Gartly

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Gartly (1854-1968)

Station code: National Rail
Opened on the Great North of Scotland Railway.

Description

This was a two platform station. The main station building, two storeys, still stands on the former westbound (down) platform. The building is now in use as a house. The remaining track is by this platform, slightly slewed. An alternative spelling is 'Gartley'.

To the immediate west is a level crossing. Station cottages remain to the east of the crossing.

The small goods yard was on the west side of the line, accessed by reversal.

The line was originally single track and Gartly had a passing place and two platforms. Platforms were linked by a typical elegant Great North of Scotland Railway timber footbridge. Two signal boxes opened in 1888. The north box was by the level crossing, at the north end of the northbound platform. The south box was at the south end of the loop on the west side.

The line from Insch to Huntly was doubled in 1896 and the south box was closed (it remained standing for a time).

The station closed to passengers in 1968.

The line is single track today and slewed to the middle. The line from Kennethmont to Huntly was singled in 1970.

The remaining signal box, formerly the north box, closed in 1973 and automatic barrier installed.

Gartly itself is rather small and the station served a wider area, in Bradshaw of 1911 it is named 'Gartly for Lumsden and Strathdon'.

The Ordnance Survey Name Book describes the station thus

Gartly Station is situated five miles south of Huntly, on the Great North of Scotland Railway, it is a very nice station the houses of which are all in good repair and kept very clean and is the property of the company.


The station is close to the south end of Strathbogie where the line turns to the east to cross higher ground via Insch before dropping down to the River Urie near Oyne.

Much of the land in this area was owned, when the railway was promoted, by Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond, who supported the line after being formerly approached in 1849.

To the south of the former station is Howets of Kennethmont Bridge.

Local

To the north east of the station was Gartly Castle (or Gartly Place, with Gartly sometimes spelt Gartley), a tower house castle in which Mary Queen of Scots stayed in 1562. Bradshaw refers to it in his guide, but nothing remains today.

Tags

Station

Aliases

Gartley

External links

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


Chronology Dates

20/09/1854Great North of Scotland Railway
Huntly to Aberdeen Kittybrewster opened to passengers. Stations at: Aberdeen Kittybrewster, Buxsburn, Dyce [1st], Kintore [1st], Inverurie [1st], Pitcaple, Oyne, Insch, Kennethmont, Gartly, Huntly.
20/09/1896Great North of Scotland Railway
Doubled Kennethmont to Gartly opened.
30/11/1896Great North of Scotland Railway
Doubled Gartly to Huntly opened.
06/12/1970Great North of Scotland Railway
Huntly to Gartly to Kennethmont singled.

News items

30/08/2018Rare chance to buy disused station on Scottish rail network [Scotsman]

Books

150 Years of the Great North: Tales of the Little But Good
A History of the Great North of Scotland Railway

Banff, Moray and Nairn's Lost Railways

Great North Memories: Aberdeen No. 2: Scenes of the North East's Own Railway

Great North Memories: LNER Era, 1923-47

Great North of Scotland Railway (History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands, vol. 3)

Great North of Scotland Railway Album

Great North of Scotland Railway Album

Great North of Scotland Railway Carriages

Great North of Scotland Railway Locomotives

History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands: Great North of Scotland Railway v. 3
LNER Wagons: Volume 3: Scottish Area: Ex North British and Ex-Great North of Scotland Railway Wagons
Modelling the Great North of Scotland Railway
Moray Coast Railways
Scotland’s Lost Branch Lines: Where Beeching Got It Wrong

Signalling and Signal Boxes along the North British Railway, Great North of Scotland Railway and the CLC Routes

Speyside Railways: Exploring the Remains of the Great North of Scotland Railways and Its Environs

The Great North of Scotland Railway - A New History

The Travellers Joy: The Story of the Morayshire Railway