Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)

Introduction

This line is closed. In its day it was busy both with tourist traffic but also with the seasonal fruit harvest for jam.

The single track branch line track ran parallel to the main line of the Scottish Midland Junction Railway (giving the appearance of a three track line) until it reached Coupar Angus station.






Dates

  /  /1846Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)
Act authorises a branch to Blairgowrie. (Not built at this time.)
  /  /1850Scottish Midland Junction Railway
Keep a locomotive at Coupar Angus for the Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway). (No shed building at Coupar Angus is known of.)
  /  /1853Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)
New Act authorises a branch to Blairgowrie.
  /08/1855Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)
Wooden shed, the original Blairgowrie Shed, at Blairgowrie opened.
01/08/1855Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)
Line opened for passengers from Coupar Angus to Blairgowrie.
21/08/1855Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)
Line opened to goods from Coupar Angus to Blairgowrie.
  /  /1860Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)
New two road Blairgowrie Shed built in stone.
  /  /1878Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)
Approval to buy further land to expand Blairgowrie station.
  /  /1887Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)
42ft turntable installed at Blairgowrie Shed.
03/01/1942 Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)
Alyth Railway
Blairgowrie Shed and Alyth Shed closed. Blairgowrie Shed closed, but not demolished. A sub-shed of Dundee West Shed. Alyth Shed closed, but continues to be used until 1951. By this date the turntable is 42ft.
10/01/1955Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)
Blairgowrie to Coupar Angus (excluded) closed to passengers.
06/12/1965Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)
Blairgowrie to Coupar Angus (excluded) closed to freight.
  /  /1967Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)
Line dismantled.

Locations along the line

These locations are along the line.

This was a three platform station. With an island platform on the west side - the outer face being for the Blairgowrie branch and down platform (with canopied building) and up platform (timber building) on the east side (a building which had a single sloping roof was replaced with another slightly further east around the Great War). Both sides of the station had goods loops. Access to the ...

More details

See also
Scottish Midland Junction Railway
Newtyle and Coupar Angus Railway
This was the site of Coupar Angus station in a view looking east. Like many towns, Coupar Angus has done a fine job of eradicating any signs of ever ...
Ewan Crawford 27/03/2023
A view towards Coupar Angus station from Station Road to the north west showing the remains of the crane in 1996. The platforms are in the background. ...
Ewan Crawford //1996
The Strathspey Railway Association's 'Strathmore Express', stopped at Coupar Angus on 25 May 1974. The train is stopped on the former eastbound main ...
Bill Roberton 25/05/1974
A pair of condemned vans stand in the sidings at Coupar Angus in May 1974. The view is to the north west just to the west of the platforms. The ...
Bill Roberton 25/05/1974
4 of 23 images. more


Coupar Angus (South) signalbox in the late 1980s, several years after lifting of the railway.
...
Bill Roberton //
This main road was the railway through Coupar Angus. The Blairgowrie Branch was on the left and Strathmore Main Line to the right, the two running ...
Ewan Crawford 02/06/2023
Ex-Caledonian 0-4-4T no 55213 about to bring the branch train from Blairgowrie onto the main line just to the west of Coupar Angus station on 20 July ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 20/07/1953
A train from Blairgowrie approaching Coupar Angus off the branch in April 1953. The locomotive is Fowler 4F 0-6-0 no 44258. ...
G H Robin collection by courtesy of the Mitchell Library, Glasgow 05/04/1953
4 of 5 images. more


This single track viaduct carried the Scottish Midland Junction Railway's branch from Coupar Angus to Blairgowrie over the River Isla.
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View east of Isla Viaduct, with the Couttie Bridge (1766) behind. ...
Ewan Crawford 02/06/2023
The Blairgowrie Branch dropped down from Coralden to the Isla Viaduct before climbing again to reach Coupar Angus. The piers of the viaduct can be ...
Ewan Crawford 02/06/2023
The remains of Isla Viaduct viewed from the south end showing the northern three piers. ...
Ewan Crawford 02/06/2023
The remains of the Isla Viaduct on the Blairgowrie Branch in a view looking south east to Coupar Angus in 2023. The branch met the Strathmore main ...
Ewan Crawford 27/03/2023
4 of 9 images. more


Although the Blairgowrie Branch has been landscaped south of Rosemount a right of way has been preserved in the field, this path linking Rosemount ...
Ewan Crawford 02/06/2023
Stormont Loch with the former Blairgowrie branch in the background, closer to the camera than the A923. There has been some ploughing out. There was a ...
Ewan Crawford 02/06/2023
2 of 2 images.


This was a single platform station on the single track Blairgowrie Branch. It was immediately south of a level crossing. The platform was on the west side of the line.
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This was a one platform terminus with a timber overall roof spanning from the two storey station building to the goods shed. An awning extended down the platform from the overall roof to provide cover.
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Light and shade on the trackbed a little south of Blairgowrie station. The shade was very welcome on a blisteringly hot day. The bridge crossed a farm ...
Ewan Crawford 02/06/2023
The frontage of Blairgowrie station was on Terminus Street. Welton Road has been realigned to run through the site of the building. The supermarket ...
Ewan Crawford 02/06/2023
The main entrance to Blairgowrie station seen in 1972. The station had closed to passengers in 1955 and completely ten years later. ...
Bill Roberton //1972
By 1996 very few railway buildings remained in Blairgowrie. The locomotive shed was better known but there was also this, a small red sandstone ...
Ewan Crawford //1996
4 of 13 images. more