RAILSCOT | Deeside Extension Railway

Deeside Extension Railway

Introduction

This railway is closed. The railway provided a service from Banchory to Aboyne. The line was an extension of the Deeside Railway from Aberdeen and was itself extended to Ballater by the Aboyne and Braemar Railway.

Dates

27/07/1857	Deeside Extension Railway Act receives Royal assent.
30/10/1857	Deeside Extension Railway First sod cut.
02/12/1859	Deeside Extension Railway Railway opened. Stations at Banchory [2nd], Glassel, Torphins, Dess and Aboyne.
02/12/1859	Deeside Railway Banchory [1st] closed to passengers on opening of Deeside Extension Railway.
13/05/1862	Deeside Extension Railway Line leased by Great North of Scotland Railway to block authorisation of a new line from Stonehaven to Kintore.
/ /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.
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.
01/08/1875	Deeside Extension Railway Great North of Scotland Railway Deeside Extension Railway absorbed by Great North of Scotland Railway.
/ /1958	Deeside Railway Deeside Extension Railway Aboyne and Braemar Railway Battery railcar introduced between Aberdeen and Ballater.
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.

Banchory [1st]

The terminus of the Deeside Railway opened from Aberdeen in 1853. It was rebuilt in 1859 when the Deeside Extension Railway extended the railway west to Aboyne.
...

More details

See also
Deeside Railway

Banchory [2nd]

This was a three platform station; two through platforms and a bay platform at the east end, north side of the line. The platforms were canopied.
...

More details

The site of Banchory station, photographed during permitted exercise on 12th June 2020. The small picture fixed on the tree was a photo of a Cravens ...
Alan Cormack 12/06/2020

During permitted exercise on 12th June 2020 I was at the site of Banchory station. Fixed onto a tree was a photo from when the station was still in ...
Alan Cormack 12/06/2020

A close up of a part of the main station building at Banchory in August 1973, showing the remains of the station clock and platform weighbridge. ...
John McIntyre /08/1973

Looking west along the platform at Banchory in August 1973. ...
John McIntyre /08/1973

4 of 7 images. more

Dee Street Halt

This was a timber platform to the west of Banchory [2nd] station. It was located just to the west of Dee Street. It was short lived, only opening in 1961 and the halt and line closed in 1966.
...

More details

A view east along the former railway embankment in Banchory, with the car through the trees on Dee Street. This was the site of Dee Street Halt, a ...
John McIntyre 18/10/2012

Looking west, line to Aboyne and Ballater continued behind the bridge abutment.
...
Alan Cormack 10/03/2017

A view of the former Deeside line in Banchory, the new house being built is directly behind me, the line to Aberdeen continued to the east directly ...
Alan Cormack 10/03/2017

Banchory's Dee Street Halt seen in 1963 with a Metro-Cammell DMU calling. The halt was built on an embankment with steep access steps as seen here. ...
David Murray-Smith //1963

4 of 6 images. more

Glassel

Glassel was a single platform station on the north side of the single track line. It had a station building typical of the extension line with a railway cottage to its immediate east.
...

More details

Unusual signage and decoration at the entrance to Glassel station in 1997. The station building was still there, hidden behind the trees. ...
Ewan Crawford 04/02/1997

Looking north over the much modified and extended former Glassel station in 2006. ...
John Furnevel 09/11/2006

Glassel station had clearly been extended. Notice the two Morris Minor pickups - pure class! This section wasn't walked very often - I surprised a fox ...
Ken Strachan //

3 of 3 images.

Torphins

This was, latterly, a two platform station in the middle of Torphins.
...

More details

The former station master's house in Torphins, looking west along William Street in November 2006. The station was located to the south of William ...
John Furnevel 10/11/2006

View east to Aberdeen at Torphins in 1997 taken from station road. This road was severed when the railway opened, being replaced by a new road with an ...
Ewan Crawford 04/02/1997

Nice one! Clue regarding the location of the former Torphins station supplied courtesy of the ceramics workshop at 22 Station Road. November 2006. ...
John Furnevel 10/11/2006

A DMU at Torphins station on the Deeside line in 1965. View is east towards Aberdeen. ...
Frank Spaven Collection (Courtesy David Spaven) //1965

4 of 5 images. more

Beltie Burn Viaduct

This was a five arch single track viaduct over the Beltie Burn between Torphins and Lumphanan stations.
...

More details

View west from a train showing Balnacraig Viaduct on the former Royal Deeside line in the summer of 1962. The 1857 structure, which spanned the ...
R Sillitto/A Renfrew Collection (Courtesy Bruce McCartney) 07/07/1962

The parapet and shadow (North side) of the viaduct between Torphins and Lumphanan. This structure was demolished with explosives in the 1980's. see ...
Ken Strachan /06/1976

A more conventional view of the viaduct near Torphins see image 13686. View looks towards Lumphanan. ...
Ken Strachan /06/1976

3 of 3 images.

Lumphanan

This was a two platform station on the single track Deeside line from Aberdeen to Ballater. The station site is now housing but the memory of it is preserved in the name 'Station Square', the square which bordered the north side of the station at its west end.
...

More details

The Deeside line and station were to the right of the picture. ...
Alan Cormack 16/08/2017

View east at Lumphanan. The station was to the right, now housing. ...
Ewan Crawford 04/02/1997

Lumphanan station was rarely photographed. No trace now remains of the station, nor of the adjacent hump-backed, single carriageway road bridge. ...
Ken Strachan //1976

Platform scene at Lumphanan in the summer of 1965. View is east towards Aberdeen. Lumphanan station closed along with most of the Deeside line the ...
Frank Spaven Collection (Courtesy David Spaven) //1965

4 of 4 images.

Dess

This was a single platform station.
...

More details

Looking to Aboyne on the Deeside Extension Railway in 1997. ...
Ewan Crawford 04/02/1997

The converted former station building at Dess, on the Deeside Line, photographed on 23 February 2014. See image 46741 ...
Brian Taylor 23/02/2014

Looking North towards Lumphanan at Dess in 1976. It is clear that an embankment has been removed before the bridge over the Torphins road. The granite ...
Ken Strachan /05/1976

Dess was a pottery run by a very nice young lady who lived with her husband in the stationmasters house. They drank in the small (6 foot square) bar ...
Ken Strachan /05/1976

4 of 5 images. more

Aboyne Curlers Platform

...

More details

Looking east along the trackbed at the remains of the Curlers Platform alongside the Loch of Aboyne in November 2006. ...
John Furnevel 10/11/2006

Rear view of the old curlers platform at the Loch of Aboyne looking south in 2006. ...
John Furnevel 10/11/2006

2 of 2 images.

Aboyne

This was a two platform station. The main station building was on the eastbound platform. This had a large glazed canopy.
...

More details

See also
Aboyne and Braemar 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