British Railways The First 25 Years Volume 16: Scotland – Ex-Great North of Scotland Railway Lines
Expected early March
The original Great North of Scotland Railway (GNoSR) scheme was for a main line from Aberdeen to Inverness, via Inverurie, Huntly, Keith, Elgin, Forres, and Nairn with branches to Banff, Portsoy, Garmouth, and Burghead. Construction only from Kittybrewster to Huntly, opening in 1854. When Keith was reached in 1856 the route mileage was around one-third of that authorised in 1846. During the next decade, however, this figure was almost quadrupled by the opening of several branches and extensions including one from Dyce to Peterhead and Fraserburgh, the Speyside line to Boat of Garten and the Morayshire line from Elgin to Craigellachie. In 1866 the GNoSR leased the Deeside Railway between Aberdeen and Ballater and absorbed it in 1876. The remaining lines were constructed by the company and the most important of these was the Moray Firth Coast line, from Portsoy to Elgin, which was opened between 1884 and 1886. The last addition was the standard-gauge light railway from Fraserburgh to St. Combs, opened in 1903. We begin our journey at Aberdeen exploring the docks as well as the Joint station and then follow the main line to Huntly and Grange, stopping to visit Kittybrewster shed and Inverurie Works before travelling down the branch from Inveramsay to Macduff. From Grange we go to Craigellachie, passing through Keith and the magnificent Glen Fiddich. We follow the main line to Elgin before taking the branch to Lossiemouth and then resume our journey to Boat of Garten along the Spey Valley. Returning to Dyce on the outskirts of Aberdeen we head north to the fishing towns of Peterhead and Fraserburgh and the Light Railway to St. Combs. We then go from Tillynaught to Banff and then along the Moray Firth Coast line towards Elgin. Finally, we return to Aberdeen for the Ballater branch with its Royal connections. At nationalisation, the line’s motive power had hardly changed since pre-war days. ‘D40’ and ‘D41’ 4-4-0s worked the majority of both passenger and goods services with ex-GER ‘B12’ 4-6-0s on the Deeside and the Peterhead/Fraserburgh lines. New ‘B1’ 4-6-0s had started to appear in the final days of the L&NER and together with BR Standard 2-6-4Ts soon replaced all of the ‘D41’s and ‘B12s’. ‘K2’ 2-6-0s also arrived in late 1953 and NBR ‘J36’ 0-6-0s took over the goods work from the ‘D40’s, all but one of which were withdrawn by March 1957. In 1958 came the first signs of dieselisation as railbuses took over the Speyside passenger services. DMUs were introduced in 1958/9 and took over the branch services to Ballater, Fraserburgh and Peterhead. Over sixty years ahead of its time, a Battery Electric Railcar was employed on the Ballater branch between 1958 and 1962. In 1960 the North British Type ‘2’s for passenger work and a few English Electric Type ‘1’s for freight work arrived. The former were early casualties of BR’s Traction Plan with all withdrawn by 1968, and the latter were transferred south. The small amount of remaining diesel locomotive work was then taken over primarily by BRC&W Type ‘2’s, with DMUs providing the majority of passenger services.
Hardback, 192 pages, black & white photographs
ISBN: 9781915069634
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Updated: 15 September 2025