would be most welcome.
Aberdeen Kittybrewster Engine Shed (61A)
- Aberdeen Kittybrewster Shed closed in 1967 and at some subsequent point was demolished. Do you know when?? Do you have photographs of the roundhouse or the old Kittybrewster loco works?
Great North of Scotland Branches
- Some of the less glamorous GNSR branches appear to have not been as well photographed. Do you have photos of the ex-GNSR system? Photos of the Alford and Macduff branches would be particularly welcome
Deeside Line Cinefilm
- The Royal Deeside Railway Preservation Society are currently trying to put together a video of the Deeside Line and are looking for cinefilm to be used for the video. Any such films would be welcome - see http://www.deeside-railway.co.uk
Diesels on Deeside?
- Although the standard diesel locomotives on the Deeside Line were the North British Type 2 and English Electric Type 1 locomotives (Class 21/20 accordingly), it is known that other classes of locomotives ventured onto the line. A class 15 is believed to have worked along the line, and it is known that the last goods train to Ballater was worked by a Clayton Type 1 (Class 17). The Royal Deeside Railway Preservation Society would be interested in any photographs of these "unusual" locomotives working on the line. It would also be interesting to know if any of the Kittybrewster-allocated Sulzer Type 2s worked on the line, either the Class 24/1 locomotives or the Class 26 locomotives D5340 and D5341 (26040/26041). If anyone could help with this request please contact David A. Allan.

Please note that the views presented within this website are the views of David A. Allan, not the views of the Royal Deeside Railway Preservation Society (RDRPS) or the Great North of Scotland Railway Association (GNSRA).