Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway

Introduction

This railway was closed in 1959. The line provided a service between Aberfoyle and Dumgoyne. Services continued to Glasgow. Aberfoyle station provided access to the Trossachs and Loch Katrine. The company rebuilt the road between Aberfoyle and the Trossachs.






Dates

  /  /1880Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway
Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway authorised.
01/10/1882Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway
Line opened for passengers and freight from Dumgoyne to Gartness Junction and Buchlyvie Junction to Aberfoyle. Stations at Killearn, Gartmore and Aberfoyle.
05/08/1891Strathendrick and Aberfoyle RailwayNorth British Railway
Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway absorbed by North British Railway.
01/05/1930Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway
Sentinel-Cammell Steam Railcar shuttle introduced meeting trains from Glasgow Queen Street at Blanefield and running on to Aberfoyle. Eastfield Shed's railcar Retaliator was based at Aberfoyle shed.
04/10/1941Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway
Sentinel-Cammell Steam Railcar shuttle from Blanefield to Aberfoyle withdrawn and replaced with locomotive hauled stock.
  /  /1947Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway
Tramway from Aberfoyle station to Aberfoyle Quarries closed.
29/09/1951Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway Forth and Clyde Junction Railway Blane Valley Railway Campsie Branch (Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway)
Aberfoyle to Kirkintilloch [2nd] (excluded) closed to passengers. Passenger stations closed at Aberfoyle, Gartmore, Buchlyvie, Balfron, Killearn, Dumgoyne, Blanefield, Strathblane, Campsie Glen, Lennoxtown [2nd], Milton of Campsie closed.
  /  /1958Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway
Aberfoyle Quarries closed.
15/05/1958Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway
Forth and Clyde Junction Railway
Blane Valley Railway
Campsie Branch (Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway)
Stevenson Locomotive Society Railtour travels from Glasgow to Aberfoyle. (Also visiting Kilsyth (Old)). [189]
16/05/1959Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway Forth and Clyde Junction Railway Blane Valley Railway Campsie Branch (Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway)
A University of Glasgow (Department of Extra Mural Education!) railtour visits Aberfoyle, the last passenger train to the station. Hauled by K2 61788 Loch Rannoch and with an LNER observation coach on the rear. [157]
05/10/1959Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway
Forth and Clyde Junction Railway
Blane Valley Railway
Campsie Branch (Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway)
Aberfoyle to Buchlyvie Junction to Gartness Junction to Campsie Glen (Lennox Castle Siding) (excluded) closed completely (although a final railtour ran on the 17th). Track not lifted until early 1960s.

Portions of line and locations

This line is divided into a number of portions.


Dumgoyne to Gartness Junction

A single track passenger and goods line from Dumgoyne to Gartness Junction.

This was a two platform station. It opened to goods in 1866 and passengers in 1867. Initially a terminus, there was an engine shed at the south end on the west side of the line and a goods shed and yard on the east side, all approached from the south. Locomotives passed through the locomotive shed to reach the turntable. There was a signal box at the south end, east side of the line.
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More details

See also
Blane Valley Railway
A view looking south back over the former level crossing with the A81 at Dumgoyne station. Over the crossing the passenger platform was on the left ...
Ewan Crawford 09/08/2023
Killean [1st] was the terminus of the 1866 Blane Valley Railway. It was extended to Aberfoyle in 1882 by the Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway and ...
Ewan Crawford 09/08/2023
Blane Valley - sign on the West Highland Way next to site of Dumgoyne Station. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 15/07/2008
Looking towards Aberfoyle at Dumgoyne. This was the terminus of the line until extension of the line. ...
Ewan Crawford 08/05/1987
4 of 5 images. more


Looking south east at Blackburn Siding, a former sawmill siding, between Dumgoyne and Killearn stations. ...
Ewan Crawford 09/08/2023
Killearn Saw Mill was served by a siding off the Glasgow - Aberfoyle line. This view looks west towards the buffer with the line to the right. A pair ...
Ewan Crawford //1993
2 of 2 images.


This was a two platform station with a passing loop. The southbound platform was generally used for trains in both directions.
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More details
Looking west at the former Killearn station. The route is now used by the West Highland Way. ...
Ewan Crawford 08/05/1987
Strathendrick & Aberfoyle line at Killearn Station site on the road bridge to Killearn village, looking E. Line now part of West Highland Way. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 03/05/2007
Strathendrick & Aberfoyle line at Killearn Station site on the road bridge to Killearn village, looking W. Line now part of West Highland Way. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 03/05/2007
The site of Killearn station in 1990. The station (which was largely timber) closed to passengers in 1951 and little survives apart from a ...
Ewan Crawford //1990
4 of 5 images. more


This was a single track girder viaduct which carried the Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway over the Endrick Water just south of Gartness Junction. Just to the north the line entered a loop at the junction.
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Strathendrick & Aberfoyle Railway, site of bridge over River Endrick. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 03/05/2007
Strathendrick & Aberfoyle Railway, site of bridge over River Endrick looking E. Remains of sleeper wall. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 03/05/2007
Strathendrick & Aberfoyle Railway, looking W from bridge over River Endrick. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 03/05/2007
3 of 3 images.


Here the Forth and Clyde Junction Railway was met by the Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway which used its metals to reach Buchlyvie Junction where it branched off for Aberfoyle.
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More details

See also
Forth and Clyde Junction Railway
In this view the Forth and Clyde Junction Railway runs from bottom, left of centre, to centre right. The Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway ran from ...
Ewan Crawford 09/08/2023
The approach of the Strathendrick and Aberfoyle has been ploughed out for a short distance south east of Gartness Viaduct. This was a West Highland ...
Ewan Crawford 09/08/2023
Today tree growth and ground movements have made the site of Gartness Junction far less discernible than back in 1987 (see image 1974) when the ...
Ewan Crawford 26/07/2021
Gartness Junction from above. The junction formed a V which can be made out in the lower centre of this view. The course of the Forth and Clyde ...
Ewan Crawford 26/07/2021
4 of 7 images. more





Buchlyvie Junction to Aberfoyle

A single track passenger and goods line from Buchlyvie Junction to Aberfoyle.

This was the junction between the older Balloch to Stirling line and the Aberfoyle branch of 1882. It was located at the east end of Buchlyvie station's loop.
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More details

See also
Forth and Clyde Junction Railway
Strathendrick & Aberfoyle Railway, Looking NW ...
Alistair MacKenzie 04/04/2007
Forth & Clyde Junction Railway at Buchlyvie, looking NE, towards Stirling ...
Alistair MacKenzie 04/04/2007
Forth & Clyde Junction Railway at Buchlyvie, looking NE. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 04/04/2007
The Strathendrick and Aberfoyle crossed Flanders Moss from Buchlyvie to approach Gartmore. The trackbed is now a forestry road frequented by cyclists ...
Ewan Crawford 15/10/2018
4 of 5 images. more




This siding was directly north of a small bridge over the Kelty Water. The siding was between Gartmore and Buchlyvie. It was approached from the south and on the west side of the line. A house remains near the site.
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More details
Strathendrick & Aberfoyle Railway, replaced bridge. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 04/04/2007
Strathendrick & Aberfoyle Railway, looking NW. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 04/04/2007
Strathendrick & Aberfoyle Railway, farm bridge. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 04/04/2007
Strathendrick & Aberfoyle Railway, bridge over Kelty Water. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 04/04/2007
4 of 6 images. more


This was a single track large single girder viaduct over the River Forth at Gartrenich, and was also known as the Gartrenich Bridge.
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More details
Strathendrick & Aberfoyle Railway, remains of bridge over River Forth. See image 30235. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 04/04/2007
Strathendrick & Aberfoyle Railway, remains of bridge over River Forth. See image 30235. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 04/04/2007
This replacement footbridge crosses over the young River Forth south of the former Gartmore station. This view looks north. ...
Ewan Crawford 15/10/2018
Copy of a print showing the original railway bridge at Gartrenich. The print appeared in the Illustrated London News in 1882, the year the Aberfoyle ...
Alan Dowsett Collection //1882
4 of 7 images. more


This was a single platform station with a small building. There was a passing loop which served a loading bank. The station was built to serve Gartmore House to the south. The platform was on the east side of the line with the signal box on the loading bank on the west side.
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Strathendrick & Aberfoyle Railway, now a walk through the Flanders Moss Forest. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 04/04/2007
Strathendrick & Aberfoyle Railway, Lineside hut. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 04/04/2007
The bridge carrying the A81 road over the trackbed at Flanders Moss, Gartmore, in August 2010. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 10/08/2010
Route of Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway, now walkway, from Gartmore looking toward Aberfoyle. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 22/03/2007
4 of 4 images.


This was a single road brick built shed at the east end of Aberfoyle station. The shed was on the south side of the line and approached from the west crossing over the turntable. The connection was to the loop line rather than platform line.
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More details
Still partly visible on 4th March 2015 in the woodland which has grown up on the site of the east end of Aberfoyle station, the circle of concrete ...
Colin McDonald 04/03/2015
This curious structure made from old rails is to be found near a path off the trackbed of the S&A near the site of the former Aberfoyle locomotive ...
Colin McDonald 04/03/2015
This uninteresting circle of concrete in a wood was in fact the only remains of the terminus at Aberfoyle in 1989. This was the filled in turntable ...
Ewan Crawford //1989
3 of 3 images.


This was a single platform terminus with a run round loop, station building with small canopy, small signal box (akin to those on the original section of the West Highland Railway), water tank, turntable, single road, single ended locomotive shed and loading bank lines, north of the line into the station and, like the station, approached from the east. The station was in Aberfoyle itself, ...

More details

See also
Aberfoyle Slate Quarries Tramway
Looking west along Lochard Road in Aberfoyle. On the left is the surviving parapet of the bridge which allowed the Aberfoyle Slate Quarry tramway to ...
Bill Roberton 20/06/2018
Looking east over Manse Road in Aberfoyle towards the former station and goods yard. The quarry tramway passed through the gap in the hedge and steel ...
Bill Roberton 19/06/2018
An interesting page from Shearers Guide of 1907 giving information about Aberfoyle, reached by The Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway. ...
Alistair MacKenzie 04/11/2010
The railway cottages just east of the site of Aberfoyle station on the trackbed of the former Strathendrick and Aberfoyle Railway seen on 4th March ...
Colin McDonald 04/03/2015
4 of 15 images. more