Law Incline
Location type
PlaceName and dates
Law Incline (1831-1861)Opened on the Dundee and Newtyle Railway.
Description
The Law Incline started north of Dundee Ward Road and terminated just south of Law Tunnel. The incline was 3180 ft long. It rose 233 ft at a gradient of 1 in 10. At the north end was an incline engine of 40 hp. Ascent took around 6 minutes.
Just north of the station the line was single track, crossed Dudhope Crescent, then Barrack Road, to the north of which it doubled. It then ran north with the Dundee Royal Infirmary on the west side, the boundary of which preserves the line of the railway. Next it was crossed by Somerville Place, the line now running in a cutting. To the north of Somerville Place the site of the railway is now a series of grassy areas on the east side of Drummond Street. The section before the incline head had three rails, rather than double track. Before reaching Hospital Wynd (now realigned as Kinghorne Road) it had reached the incline head engine house where there were sidings. The line then entered the Law Tunnel, which was single track.
Two other inclines existed on the Dundee and Newtyle Railway, the Hatton Incline and the Balbeuchly Incline.
Tags
Incline02/03/2023
| Nearby stations Dundee Ward Road Offset at Back of Law Dundee West Dundee Trades Lane Dundee East Crossroads Dundee Lochee Dundee Esplanade Magdalen Green Roodyards Lochee West Baldovan and Downfield Ninewells Junction [Station] Newport-on-Tay East | Law Incline Engine Law Tunnel Ward Foundry Offset at Back of Law Workshops Dundee Ward Road Shed Blackness Foundry Dens Park Tay Foundry [1st] Tanadice Park Dock Street Tunnel Dundee Foundry Clepington Road [Tram] Seabraes Engine Works Dundee West Goods Tourist/other Dundee Law |
| Location names in dark blue are on the same original line. | |
Chronology Dates
| 03/04/1832 | Dundee and Newtyle Railway Line full opened. At Dundee it is extended down the Law Incline to Dundee Ward Road and at Hatton it is extended down the Hatton Incline to Newtyle [1st]. Additional Cross Roads station opened on existing line to the north of the Law. |
| / /1857 | Dundee and Newtyle Railway Dundee magistrates order the Dundee, Perth and Aberdeen Junction Railway to remove the Dundee and Newtyle Railway's harbour branch which ran as a street tramway between Dundee Ward Road and the Dundee Earl Grey Dock. Negotiations led to the DP&AJR having to promote a deviation (the Lochee Deviation, owned by the DP&AJR) avoiding the Law Incline and removal of the street tramway, replacing it with a locomotive worked line. |
| /07/1859 | Dundee, Perth and Aberdeen Junction Railway Act for the Lochee Deviation, Ninewells Junction (on the Dundee and Perth Railway) to Fairmuir (on the Dundee and Newtyle Railway), passed. Dundee Ward Road and the Law Incline were to close and trains terminate at Dundee Union Street (later Dundee West). Also for the deviation from Rosemill Loop to Auchterhouse [2nd] replacing the Balbeuchley Incline. |
| 08/06/1861 | Dundee and Newtyle Railway
Dundee and Newtyle Deviations (Dundee and Perth Railway) Dundee Ward Road, Law Tunnel and Law Incline closed with the opening of the deviation to Ninewells Junction. |
News items
| 12/11/2020 | Tunnel vision: Victorian railway cut through Dundee Law [The Courier] |
Books
 Dundee and Newtyle Railway Including the Alyth and Blairgowrie Branches (Oakwood Library of Railway History) |  Railways of Dundee (Oakwood Library of Railway History) |
