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

27/07/1857Deeside Extension Railway
Act receives Royal assent.
30/10/1857Deeside Extension Railway
First sod cut.
02/12/1859Deeside Extension Railway
Railway opened. Stations at Banchory [2nd], Glassel, Torphins, Dess and Aboyne.
02/12/1859Deeside Railway
Banchory [1st] closed to passengers on opening of Deeside Extension Railway.
13/05/1862Deeside Extension Railway
Line leased by Great North of Scotland Railway to block authorisation of a new line from Stonehaven to Kintore [1st].
  /  /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.
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.
01/08/1875Deeside Extension RailwayGreat North of Scotland Railway
Deeside Extension Railway absorbed by Great North of Scotland Railway.
21/04/1958Aberdeen Railway
Deeside Railway
Deeside Extension Railway
Aboyne and Braemar Railway
BMU Battery Railcar introduced between Aberdeen and Ballater.
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.

Locations along the line

These locations are along the line.

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.
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See also
Deeside Railway


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.
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A Cravens DMU arriving at Banchory, with a westbound Deeside-line service, photographed in 1963 from the front an Aberdeen-bound DMU. ...
Brian Haslehust /08/1963
Banchory station, seen from a departing DMU bound for Ballater. The date is thought to have been late 1965 or early 1966, just a few weeks before ...
Brian Haslehust //1965
Looking back to Banchory station, from a departing Deeside line DMU bound for Ballater. ...
Brian Haslehust /08/1963
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
4 of 10 images. more


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.
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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.
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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 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.
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Glassel station, seen from a departing Aberdeen-Ballater DMU. ...
Brian Haslehust /08/1963
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 //
4 of 4 images.


This was, latterly, a two platform station in the middle of Torphins.
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Torphins, seen from a departing DMU bound for Ballater. The date is thought to have been late 1965 or early 1966, just a few weeks before closure of ...
Brian Haslehust //1965
Torphins, photographed in 1963 from the front of an approaching eastbound Deeside-line DMU. ...
Brian Haslehust /08/1963
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
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
4 of 7 images. more


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


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.
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Lumphanan, photographed in 1963 from the front of an approaching eastbound Deeside-line DMU. ...
Brian Haslehust /08/1963
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
4 of 5 images. more


This was a single platform station.
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Dess, seen from a departing DMU bound for Ballater. The date is not known for certain, but probably late 1965 or early 1966, just a few weeks before ...
Brian Haslehust //1965
Dess station, photographed in 1963 from a departing Deeside line DMU bound for Ballater. ...
Brian Haslehust /08/1963
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
4 of 7 images. more


This curlers platform was to the north east of Aboyne and located on the east side of the Loch of Aboyne alongside the water. It was also known as 'Loch of Aboyne Platform' and was used for excursions in the summertime.
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Looking north along the trackbed of the Deeside Line alongside the Loch of Aboyne on 24 January 2021. The location was once occupied by the Curlers ...
Derek McCulloch 24/01/2021
View north east over a corner of the Loch of Aboyne in January 2021 looking towards the site of the former curlers platform. ...
Derek McCulloch 24/01/2021
2 of 2 images.


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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More details

See also
Aboyne and Braemar 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