Kirriemuir Junction

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Kirriemuir Junction (1855-1864)

Opened on the Scottish Midland Junction Railway.
Opened on the Kirriemuir Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway).

Description

This was a station, exchange platform and junction. A very low platform stood in the 'V' of the junction with a building, probably a railway employee's house. The platform had one face on the main line and another on the branch. A second short platform was on the southbound main line, it was out of alignment with the main platform being further east. The junction dates from 1855 with the opening of the Kirriemuir Branch (Scottish Midland Junction Railway) which met the 1848 Scottish Midland Junction Railway.

There was a siding to the south, approached from west of the junction. A tall signal box stood to the south at the junction east of the station, allowing a view over the farm access bridge which crossed just east of the junction. The box opened in 1888 replacing an older one.

There was a loop on the branch as originally laid out. Later this was a double track junction, the branch to Kirriemuir rapidly becoming a single track just beyond the junction.

There was no public access, accept by train. Private road access reached the public siding.

The junction station was officially short lived, closing in 1864. The notably low platforms remained and were in use for some considerable time afterwards, trains from Kirriemuir setting down passengers here as late as 1922 to be picked up by mainline trains.

The branch closed to passengers in 1952. Latterly the junction became a single lead with a crossover to the east. The branch, and box, closed in 1965. The main line closed to passengers in 1967 but remained open as a single track goods line, the former eastbound, to Forfar until 1982.

The formation remains today, with the cutting now slightly infilled. A platelayers hut still stands and parts of the stone built platforms remain.

Tags

Station junction short lived

External links

NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
NLS Map




Chronology Dates

04/08/1952Kirriemuir Branch (Caledonian Railway)
Kirriemuir to Forfar (Kirriemuir Junction) closed to passengers.
21/06/1965Kirriemuir Branch (Caledonian Railway)
Kirriemuir to Kirriemuir Junction (excluded) closed to goods.

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)