Morayshire railway

Introduction

This railway is closed. The railway provided a service from Lossiemouth to Elgin [GNSR] and from Elgin [GNSR] to Craigellachie [2nd] where connection was made with the Strathspey Railway. A connection existed between Rothes and Orton on the Highland Railway. At Lossie Junction the Morayshire Railway was joined by the Moray Coast Railway (Great North of Scotland Railway).




Dates

16/07/1846[Morayshire Railway]
Act receives Royal assent. Authorised from Lossiemouth to Elgin and from Orton to Craigellachie.
10/07/1850[Morayshire Railway]
Authorisation of Orton to Craigellachie abandoned.
28/11/1851[Morayshire Railway]
First Sod cut.
10/08/1852[Morayshire Railway]
Line opens from Elgin to Lossiemouth.
  /  /1858[Morayshire Railway]
Orton to Craigellachie re-authorised.
  /07/1858Morayshire Railway
Pre-opening inspection of Orton to Rothes line (passed but frustratingly the Elgin to Orton section of the [Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway] fails).
23/08/1858Morayshire Railway
Orton (on the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway) to Rothes opened.
23/12/1858[Morayshire Railway]
Rothes to Craigellachie opened.
  /12/1859[Morayshire Railway]
Linksfield Level Crossing Halt and Greens of Drainie Halt closed.
03/07/1860Morayshire Railway
Elgin East to Rothes via Longmorn authorised (avoiding difficulties using the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway's Elgin to Orton section).
17/05/1861[Morayshire Railway]
Extension from Craigellachie to join the [Strathspey Railway] authorised.
30/12/1861[Morayshire Railway]
Elgin to Rothes opened to freight.
01/01/1862[Morayshire Railway]
Elgin to Rothes opened to passengers (Intermediate station opened at Longmorn).
05/06/1863[Morayshire Railway]
Conditional halt added at Coleburn between Elgin and Rothes.
01/07/1863[Morayshire Railway]
Line opened from Craigellachie to Speyside Junction.
  /  /1864[Morayshire Railway]
[Strathspey Railway]
Craigellachie renamed Dandaleith and Strathspey Junction renamed Craigellachie.
31/07/1866[Morayshire Railway]
Rothes to Orton closed.
  /  /1871[Morayshire Railway]
Coleburn closed and Birchfield Platform (conditional halt) opened to replace it.
11/08/1881[Morayshire Railway]
[Great North of Scotland Railway]
Morayshire Railway absorbed by Great North of Scotland Railway. (Alternative date: 1880).
12/08/1885Moray Coast Railway (Great North of Scotland Railway)
Lossie Junction (Morayshire Railway) to Garmouth opened. Stations opened: Calcots, Urquhart and Garmouth.
  /  /1898[Morayshire Railway]
Longmorn distillery branch opened.
  /  /1902[Morayshire Railway]
Elgin station rebuilt.
  /  /1903[Morayshire Railway]
Railcars used on Lossiemouth branch.
  /  /1907[Morayshire Railway]
Rothes to Orton track lifted.
06/04/1964[Morayshire Railway]
Lossiemouth to Elgin (Lossie Junction) closed to passengers.
28/03/1966[Morayshire Railway]
Elgin East to Lossie Junction to Lossiemouth closed to freight.
06/05/1968[Banff Portsoy and Strathisla Railway]
[Moray Coast Railway] ([Great North of Scotland Railway])
[Morayshire Railway]
Elgin to Buckie to Cairnie Junction closed to passengers.
06/05/1968[Keith and Dufftown Railway]
[Morayshire Railway]
[Strathspey Railway]
Elgin to Craigellachie to Keith Junction closed to passengers.
04/11/1968[Morayshire Railway]
[Strathspey Railway]
Elgin East to Craigellachie closed to freight.
  /  /1979[Morayshire Railway]
Longmorn distillery branch closed having been used as a line simply between distilleries for a number of years.

Portions of line and locations

This line is divided into a number of portions.


Elgin to Lossiemouth

The station still stands, in use as business premises. To the south of the building the railway still runs, providing access to the terminus's goods yard.
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Panorama of the covered platform area at the former Elgin East. Platforms to left and exit to right. ...
Ewan Crawford 06/10/2018
An unidentified Class 60 in the yard at Elgin East, on hire from Colas. Elgin West box has gone, Elgin Centre (in the background right) looks like it ...
Crinan Dunbar 08/10/2017
A surviving set of weigh scales spotted whilst exploring the old Elgin East station, closed to passenger trains fifty years earler. 29th April 2018.
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Crinan Dunbar 29/04/2018
A split view of New Elgin Road crossing the junction between the Highland and GNSR lines east of Elgin station. ...
Crinan Dunbar 14/10/2017

Moray Resource Centre - built on old goods yard at Elgin. The view looks east on 8th October 2017 with the truncated line on the right. ...
Crinan Dunbar 08/10/2017
Moray Resource Centre - built on the old good yard at Elgin. When I was a lad a lot of old grain trucks were stored here for at least 5 years. ...
Crinan Dunbar 08/10/2017
Moray Resource Centre - built on part of the old goods yard at Elgin. When I was a lad a lot of old grain trucks were stored here for at least 5 ...
Crinan Dunbar 08/10/2017

The original Morayshire Railway shed of 1852 was just east of Elgin East and south of the line. This was a two road shed. It was replaced by Elgin Shed [2nd] but it still stands. ...

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The original GNSR shed at Elgin, looking north in 1998. This was replaced by a larger shed further east, now a council depot. ...
Ewan Crawford //1998


This junction was east of Elgin [GNSR] station. The junction was formed in 1862 when the course of the original portion of the Morayshire Railway from Elgin to Lossiemouth of 1852 was met by its later route via Longmorn to Rothes of 1862.
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This junction was just north of Elgin. This is where the Moray Coast Railway (Great North of Scotland Railway) met the older Morayshire Railway at a junction giving access to Elgin [East].
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View looks east towards Buckie over Lossie Junction. ...
Ewan Crawford //

This was a halt at the Linksfield Level Crossing, just north of Lossie Junction near Elgin [East]. There was a short platform on the west side of the line, just south of the level crossing itself.
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This was a small halt at Wester Greens. There was a very short platform on the east side of the line where the line crossed a drainage ditch.
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A distant view of the trackbed of the long closed Lossiemouth branch, running straight across the flat landscape. The town itself can be seen on the ...
Mark Bartlett 02/07/2011
The formation of the Lossiemouth branch line as seen looking south east from the top floor of Spynie Palace, a Historic Scotland ruin on the outskirts ...
Mark Bartlett 02/07/2011

This halt was just south of Lossiemouth. It served a Second World War rifle range.
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View looking west towards the site of Rifle Range Halt. ...
Ewan Crawford //

This was a single platform station with a large goods yard. The yard was located to the east of the passenger station and extended to the quaysides of the inner harbour.
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62267, a LNER D40, on the harbour wall at Lossiemouth, Morayshire. Date unknown, certainly early 50's. Thought to be a Neville Stead photograph. ...
Peter Todd Collection //
Lossiemouth station has been completely removed but the inevitable replacement is marked as Old Station car park on town maps and the trackbed can be ...
Mark Bartlett 02/07/2011
Around 1996 the remains of Lossiemouth station were tidied up into a garden and carpark. This 1997 view looks towards the buffer stops with the ...
Ewan Crawford 02/02/1997
Remains at Lossiemouth. ...
Ian Dinmore //




Orton to Craigellachie

This was the junction between the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway and the extension of the Morayshire Railway south to Craigellachie [1st]. Both lines were single track and opened in 1858. The junction was south of Orton station and west of the Spey Bridge on the main line east to Aberdeen.
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Opened in 1858, Closed in 1866 and lifted in 1907, this is the trackbed of the Orton to Rothes line. Once the direct Elgin to Rothes line opened in ...
Caleb Abbott 02/10/2018



This was a small station to the west of the Pool of Sourden and just west of Bridge Sourden. An early closure it existed for 18 years. The 1862 opening of the line between Elgin East and Rothes led to its closure in 1866 and eventually led to the closure of the line in 1880. The track remained in place for some time afterwards.
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Sourden station on the original route of the Morayshire Railway was a short lived station, lasting from 1858 to 1866, when the new line via Longmorn ...
Ewan Crawford 06/10/2018

This was a station with staggered platforms and a fine building on the northbound platform, at the south end.
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Nothing remains of Rothes station. This was the view north at the station with the unique station building and platforms off to the right and goods ...
Ewan Crawford //1997

This was a single platform station with a large timber building. It was, briefly, the terminus of the line until it was extended south to Strathspey Junction.
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View north at Dandaleith. The station has been obliterated by a road re-alignment and was located above the retaining wall shown here. Dandaleith was ...
Ewan Crawford 02/02/1997

This was a single track viaduct to the north of Craigellachie station and just south of Dandaleith station. The Morayshire Railway was to open to Dandaleith (then called Craigellachie) while this viaduct was completed, then extended to Craigellachie, the called Strathspey Junction.
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This was a three platform station and junction. There were two platforms on the route between Elgin East and Keith via Dufftown and one platform on the Strathspey route to Boat of Garten. To the north on the Elgin route the line almost immediately crossed the Craigellachie Bridge to reach Dandaleith.
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Approaching Craigellachie along the Speyside line from the Aberlour direction in November 2005, about to pass below the A95 road bridge and enter the ...
John Furnevel 02/11/2005
Standard 4MT 2-6-4T 80121 at Craigellachie with the 0940 Elgin-Aberdeen service. ...
David Murray-Smith 05/04/1960
The base of a distant signal still stands alongside the trackbed east of Craigellachie on the way to Dufftown in July 2009, some 38 years after ...
John Gray 27/07/2009
A view along Viaduct 240 looking towards Dufftown. ...
John Gray 27/07/2009




Elgin to Rothes

This junction was east of Elgin [GNSR] station. The junction was formed in 1862 when the course of the original portion of the Morayshire Railway from Elgin to Lossiemouth of 1852 was met by its later route via Longmorn to Rothes of 1862.
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This was a two platform station with a passing loop.
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Former Goods platform at Longmorn looking south. Longmorn is three miles south of Elgin. Distillery in background, 14/10/05. ...
John Gray 14/10/2005
Longmorn in 1951. The view looks north. ...
Alec Unsworth (Courtesy Chris Unsworth) //1951
Building on goods platform at Longmorn, 14/10/05. ...
John Gray 14/10/2005
Longmorn is south of Elgin and was on the line between Elgin and Craigellachie. It served the Longmorn Distillery and three others nearby, the size of ...
John Gray 05/04/2016

This platform served Coleburn Distillery. To the south was a passing loop with a signal box and sidings for the distillery. The sidings were on the west side of the line and served from the south (the north end of the loop). A siding ran from the south end of the loop to a gravel pit on the west side of the line.
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View north at Coleburn. The distillery sidings were to the left. ...
Ewan Crawford //1999


A halt, also known as Birchfield Siding. The platform was on the west side of the single line. It was a little north of the house and level crossing at Birchfield.
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View north at Birchfield Platform in 1999. Ahead was the route to Elgin East and behind the camera the line continued to Rothes. ...
Ewan Crawford //1999

This was a station with staggered platforms and a fine building on the northbound platform, at the south end.
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Nothing remains of Rothes station. This was the view north at the station with the unique station building and platforms off to the right and goods ...
Ewan Crawford //1997




Elgin Connection

The station still stands, in use as business premises. To the south of the building the railway still runs, providing access to the terminus's goods yard.
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More details
Panorama of the covered platform area at the former Elgin East. Platforms to left and exit to right. ...
Ewan Crawford 06/10/2018
An unidentified Class 60 in the yard at Elgin East, on hire from Colas. Elgin West box has gone, Elgin Centre (in the background right) looks like it ...
Crinan Dunbar 08/10/2017
A surviving set of weigh scales spotted whilst exploring the old Elgin East station, closed to passenger trains fifty years earler. 29th April 2018.
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Crinan Dunbar 29/04/2018
A split view of New Elgin Road crossing the junction between the Highland and GNSR lines east of Elgin station. ...
Crinan Dunbar 14/10/2017

A junction opened in 1858 between the 1852 Morayshire Railway and the 1858 Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway.
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156496 passes the connection to the former GNSR station and yard as it leaves Elgin with a service for Aberdeen in 1991.
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Bill Roberton //1991
Works proceeds apace at Elgin - the locomotives have gone because the goods yard is now cut off while the points are replaced. ...
Crinan Dunbar 11/10/2017
The points are in - the switching gear is next to the bridge. ...
Crinan Dunbar 14/10/2017
The points are in - the switching gear is next to the bridge. ...
Crinan Dunbar 14/10/2017