Elgin East

Location type

Station

Names and dates

Elgin [GNSR] (1852-1948)
Elgin East (1948-1968)

Note: text in square brackets is added for clarity and was not part of the location's name.

Where: Moray
Opened on the Morayshire Railway.

Description

This closed station still exists, the substantial building now in use as business premises. To the south of the building the railway still runs, providing access to the terminus's goods yard.

This was originally the terminus of the Morayshire Railway. When built it was on the southern edge of the town which is why the road access and turning area face north.

New signal boxes opened in 1888 - Elgin West Signal Box [GNSR] and Elgin East Junction.

In a great reconstruction of 1902 the station expanded to have four platforms, with an overall roof covering the circulating area and canopies over the three bays and through platform. Platform 1 was the through line from Elgin [HR] and platforms 2, 3 and 4 were those on its north side. Platform 1 and 2 was a broader island, 3 and 4 was narrower and built in timber. There was cross bracing between the canopy over 1 and 2 (wider and supported on double pillars) and that over 3 and 4 (narrower supported on a line of single pillars).

The alignment east from the station made it very clear that the lines running out of the bays were the main line, the connection to the Highland Railway being the branch.

It became the Great North of Scotland Railway station, just east of the Highland Railway's station. A link was put in between the stations, the station acting as both terminus and through station afterwards. The station was the terminus for trains to Lossiemouth, Buckie [GNSR] (the coast line to Cairnie Junction, Dufftown (the Speyside route to Keith) and Aberdeen.

The station was rebuilt in the Scottish Baronial style in 1898 replacing, as HA Vallance had it, 'a miserable collection of wooden sheds'. The building is two stories high with an attic. There is a superb booking hall on the ground floor leading through to the former circulating area. Canopies and a glazed area over the terminal platforms were added. The through platform was extremely long - continuing west from the station to join the Aberdeen platform of the Highland Railway station.

After 1948 Elgin East and Elgin West operated as a single six platform station - the platforms at Elgin West being numbers 5 (eastbound) and 6 (westbound).

There was a large goods yard to the south of the station, located in the 'V' of the junction. At the east end of the site was a locomotive shed.

After closure the station remained intact, although bay platform lines were lifted and the platforms were screened from the lines in the 1980s. The goods yard remained in operation.

A signal box, Elgin Centre, which controlled the connection between the two stations, remains standing to the south of the station in the 'V' of the junction, somewhat past its best. It is 'C' listed.

ScotRail is establishing (winter 2017, not yet constructed winter 2018, or winter 2019) a train depot in the former goods yard.

The site has been subject to flooding. Notable floods occurred in the summer of 1915, July 1997 and November 2002.

Tags

Station terminus

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map

Facilities

Listing: B




Chronology Dates

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).
06/04/1964Morayshire Railway
Lossiemouth to Elgin East (Lossie Junction) closed to passengers.
28/03/1966Morayshire Railway
Elgin East to Lossie Junction to Lossiemouth closed to freight.
06/05/1968Banff, Portsoy and Strathisla Railway Moray Coast Railway (Great North of Scotland Railway) Morayshire Railway
Elgin East to Buckie [GNSR] to Cairnie Junction closed to passengers.
06/05/1968Keith and Dufftown RailwayMorayshire RailwayStrathspey Railway
Elgin East to Craigellachie to Keith Junction closed to passengers.
04/11/1968Morayshire RailwayStrathspey Railway
Elgin East (excluded) to Craigellachie (excluded) closed to freight.
02/07/1997Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway
Flood damage washes away the railway embankment at two locations (Mosstowie and Llanbryde) between Elgin and Keith. 158727 is cut off at Elgin, in the flooded sidings at Elgin East, and is water damaged.
16/11/2002Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway
Line flooding leads to closure. At Mosstowie the railway was five feet underwater and the goods yard at Elgin East flooded. Flood damage stretched from Elgin to Keith. Large landslip near Orton.

News items

18/03/2021Pictures from the Past: 1964 Last train to Lossie [Northern Scot]

Books


The Travellers Joy: The Story of the Morayshire Railway