Coupar Angus

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Coupar Angus (1837-1967)

Opened on the Scottish Midland Junction Railway.
Opened on the Newtyle and Coupar Angus Railway.
Opened on the Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway).

Description

This was a three platform station. With an island platform on the west side - the outer face being for the Blairgowrie branch and down platform (with canopied building) and up platform (timber building) on the east side (a building which had a single sloping roof was replaced with another slightly further east around the Great War). Both sides of the station had goods loops. Access to the platforms was by a large footbridge over the goods loops on the west and east sides of the station. A large water tank was at the west end of the station by the footbridge, on the south side of the line.

The goods yard was on the west side of the station and access from the north. This was grouped into two sets of sidings - a northern set with goods shed and southern with loading banks and crane. Coupar Angus used to deal with a heavy annual potato harvest.

The station was large enough to require two signal boxes - north (north side of the line at the east end) and south (south of the line at the west end), and in addition beyond this to the west was a gate box (north side of the line east of the level crossing).

To the south west of the station the mainline and Blairgowrie branch line ran westwards in parallel to the point of separation, south of the Queen Street level crossing. The curve of the branch was originally severe, leading to derailments. It was relaid on a less tight curve.

In 1939 the south box and gate box were replaced with a single new box, on the south side of the line at the level crossing. This was also known as south box. The box was a variant of the LMS Type 12, but without the bay window.

The branch to Blairgowrie closed in 1966.

The station and line closed to passengers in 1967. By this time the Blairgowrie branch had been dismantled right up to near the station and a buffer placed on the stub. The main railway was singled with the eastbound line being closed and lifted. The north box closed. The goods yard remained open.

The south box survived passenger closure as it controlled the level crossing. It closed in 1982 when the line closed completely. The box remained in place following line closure for a few years. The goods yard also survived passenger closure, handling agricultural lime.

The platforms remained until the 1990s before being cleared. The site is now partly built over. The A94 occupies the trackbed going west.

The original station, a terminus, had opened for the Newtyle and Coupar Angus Railway. This was obliterated by the building of the Scottish Midland Junction Railway who upgraded the line to a double track main line. The down side goods sidings, on a curve, were initially straight and served from a turnplate, possibly something similar had existed earlier.

The station hotel, now called The Red House, is still in business. This is to the north of the station site, aligned for the original station road, which was replaced when the goods yard was rebuilt by another on a different alignment to the west. This in turn has also been replaced since redevelopment of the railway after closure.

Tags

Station LMS Type 12

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
10/06/2023



Chronology Dates

  /  /1846Newtyle and Coupar Angus RailwayScottish Midland Junction Railway
Line sold to the Scottish Midland Junction Railway. It was then closed and upgraded to standard gauge and two tracks between Coupar Angus and Ardler Junction. (Alternative date: 1845).
  /  /1850Scottish Midland Junction Railway
Keep a locomotive at Coupar Angus for the Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway). (No shed building at Coupar Angus is known of.)
01/08/1855Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)
Line opened for passengers from Coupar Angus to Blairgowrie.
21/08/1855Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)
Line opened to goods from Coupar Angus to Blairgowrie.
20/10/1899Newtyle and Coupar Angus Railway
Scottish Midland Junction Railway
A passenger and goods train crash at Coupar Angus resulting in the death of a train driver.
10/01/1955Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)
Blairgowrie to Coupar Angus (excluded) closed to passengers.
06/12/1965Blairgowrie Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway)
Blairgowrie to Coupar Angus (excluded) closed to freight.
04/09/1967Newtyle and Coupar Angus Railway
Coupar Angus to Ardler Junction closed to passengers.
04/09/1967Scottish Midland Junction Railway
Newtyle and Coupar Angus Railway
Newtyle and Glammis Railway
Arbroath and Forfar Railway
Aberdeen Railway
Stanley Junction to Kinnaber Junction closed to passengers. Coupar Angus, Alyth Junction, Forfar and Bridge of Dun stations closed.

News items

11/02/2014Gallery: old train photos fascinate readers [Courier]
27/07/2005Miniature train robber is jailed [BBC News]

Books


A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: The North of Scotland v. 15 (Regional railway history series)

An Illustrated History of Tayside's Railways

Bradshaw's Guides Scotlands Railways West Coast - Carlisle to Inverness: 5

Tayside's Last Days of Steam
The Railways of Strathmore (Perth, Forfar and Brechin)