Forfar North Junction

Location type

Junction

Names and dates

Forfar Junction (1848-1870)
Forfar Junction (1870-1895)
Forfar North Junction (1895-1967)
Forfar North Junction (1967-1982)

Opened on the Arbroath and Forfar Railway.
Opened on the Dundee and Forfar Direct Railway.
Opened on the Scottish Midland Junction Railway.

Description

At Forfar North Junction the routes west to Forfar [1st] (Playfield) and Perth diverged and the routes east to Aberdeen and Broughty Ferry diverged. The Arbroath and Forfar Railway (arriving here in 1839), Scottish Midland Junction Railway (1848) and Dundee and Forfar Direct Railway (1870) met here.


Junction formed

On the opening of the Scottish Midland Junction Railway through Forfar [2nd] station, Forfar Playfield was left on a short branch as a goods depot. A signal box opened with the junction. This was located on the north side of the junction.


Direct line

The direct line to Broughty Ferry changed the location into a four way junction.


Renamed

The junction was renamed on creation of Forfar South Junction, west of Forfar [2nd], when the Forfar and Brechin Railway opened in 1895.


Closure

After closure of the Broughty Ferry line (south to Kingsmuir closed in 1958) and the later closure of the main line north east to Bridge of Dun (in 1967) the junction gave access to the extensive goods yard and, until its closure, Forfar (Playfield). The signal box closed in 1967 with the line to Bridge of Dun and the line from Stanley Junction was worked 'one engine in steam'. The line remained open here as a headshunt for the goods yards. The Playfield branch closed in 1979 and the line closed in 1982.


Today

The cutting the junction was formed in has been infilled for housing, road overbridge removed and the goods yard and main line to the west are redeveloped as an industrial estate and housing. Little remains to trace the route to either station. Both lines to the east can be found.

Tags

Junction




Chronology Dates

10/01/1955Dundee and Forfar Direct Railway (Caledonian Railway)
Forfar [2nd] (Forfar North Junction) to Dundee East (Broughty Junction) closed to passengers.
08/12/1958Dundee and Forfar Direct Railway (Caledonian Railway)
Forfar North Junction (excluded) to Kingsmuir (excluded) closed to goods. The line becomes a long goods branch from Broughty Junction to Kingsmuir.
04/09/1967Aberdeen RailwayArbroath and Forfar Railway
Forfar North Junction (excluded) to Bridge of Dun (excluded) closed to all traffic.
31/10/1979Arbroath and Forfar Railway
Forfar North Junction to Forfar [1st] (Playfield) closed to goods and competely.
05/06/1982Scottish Midland Junction Railway
Line closed between Stanley Junction (excluded) and the former Forfar North Junction. On the last day two passenger trains "Forfar Farewell" are run. Some days later a freight may have run to recover wagons still on the line.

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 Arbroath and Forfar Railway: The Dundee Direct Line and the Kirriemuir Branch (Oakwood Library of Railway History)
The Railways of Strathmore (Perth, Forfar and Brechin)