RAILSCOT | Aboyne and Braemar Railway

Aboyne and Braemar Railway

Introduction

This railway is closed. The railway provided a service from Aboyne to Ballater. The line was an extension of the Deeside Extension Railway and the Deeside Railway. The service between Ballater and Braemar was provided by Traction Engine. The nearest station today is at Aberdeen.

Dates

/ /1865	Deeside Railway Deeside Extension Railway Aboyne and Braemar Railway Royal couriers first use line rather than Cairnwell Pass road to get to Balmoral Castle from the south.
05/07/1865	Aboyne and Braemar Railway Act receives Royal assent.
/10/1865	Aboyne and Braemar Railway First sod cut.
/ /1866	Aboyne and Braemar Railway Ballater to Bridge of Gairn section construction abandoned.
30/07/1866	Deeside Railway Deeside Extension Railway Aboyne and Braemar Railway Great North of Scotland Railway Deeside lines leased for 999 years by Great North of Scotland Railway.
17/10/1866	Aboyne and Braemar Railway Opened from Aboyne to Ballater with stations at Aboyne, Dinnet and Ballater.
31/01/1876	Aboyne and Braemar Railway Great North of Scotland Railway Aboyne and Braemar Railway absorbed by the Great North of Scotland Railway.
/ /1878	Aboyne and Braemar Railway Cambus O' May opened.
/ /1904	Great North of Scotland Railway Bus service introducted from Ballater, on the Aboyne and Braemar Railway, to a bus station in Braemar.
/ /1958	Deeside Railway Deeside Extension Railway Aboyne and Braemar Railway Battery railcar introduced between Aberdeen and Ballater.
28/02/1966	Aboyne and Braemar Railway Ballater to Aberdeen (Ferryhill Junction) closed to passengers.
28/02/1966	Deeside Railway Deeside Extension Railway Aboyne and Braemar Railway Ballater, Cambus O' May, Dinnet, Aboyne, Dess, Lumphanan, Torphins, Glassel, Dee Street Halt, Banchory [2nd], Crathes, Park, Culter and Cults closed to passengers.
18/07/1966	Deeside Railway Deeside Extension Railway Aboyne and Braemar Railway Ballater to Culter (excluded) closed to freight.

Locations along the line

These locations are along the line.

Aboyne

This was a two platform station. The main station building was on the eastbound platform. This had a large glazed canopy.
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See also
Deeside Extension Railway

Aboyne railway station yesterday, part of the building is now a café, 'Spider on a bicycle' it was a welcome stop while I ran from Holburn Street ...
Alan Cormack 14/04/2017

Former Aboyne Station.This is the platform side where trains would have stopped. View looking east. The building houses a variety of small ...
John Gray 27/07/2016

Platform side at Aboyne, the tunnel under the A93 is in the distance, a new addition is the electric car re-charging point, it's a shame that the ...
Alan Cormack 16/03/2017

4 of 17 images. more

Aboyne Tunnel

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Dinnet

This was a two platform station with a passing loop. The station building still survives on the eastbound platform.
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The former station building at Dinnet on 20 April 2017 looking east along the platform towards Aboyne. Note the unusual round window, installed as a ...
Andy Furnevel 20/04/2017

The former station building at Dinnet, complete with totem, now an office. Seen from the approach road in April 2017. ...
Andy Furnevel 20/04/2017

Dinnet station building and up platform as seen from the down platform on 20th October 2012. The building was in excellent condition and in use as an ...
John McIntyre 20/10/2012

View westbound at Dinnet goods, just over the level crossing from the station. ...
Ewan Crawford 04/02/1997

4 of 17 images. more

Cambus O' May

This was a single platform station. The platform, on the north side of the line, survives as does the station building. To the east was a siding for a loading bank, served from the west. By reversal this gave access to a long siding which ran to the north east.
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An example of the type of gravel and sand used as track ballast on the Deeside Line. The largest gravel pieces are about 5-10mm across. ...
Charlie Niven 17/11/2018

The ballast pit siding at Cambus o' May as it was in 1900; compared with the earlier map it shows a much larger area excavated and the siding itself ...
Charlie Niven 14/06/2020

The Ferry Inn, now known as Cutaway Cottage, in its current guise. For many decades before the railway arrived people took the ferry to and from the ...
Charlie Niven 17/11/2018

Old railway gate close to the Ferry Inn see image 70097 or 'docket hoose' at Cambus o'May. Looking at the 1865 25' OS map it seems there was a ...
Charlie Niven 17/11/2018

4 of 25 images. more

Ballater

This was the terminus of the Deeside line from Aberdeen. The terminus was at the Station Square in the middle of Ballater. The building was burned down in 2015 but had been, despite the closure of the station, been rebuilt. The terminus has a long association with the Royal Family and Queen Victoria, this station being the closest to Balmoral Castle.
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How the station used to look. The station will be opened officially on Monday but the tea rooms and main concourse were opened to the public last ...
John Gray 18/08/2018

Information panels on the wall of the rebuilt Ballater Station. ...
John Gray 18/08/2018

The restored station at Ballater showing some detail from
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David Prescott 25/08/2018

The interior of the restored (or should it be called 'new'?) station at Ballater in August 2018.
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David Prescott 25/08/2018

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Bridge of Gairn

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View west to Braemar from the trackbed at Bridge of Gairn, just west of Ballater. When the line arrived at Ballater in 1866 the trackbed did not ...
Ewan Crawford 04/02/1997

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