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

  /  /1865Deeside RailwayDeeside Extension RailwayAboyne and Braemar Railway
Royal couriers first use line rather than Cairnwell Pass road to get to Balmoral Castle from the south.
05/07/1865Aboyne and Braemar Railway
Act receives Royal assent.
  /10/1865Aboyne and Braemar Railway
First sod cut.
  /  /1866Aboyne and Braemar Railway
Ballater to Bridge of Gairn section construction abandoned.
30/07/1866Deeside RailwayDeeside Extension RailwayAboyne and Braemar RailwayGreat North of Scotland Railway
Deeside lines leased for 999 years by Great North of Scotland Railway.
17/10/1866Aboyne and Braemar Railway
Opened from Aboyne to Ballater with stations at Aboyne, Dinnet and Ballater.
31/01/1876Aboyne and Braemar RailwayGreat North of Scotland Railway
Aboyne and Braemar Railway absorbed by the Great North of Scotland Railway.
  /  /1878Aboyne and Braemar Railway
Cambus O' May opened.
  /  /1904Great North of Scotland Railway
Bus service introducted from Ballater, on the Aboyne and Braemar Railway, to a bus station in Braemar.
21/04/1958Aberdeen Railway
Deeside Railway
Deeside Extension Railway
Aboyne and Braemar Railway
BMU Battery Railcar introduced between Aberdeen and Ballater.
28/02/1966Aboyne and Braemar Railway
Ballater to Aberdeen (Ferryhill Junction) closed to passengers.
28/02/1966Deeside 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.
18/07/1966Deeside RailwayDeeside Extension RailwayAboyne and Braemar Railway
Ballater to Culter (excluded) closed to freight. Culter Paper Mill remains rail served.
20/08/2018Aboyne and Braemar Railway
Ballater station officially 'reopened' as a museum, tearoom, restaurant and information centre following completion of its repair after a devastating fire.

Locations along the line

These locations are along the line.

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, station buildings on the left, in a view looking east. Just beyond the station is on the east side is Bonty Court old people's ...
Alan Cormack 16/08/2017
The tenants may change (See image 5836 from 2006) but the impressive former station building at Aboyne is otherwise unchanged in 2023. The ...
Mark Bartlett 23/10/2023
Aboyne, seen from a departing DMU bound for Ballater. The date is believed to have been late 1965 or early 1966, just a few weeks before closure of ...
Brian Haslehust //1965
Aboyne station, photographed in 1963 from the front of an approaching eastbound Deeside-line DMU. ...
Brian Haslehust /08/1963
4 of 22 images. more


This short single bore tunnel under the A93 is directly west of the former Aboyne station.
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Looking westwards from the road that now bisects the Aboyne station site in October 2023. Compared to image 55596 from 1997 the tunnel under the ...
Mark Bartlett 23/10/2023
1 of 1 images.


This was a two platform station with a passing loop. The station building still survives on the eastbound platform.
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Dinnet station, seen from a departing DMU bound for Ballater. The date is probably late 1965 or early 1966, just a few weeks before closure of the ...
Brian Haslehust //1965
Dinnet, seen from a departing Deeside line DMU bound for Ballater. ...
Brian Haslehust /08/1963
A 1963 photograph from the front of an eastbound Deeside-line DMU approaching Dinnet. ...
Brian Haslehust /08/1963
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
4 of 20 images. more


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 loading bank on the north side of the line reached by a headshunt which was approached from the west. This headshunt continued over a level crossing as Cambus o' May Ballast Siding.
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The edge of this map sheet shows a building coloured pink with the number 509 superimposed beside a manmade water course. This was probably the mill ...
National Library of Scotland 02/03/2021
The small and neat Cambus o'May station, on Royal Deeside, in a view looking west towards Ballater in 1960. The River Dee itself is off to the left. ...
David Murray-Smith 18/09/1960
The wonderfully picturesque Cambus O'May station, photographed in 1963 from an approaching eastbound Deeside line DMU. ...
Brian Haslehust /08/1963
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
4 of 28 images. more


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 resulting rebuilt building is superb. The terminus has a long association with the Royal Family and Queen Victoria, this station being the closest to [[Balmoral ...

More details

See also
Bridge of Gairn Tramway (Aboyne and Braemar Railway)
Ballater, gleaming in the autumn sunshine on 23rd October 2023. What a superb job has been made of restoring the station after the disastrous 2015 ...
Mark Bartlett 23/10/2023
This plaque was unveiled at Ballater by Aberdeenshire Provost Bill Howatson in 2021, taken on the day of unveiling. ...
John Yellowlees 29/06/2021
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
Autumn colours alongside the long platform at Ballater. This view looks eastwards in October 2023. ...
Mark Bartlett 23/10/2023
4 of 64 images. more