The Aberdeen Railway was a Scottish railway company which built a line from Aberdeen to Forfar and Arbroath, partly by leasing and upgrading an existing railway.
The line opened in stages between 1847 and 1850, with branches to Brechin and Montrose. The Aberdeen terminus was at Ferryhill, some distance from the centre of Aberdeen. Reaching central Aberdeen was difficult, but was finally achieved in 1854.
The Aberdeen Railway was reliant on other railways further south to reach central Scotland, and in 1856 the Aberdeen Railway joined with the Scottish Midland Junction Railway to form the Scottish North Eastern Railway.
In the 1960s there were two routes from central Scotland to Aberdeen, and rationalisation dictated that a line from Dundee would be retained, and the original Aberdeen Railway route would close. This took place in 1967. Both routes used the same track north of Kinnaber Junction (a little north of Montrose) and this was retained; it is the only section of the original Aberdeen Railway that is still in use. A heritage railway, the Caledonian Railway (Brechin), operates on the former Brechin branch.
History The first proposals for a railway to Aberdeen were put forward in 1827 when Robert Stevenson was commissioned to assess the potential; however nothing progressed from his study.
Railway politics In the 1840s there was a frenzy of railway speculation and promotion in Scotland; this was focussed on the means of connecting central Scotland with the developing English network. Considerable controversy existed for some years while the best route was debated: at first it was assumed that only one route was supportable, and the Caledonian Railway route over the Southern Uplands seemed to be the chosen route. The Caledonian was authorised by the Caledonian Railway Act 1845 (8 & 9 Vict. c. clxii) in the 1845 session, capitalised at £1,500,000, a tremendous sum at the time. The continuous debate in the preceding years had encouraged thoughts of a Scottish network too; this was further facilitated by easy availability of investment money, and the idea of promoting a railway costing hundreds of thousands of pounds seemed suddenly commonplace.
In the same 1845 session several other lines were promoted. Not all of them were as ambitious as the Caledonian scheme, but among them were the Scottish Central Railway (SCR) linking Perth with the two dominant railways in central Scotland, the (as yet unbuilt) Caledonian and the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. Also authorised was the Scottish Midland Junction Railway (SMJR) from Perth to Forfar. Already in existence was the Arbroath and Forfar Railway, on a broadly west to east axis, and with the distinctive track gauge of 5 ft 6in (1,676 mm). Last in this northward-stretching chain was the Aberdeen Railway, which was authorised on 31 July 1845.
The directors of the Caledonian Railway had a strategic vision, and they saw that securing territory to their own company was critical; they set about committing independent lines to an alliance with themselves, by leasing them. This had the advantage that (unlike in a purchase) no cash had to be put down at once: merely an annual charge later on. This arrangement was made with the and the , giving the Caledonian control of a continuous railway from Carlisle to Forfar, and access to Aberdeen. The Caledonian Railway's authorising act of Parliament was entitled An Act for making a railway from Carlisle to Edinburgh an Glasgow and the North of Scotland, to be called the Caledonian Railway.
The Caledonian was not deterred by the fact that the and the had only received parliamentary authority on the same day as themselves; however a major hurdle was to be getting sanction from Parliament for the leases, which were seen as anti-competitive.David Ross, The Caledonian: Scotland's Imperial Railway: A History, Stenlake Publishing Limited, Catrine, 2014, Christopher Awdry, Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies, Patrick Stephens Limited, Wellingborough, 1990,
The Aberdeen Railway authorised
Early proposals for the Aberdeen Railway had envisaged it running from Forfar (at the termination of the Scottish Midland Junction line) via Brechin, but the bill as presented was for a junction with the Arbroath and Forfar Railway (A&FR) at Guthrie, about halfway between Arbroath and Forfar. This saved some mileage of new construction, but the track gauge of the would have to be changed. The line was to run a little to the west of Montrose and then follow the coast to Aberdeen. There were to be branches to Montrose and Brechin, and the Arbroath and Forfar line was to be leased to the Aberdeen Railway. The authorised capital was £830,000 and the (8 & 9 Vict. c. cliii) was given royal assent on 31 July 1845, the same day as the Caledonian Railway and the and the .E F Carter, An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles, Cassell, London, 1959John Thomas and David Turnock, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume 15, North of Scotland, David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1989,
The lease of the was only authorised, but the new Aberdeen Railway Company lost no time in negotiating the lease, and it was finalised late in 1845. It was to be "in perpetuity".
Construction and initial opening
The Aberdeen Railway proceeded with constructing its line, and on 1 February 1848 it opened from the junctions with the to Montrose and Brechin. Both were on branches, with Brechin served from Bridge of Dun, and Montrose from Dubton, which was the northernmost point on the authorised main line at the time, and not a destination of great importance. Only 17 miles (27 km) had been constructed.
The site of the stations at both Brechin and Montrose had been controversial; at Brechin the station was sited nearer the town centre than originally planned; at Montrose the station could not be constructed in its intended location, and a temporary station at Victoria Bridge was used. A Mr Cloudsley operated a horse-drawn omnibus connection until the proper terminus opened on 8 February 1850. A local newspaper reported it as "The roomiest and best [station] in the northern part of the kingdom", but this seems to have been hyperbole, and the station was reconstructed in 1864.W Simms, Railways of Brechin, Angus District Libraries and Museums, 1985
The Aberdeen Railway Company had run out of money, and the state of trade was such that raising more would not be easy, yet £300,000 was needed. A shareholders' meeting in October 1848 considered some radical proposals, including a takeover by the English London and North Western Railway. The company decided to continue alone, and the only way out was to issue preference shares, authorised by Parliament in the (11 & 12 Vict. c. lxvii).The preference shares seem to have been issued exclusively to existing shareholders; in modern parlance that is a rights issue. The shares were taken up, and northwards construction resumed. On 30 October 1848 the line was extended to Limpet Mill, north of Stonehaven, and it reached Portlethen on 13 December 1849. Passenger services on the extended route started on 1 February 1850.
Problems in Aberdeen There were difficulties with the Burgh of Aberdeen over the proposed terminal site; originally a terminus in Market Street had been contemplated, but now the company had to settle for a temporary terminus at Ferryhill, some distance from the city centre.Keith G Jones, The Railways of Aberdeen, The Great North of Scotland Railway Association, Aberdeen, 2000, The first steam locomotive reached Ferryhill on 16 March 1850, and public services started on 1 April 1850.W A C Smith and Paul Anderson, An Illustrated History of Tayside's Railways, Dundee and Perth, Irwell Press, Clophill, 1997,
The independent Deeside Railway was constructing its line at this time, from Banchory; it too had difficulty in entering Aberdeen and by arrangement it ran to the Aberdeen Railway Ferryhill terminus, opening its line on 7 September 1853.
The extension to the permanent terminal station at Aberdeen, known as "Guild Street", was opened on 2 August 1854.According to Quick, Jones and Butt; Awdry says 2 August 1853.R V J Butt, The Directory of Railway Stations, Patrick Stephens Limited, Sparkford, 1995, M E Quick, Railway Passenger Stations in England Scotland and Wales—A Chronology, The Railway and Canal Historical Society, 2002 This involved bridging the River Dee: a laminated timber design was used, but this proved not to be durable and was reconstructed in the 1880s. With the increasing importance of the Great North of Scotland Railway, running north from Aberdeen, agreement was made to construct a larger station that they would use jointly. This Joint Station opened on 4 November 1867, by which time the Caledonian Railway had absorbed the Aberdeen Railway Company. (The name Aberdeen Joint Station was changed to simply Aberdeen in 1952.Gordon Stansfield, Aberdeenshire's Lost Railways, Stenlake Publishing, Ochiltree, 2000,
The Arbroath connection
The regauging of the line was supposed to proceed concurrently with the construction of the main line, but the too was short of money and did not pursue the work rapidly. At first the old track was simply to be regauged, but it soon became clear that the stone block track of the would be inadequate for main line operation. Work started laying a new standard gauge line on the north side of the existing single track broad gauge line; the new track would have transverse timber sleepers and wrought iron rails. In addition its locomotives and rolling stock needed to be converted, or new equipment obtained.
The Aberdeen main line joined the by a triangular junction; the north apex was at Glasterlaw, with the south (Arbroath) apex at Friockheim; the west apex was at Guthrie. However the Guthrie fork was not properly connected and was not open at first. In fact the majority of the Aberdeen Railway traffic took the Guthrie curve and ran to Perth via Forfar and the Scottish Midland Junction Railway. Much Dundee traffic travelled via Forfar and the Dundee and Newtyle Railway; until October 1849 this still had its own track gauge of , so transshipment and change of train were necessary for a few years.Niall Ferguson, The Arbroath & Forfar Railway, the Dundee Direct Line and the Kirriemuir Branch, Oakwood Press, Usk, 2000, The Aberdeen Railway was worked by the Scottish Central Railway between 12 February 1851 and 31 July 1854.
The Scottish North Eastern Railway
On 29 July 1856, by the Scottish North Eastern Railway Act 1856 (19 & 20 Vict. c. cxxxiv), the Aberdeen Railway amalgamated with the Scottish Midland Junction Railway to form the Scottish North Eastern Railway (SNER), forming a single company controlling the route from Perth to Aberdeen.
Parliament was uncomfortable with the formation of large railway companies, and in granting the amalgamation bill, it gave running powers over much of the northern part of the system to the North British Railway (NBR). The NBR pressed the point further, and obtained authorisation in 1871 to build a line from a junction at St Vigeans, immediately north of Arbroath, to Kinnaber Junction via Montrose, giving it access to Aberdeen over the former Aberdeen Railway route.
On 10 August 1866 the Scottish North Eastern Railway was itself absorbed by the Caledonian Railway.
The Caledonian Railway and after The Caledonian Railway now operated a trunk network from Carlisle to Aberdeen. Long distance passenger traffic assumed greater importance, but while less prominent, goods traffic was a major activity. At the same time the rival North British Railway developed its route through Edinburgh and Dundee to Aberdeen; the final approach was over Caledonian tracks by the running powers granted by Parliament.