Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)

Introduction

This line is open. Passenger services are provided by ScotRail from Inverness to Aviemore, Perth, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Stations remain open at Aviemore and Carrbridge.

Why built

The line was built by the Highland Railway to counter competing plans, such as extending the Invergarry and Fort Augustus Railway north to Inverness (which would have provided a good route from Glasgow to Inverness controlled by the North British Railway). Another plan was for a line extending the Great North of Scotland Railway from Boat of Garten to Inverness by a similar route.

This new route reduced the distance to Inverness by 25.75 miles, its promotion and opening putting paid to these competing plans and ensuring that the Highland Railway retained the route to Inverness from the south.



Dates

28/07/1884Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)
Act passed. This was partly in response to the proposed incursion of the North British Railway's Glasgow and North Western Railway from Glasgow to Inverness via Loch Lomond, Crianlarich, Glencoe, Fort William and the Great Glen.
08/07/1892Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)
Aviemore to Carrbridge opened.
19/07/1897Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)
Carrbridge to Daviot opened. This section includes the Aultnaslanach Viaduct, (currently the only in use timber railway viaduct left in Scotland).
01/11/1898Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)
Daviot to Inverness, Millburn Junction, opened, completing the shortcut line from Aviemore to Inverness.
18/06/1914Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)
Heavy rainfall causes a bridge washout of the Baddengorm Burn Viaduct (north of Carrbridge). As a result a train crashes down into the riverbed with the loss of life of five passengers.
  /  /1960Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)
Culloden to Daviot is singled.
  /  /1963Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)
Slochd Summit loop closed.
  /  /1979Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)
Slochd Summit loop re-opened.
26/04/2000Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)
Embankment partly washed out at several locations at the south end of Culloden Viaduct.
08/09/2002Inverness and Nairn Railway
Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)
Blocked by flood-water.
04/01/2010Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)
66048 derails in snow at Carrbridge station with a train of empties from Inverness to Mossend. Line closed until 12 January. Locomotive recovered 14 February.
13/02/2010Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)
Derailed 66048 retrieved from foot of embankment at Carrbridge.

Portions of line and locations

This line is divided into a number of portions.


Aviemore to Inverness

This line required heavy engineering, notably the Findhorn Viaduct [Tomatin] and the largest masonry viaduct in Scotland Culloden Viaduct. Other large viaducts were required, Tomatin Viaduct and Slochd Viaduct. From the south the line was single track with passing places, double from Daviot to Inverness. Today it is double from Culloden Moor to Inverness.

This is a three platform station, formerly with a bay at the north end on the west side. The station was rebuilt and enlarged when Aviemore became a junction on the opening of the Direct Line to Inverness via Carrbridge. The name Aviemore is from Gaelic, 'An Aghaidh Mhòr' - The big (mountain) face, describing the hill Craigellachie which lies to the west.
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See also
Inverness and Perth Junction Railway
Aviemore and Coylumbridge Timber Railway (War Department)
61994 and 60009 approach Aviemore in 2007 with 1Z93, the Glasgow to Inverness leg of 'The Great Britain' railtour. The train had set out from ...
John Clark 10/04/2007
70815 departs Aviemore for Inverness with the cement tanks. ...
John Gray 23/08/2023
The street side of Aviemore station showing the main station building. ...
Ewan Crawford 26/07/2010
Aviemore 12 December 2017. ...
John Yellowlees 12/12/2017
4 of 236 images. more


A small marshalling yard was laid out at Aviemore in the Second World War to allow southbound trains from the Forres [2nd] and Inverness routes to be sorted into Glasgow and Edinburgh portions and merged. It was an expansion of an existing set of sidings.
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See also
Inverness and Perth Junction Railway
Ivatt 2MT 46464 has ventured out on BR metals in preservation. The Strathspey Railway was allowed, with the permission of the signalman, to collect ...
Bill Roberton //1979
1 of 1 images.


Construction of two signal boxes, a north and a south, began here in 1898 but was abandoned. The site may have been considered for a station, not just a loop.
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This is a two platform station with a passing loop. The main station building, waiting room and footbridge remain. The main building is timber and, in common with many Highland Railway stations, 'H' shaped in plan. At its north end the building is built out with a small glazed porch, a former signal box dating from the resignalling of 1957. Platforms are linked by a lattice footbridge. There ...

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February 2023 at Kinveachy (Between Carrbridge and Aviemore) 66425 heads 4D47, the 12.59 Inverness - Mossend Intermodal. ...
John Clark 25/02/2023
A quiet summer evening at Carrbridge in June 2002. View is north along platform 1 towards the Dulnain Viaduct. ...
John Furnevel 22/06/2002
37405 propels Inspection Coach 975025 'Caroline' as they pass Carrbridge on the way from Derby to Inverness. 7th August 2018.
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Gus Carnegie 07/08/2018
66743 hauling the first Royal Scotsman tour of 2019, from Kyle of Lochalsh to Boat of Garten. Waiting for a signal at Carrbridge Station on 13th April ...
Gus Carnegie 13/04/2019
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This is a single track bridge just north of Carrbridge station.
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Some serious maintenance on the bridge over the River Dulnain, just north of Carrbridge Station. The main work has been pointing the masonry, but some ...
Gus Carnegie 08/11/2020
Autumn at Carrbridge viaduct, November 2005, looking south towards the station. ...
John Furnevel 01/11/2005
Sunset, Carrbridge Viaduct, 15 January 2012. ...
Gus Carnegie 15/01/2012
73971 and 73969 cross the short viaduct over the River Dulnain, north of Carrbridge Station, with the Sleeper ECS bound for Polmadie on 31st December ...
John Gray 31/12/2019
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This is a 26ft single track bridge with mass concrete abutments over the Baddengorm Burn (Allt nan Ceatharnach) north of Carrbridge station and the Dulnain Viaduct [Carrbridge]. The original bridge here was a 15ft arch.
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This is an eight arch masonry viaduct carrying a single track and south of Slochd Summit. The viaduct is quite wide, possibly intended to allow doubling. Also known as Slochd Mhuic Viaduct, the line passes over the wooded course of the Allt Slochd Mhuic.
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66091 crossing Slochd Viaduct with the northbound Tesco container
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John Gray 23/08/2023
After the nice sunny weather of the previous day when the 'Great Britain XIV' ran north to Inverness, it was back to the traditional Highland Weather ...
John Gray 24/04/2022
Rebuilt Royal Scot No.46115 'Scots Guardsman' runs over Slochd Viaduct with 'The Great Britain XIV' railtour on the way to Inverness on 23rd April ...
John Gray 23/04/2022
The southbound slurry tanks from Aberdeen Waterloo to Irvine Caledonian Paper Mill, crossing Slochd Viaduct headed by 70810 on 30th October 2020. This ...
John Gray 30/10/2020
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Slochd (or Slochd Mor or The Slochd) is a summit, 1,315 ft above sea level, and passing loop between Carrbridge station and the former Tomatin station. There was no station here. The railway and road both make use of a narrow pass in the hills.
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Work is about to get underway on a final phase of embankment and drainage work at Slochd between Perth and Inverness on the Highland Mainline.
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Network Rail //2020
Work is about to get underway on a final phase of embankment and drainage work at Slochd between Perth and Inverness on the Highland Mainline.
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Network Rail //2020
66304 and 66426 double head the southbound container train from Inverness to Mossend, away from Slochd Summit down towards Slochd Viaduct, on 8th ...
John Gray 08/02/2021
Black 5 No.44871 starts the climb to Slochd Summit with The Great Britain IX .Once over the summit it's almost all downhill to Inverness. ...
John Gray 30/04/2016
4 of 19 images. more


This viaduct is south east of the former Tomatin station and Tomatin Viaduct.
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66423 heads the 13.05 Inverness - Mossend Intermodal over the Findhorn Viaduct at Tomatin on a sunny afternoon in October 2017. ...
John Clark 20/10/2017
Photograph taken from the pathway alongside the A9 to the east of Tomatin on a pleasant November afternoon in 2005. The view is south west along the ...
John Furnevel 05/11/2005
Findhorn viaduct at Tomatin, near Inverness, was lit-up blue to show solidarity with key workers and front-line NHS staff all across the country.
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Network Rail 30/04/2020
Hauled by 66431, the last Inverness to Mossend container train of 2019 fills Findhorn Viaduct from end to end on 31st December.
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John Gray 31/12/2019
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This is a 9 arch single track masonry viaduct. The viaduct is north of Findhorn Viaduct [Tomatin] and south of the former Tomatin station.
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47245 hauling a Stoneblower south from Helmsdale to Dunkeld. Pictured crossing the Tomatin Viaduct, above Tomatin Village.
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John Gray 04/03/2019
...and theres another one. Tomatin viaduct to the north of the town, 2007. ...
John Furnevel 25/08/2007
60009 & 61994 are seen crossing the viaduct above Tomatin with The Great Britain. ...
John Gray 14/04/2007
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This was a two platform station. The platforms remain, a loop, closed modern signal box and railway cottages.
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View across the Highland Main Line in 2007 showing the abandoned signal box on the northbound platform of the former Tomatin station. ...
John Furnevel 26/08/2007
A3 Pacific No.60103 Flying Scotsman and B1 61306 Mayflower, accelerate away from Tomatin on the last part of the journey to Inverness. ...
John Gray 10/05/2019
99 miles from Perth appears to be right in the middle of the former Inverness bound platform at Tomatin. Both platforms have rails as Tomatin is a ...
Caleb Abbott 22/04/2019
66424 ascends the gradient from Findhorn Viaduct and enters the loop at the closed station of Tomatin on 12th October 2017 with a full load of ...
John Gray 12/10/2017
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This distillery opened with the Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway) in 1897. The distillery was rail served, it is on the west side of the line.
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Rail Served Distilleries
4wDM Simplex shunter (Motor Rail 9925 of 1963) out of use at Tomatin Distillery in 1976. This had come from the Tay Road Bridge contract where it ...
Bill Roberton //1976
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This was a two platform station. The station building still stands on the site of the southbound platform, there is a passing loop and much of the former platforms. The station building had a private waiting room for Alfred Donald, 28th Mackintosh of Mackintosh of Moy Hall. This room was in the southern wing of the building.
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66771 'Amanda' and 73967 haul the, very late running, Inverness bound sleeper through a snow covered Moy on 4th December 2023. The late running ...
John Gray 04/12/2023
A few of the Class 68s have re-appeared on the Tesco container trains, and on the 24th of September it was the turn of 68005 'Defiant'. ...
John Gray 24/09/2021
After a wet and windy February and early March 2022, not to mention sleet and snow, it was good to get by the lineside again. On a bright, but very ...
John Gray 13/03/2022
70804 northbound at Moy with the 6H51 Inverness Cement train on 22 December 2022. This is the only shot I have taken of the cement train this year due ...
John Gray 22/12/2022
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Also known as the Moy Viaduct, this single track timber viaduct is north of Moy station. It has sufficient width for two lines, but a second was never laid. The length is roughly 132 ft.
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The 5-span wooden trestle Aultnaslanach Viaduct, half a mile north of Moy, about to be crossed by a southbound First ScotRail 170 DMU en route from ...
John Furnevel 01/09/2007
47727 heads the return working of the NER's Railtour from Inverness to Newcastle.The engine is passing over the Ault-na-slanach Viaduct at Moy, the ...
John Gray 08/05/2018
Detail of plaque near Moy Viaduct, 2005. ...
John Furnevel 01/11/2005
An Edinburgh - Inverness service crossing the last remaining timber bridge on a main line railway in Scotland north of Moy on 1 September 2007. ...
John Furnevel 01/09/2007
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This was a two platform station. This was the southern extent of the double track section running south from Inverness Millburn Junction. The line remains open but station is closed.
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37606, in DRS livery, heads a Network Rail test train south from Inverness, passing the
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John Gray 28/01/2019
Looking back to Inverness from the rear of a Glasgow bound train near Daviot. The line was double track. ...
Ewan Crawford //
Freightliner liveried 66613 climbs towards Daviot with a southbound train of cement wagons on 26 June 2008. ...
John Gray 26/06/2008
The southbound Inverness portion of the Caledonian Sleeper climbing
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John Gray 12/07/2016
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This is the largest structure on the Highland Main Line between Perth and Inverness. Also known as Nairn, Culloden Moor, Leanach or Clava this viaduct crosses the River Nairn just to the south of the former Culloden Moor station. The viaduct is A listed. The engineer was Murdoch Paterson.
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With track renewal under way at Newlands of Culloden, the village on the other side of the viaduct, three class 66's await their turn to be called ...
John Gray 07/11/2020
The diverted Aberdeen Waterloo to Irvine Caledonian Paper Mill slurry tanks pictured heading south off Culloden Viaduct, hauled by 70810 yet again, on ...
John Gray 30/10/2020
In rapidly fading light, 66303 'Rail Riders 2020' and 66305 top and tail Pandora's Box southwards over Culloden Viaduct on 16th September 2021. ...
John Gray 16/09/2021
Immediately behind an engineering train hauled by 66701 at Culloden Viaduct, Freightliner 66539 and 66518 wait to be called forward with another ...
John Gray 07/11/2020
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This was a two platform station just to the north of the large Culloden Viaduct. In addition to serving the local community the station was specifically advertised as being close to the Culloden Battlefield Memorial.
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In readiness for the 2021 RHTT starting, 67012 ran driver route learning trips between Inverness and Montrose. Pictured passing Blackhill near ...
John Gray 08/09/2021
This bridge is located on the Highland Main Line between the former Culloden Moor station and Inverness. It is a mile and a half west of the station ...
Network Rail //
The closed station at Culloden (Moor) looking north towards Inverness. Platforms still in place on both sides at this point despite the station ...
Mark Bartlett 01/07/2011
158725 after crossing Culloden Viaduct. Inverness will be reached in ten minutes. ...
Brian Forbes //1997
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These crossovers are about half way between Inverness and Culloden Moor and provide some flexibility should there be a problem on this double track section.
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A southbound Class 26-hauled freight close to the summit of the 1 in 70 gradient approaching Culloden Moor in the 1970s - Ben Wyvis stands in the ...
Frank Spaven Collection (Courtesy David Spaven) //
The driver breasting the summit at Culloden Moor in the 1970s will be pleased to see Inverness in the distance - and no more gradients for his ...
Frank Spaven Collection (Courtesy David Spaven) //
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This junction is east of Inverness station and is where the routes to Aberdeen and Perth divide. The Perth route initially travels north before swinging over the Aberdeen route to gain some height before turning south.
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See also
Inverness and Nairn Railway
Photographed from the A9 overbridge, just a little to the east of Millburn Junction, 66425 heads towards Culloden with 4D47, the 13.40 Inverness to ...
John Clark 19/08/2023
An 08 shunts in Millburn Yard. Viewed from Glasgow-Inverness train. ...
Ewan Crawford //1989
61994 with its support coach leaves Inverness for Thornton on 12 April having undertaken GB2 duties the previous day. ...
John Gray 12/04/2009
Oil train about to depart from Millburn Yard, Inverness, for Lairg. ...
Ewan Crawford //
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Millburn to Welsh^s Bridge

A double track line ran west from Millburn Junction to west of Welsh's Bridge Junction, the alignment being to the north of the original still open line.

This junction is east of Inverness station and is where the routes to Aberdeen and Perth divide. The Perth route initially travels north before swinging over the Aberdeen route to gain some height before turning south.
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See also
Inverness and Nairn Railway
Photographed from the A9 overbridge, just a little to the east of Millburn Junction, 66425 heads towards Culloden with 4D47, the 13.40 Inverness to ...
John Clark 19/08/2023
An 08 shunts in Millburn Yard. Viewed from Glasgow-Inverness train. ...
Ewan Crawford //1989
61994 with its support coach leaves Inverness for Thornton on 12 April having undertaken GB2 duties the previous day. ...
John Gray 12/04/2009
Oil train about to depart from Millburn Yard, Inverness, for Lairg. ...
Ewan Crawford //
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This signal cabin controlled the junction between the lines to Aberdeen and Perth (to the east) and the approach to Inverness Shed, Inverness Goods yard, Inverness station, Lochgorm Works, bypass to Rose Street Junction, carriage sidings and Millburn Yard.
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Inverness and Nairn Railway
Welsh's Bridge cabin in Inverness, and its gantry, seen from the south side in the 1970s. The box was at the eastern approach to the station ...
Aitken Scott //
Approaching Welsh's Bridge Junction, Inverness, in 1986.
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Bill Roberton //1986
Welsh's Bridge Signal Box, Inverness, seen from the south side. Thought to be taken in the early 1970s. ...
Aitken Scott //
08788 is one of Invernesss Station pilots. ...
John Gray 02/04/2005
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