Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway
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Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway is an historic railway in Scotland.
History
It was authorised by an Act of Parliament on 21 July 1856 as an extension to the Inverness and Nairn Railway, the line was opened in stages:
- Nairn to Dalvey (Forres) - 22 December 1857
- Dalvey to Elgin - 25 March 1858
- Elgin to Keith - 18 August 1858
Originally the intention was to connect with the Great North of Scotland Railway (GNoSR) at Elgin, however the GNoSR offered to pay for the railway to be built to Keith.[1]
During its short life, the following railways were absorbed by the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway (I&AJR).[1]
- Inverness and Nairn Railway on 17 May 1861
- Findhorn Railway on 1 April 1862
- Inverness and Ross-shire Railway on 1 June 1862
The railway merged with the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway to form the Highland Railway on 1 February 1865.
Findhorn Railway
The Findhorn Railway was incorporated in 1859 and ran from Kinloss branching off the I&AJR from the east. It operated as an independent concern until the company had money problems which resulted in it being taken over by the I&AJR. However this reprieve did not last long as the service was withdrawn in 1869, and the route lifted in 1873. Little remains of the track bed, partly because of the construction of the RAF base, Kinloss, over its route. Its junction with the mainline can be still be traced and is overgrown with a group of pine trees.
Connections to other lines
- Inverness and Nairn Railway at Nairn
- Inverness and Perth Junction Railway at Forres
- Morayshire Railway at Elgin and Orton
- Buckie and Portessie Branch of the Highland Railway at Keith Junction
- Keith and Dufftown Railway at Keith Junction
- Great North of Scotland Railway at Keith Junction
Current operations
The main line is still open with services provided by First ScotRail. However the majority of intermediate stations are now closed. All the connections to adjacent lines are also closed, with the exception of the Hopeman Branch which was used for freight traffic to Burghead maltings until 1992 - it remains intact through to Burghead but was mothballed in 1998 and has seen no traffic since then (it is now heavily overgrown).
The old station at Forres is closed and only one platform out of the previous six at the new station at Forres is now in service. The Keith and Dufftown Railway platform at Keith Junction is still in use, though the branch beyond there through to Dufftown saw its last Northern Belle special in 1991 and was disconnected from the national network by Railtrack in 1998 prior to the line being sold. The Keith and Dufftown Railway heritage group reopened it beyond Keith Town in 2001 and they hope to reinstate the missing link back to the national network at Keith in the future. Freight traffic is limited to occasional trainloads of whisky & containers to/from Elgin, where the former GNSR Elgin East station yard is still operational.
References
Notes
Sources
- Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British Railway Companies. Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0049-7. OCLC 19514063.
- Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.
- Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0086-1. OCLC 22311137.
- Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 0-9068-9999-0. OCLC 228266687.
- RAILSCOT on Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway
- RAILSCOT on Findhorn Railway
- RAILSCOT on Hopeman Branch