Orton

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Orton (1859-1964)

Opened on the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway.

Description

This was a two platform station with a passing loop. The main station building, of two storeys, was on the southbound/eastbound platform. There was a goods yard at the north end, approached from the south.

There is very little at Orton itself, other than the former station and former junction.

When first opened this was a single platform station. The northbound/westbound platform and loop were added later. North and South signal boxes opened at the station in 1887. The north box was on the east side, just north of the goods yard, and the south box was also on the east side, at the south end of the loop.

To the south of the station was Orton Junction where the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway was met by the Morayshire Railway. Orton Junction was a very short lived station (1858-1859) replaced by Orton.

After closure of the Orton to Rothes section the track remained in place for some time, lifted at the junction itself.

To the east the main line crossed the Boat o' Brig Viaduct.

The loop was taken out in 1947 and boxes closed. The eastbound platform remained in use.

The station closed to passengers in 1964. The sidings were taken out in 1965.

The railway remains open. The station building at Orton is now a house. A small porch covered an area alongside the platform and there is a roundel for a now removed platform facing clock.

A timber siding was located to the north in the Great War.

Tags

Station junction

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
NLS Map
10/12/2021


Chronology Dates

26/06/1846Great North of Scotland Railway
Act receives Royal assent.The route was to be Aberdeen to Inverness with Grange to Banff and Portsoy, Orton to Garmouth, Alves to Burghead [1st] branches.
16/07/1846Morayshire Railway
Act receives Royal assent. Authorised from Lossiemouth to Elgin [GNSR] and from Orton to Craigellachie.
10/07/1850Morayshire Railway
Authorisation of Orton to Craigellachie abandoned.
  /  /1858Morayshire Railway
Orton to Craigellachie re-authorised.
  /07/1858Morayshire Railway
Pre-opening inspection of Orton to Rothes line (passed but frustratingly the Elgin to Orton section of the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway fails).
23/08/1858Morayshire Railway
Orton (on the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway) to Rothes opened.
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).
31/07/1866Morayshire Railway
Rothes to Orton closed. Line left in place.
  /  /1907Morayshire Railway
Rothes to Orton track lifted.
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

15/05/2023Nearly 40 firefighters tackle house blaze near Fochabers [Press and Journal]

Books


Forres and Area Past and Present

Landranger (27) Nairn & Forres, River Findhorn (OS Landranger Map)

Old Forres

OS Explorer Map (423) Elgin, Forres and Lossiemouth (OS Explorer Active Map)

Time Does Transfix: Recollections of a Forres Railwayman