Tag Archives: Keith

The Highland Railway – Part 1

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The featured image at the head of this article (above) is Highland Railway Jones 4-4-0 Locomotive No. 7, forerunner of the Skye Bogies; it was built by Hawthorne’s in 1858 as a 2-4-0 locomotive and named ‘Fife’ (later ‘Dingwall’) and was one of two of the class fitted with bogies in 1873-75 to work on the Dingwall & Skye Railway, © Public Domain (Ian Allan Library). [1: p4]

A Map of the Highland Railway Network, © Public Domain. [8]

H.A.Vallance notes that in the years prior to the coming of the railways to the North of Scotland there was a series of different initiatives intended to improve transport links. The first were the roads built by General Wade (250 miles of military roads) which “were quite unsuited to the requirements of trade operating under peace-time conditions.” [17: p11] The biggest contribution to raid development was made by Thomas Telford. He “was appointed to survey for new roads and for the improvement of existing highways. In the course of … 17 years he constructed about 920 miles of road, and built some 1,200 bridges.” [17: p11] But it was the coming of the railways to the Highlands, that most effectively addressed the regions transport problems.

Earlier articles about the Highland Railway network can be found here, [3] and here. [4] These two articles cover the Strathpeffer Branch and the Fortrose Branch repectively.

Trains Illustrated No. 18 which was published in 1976 focussed on The Highland Railway. [1] The introductory article, ‘Highland Retrospect’, was written by Paul Drew. [1: p4-11]

Paul Drew commences his article with a short reflection on the excitement of waking on one of the sleeper services heading North into the Scottish highlands. Two routes provide an intensely enjoyable experience in the right weather: “The awakening on the West Highland line at Garelochhead, perhaps, or on Rannoch Moor … winding in a generally northward direction towards Fort William, Mallaig and Skye and the Hebrides; and daybreak on the Highland line proper, the Perth-Inverness main line of the old Highland Railway, somewhere between Blair Atholl and the outskirts of Inverness, following the old coach road up to Druimuachdar summit, at an altitude of 1484ft, or dropping down the hills between Spey and Findhorn and Findhorn and Moray Firth.” [1: p4]

Drew expresses his opinion that the Highland Railway (HR) route offers the greatest diversity of scenery but whether “you travel from Euston to the Highland or from Kings Cross to the West Highland line the contrast between the [suburbs of London] … and the glories seen on waking – even, for devotees, in a Scotch mist – is one of the attractions of the journey. Before World War II one could start an overnight journey to a Highland line station from Kings Cross as well as Euston, and up to 1914 from St Pancras also with, on a summer evening, a daylight exit from London.” [1: p4]

He seems to like the route taken by trains from St. Pancras best. Their route “was via Leeds, the magnificent MR route across the Pennines, Carlisle, the North British Railway’s Waverley route through the best parts of the Lowlands to Edinburgh, and so by the East Coast route over the Forth Bridge to Perth, the beginning of the HR main line – all far better traversed in daylight.” [1: p4]

He notes too that it was common practice not to disturb a passenger’s sleep which meant that sleeper services on the HR were normally made up of “HR vehicles and through coaches and sleeping cars from England (LNWR, West Coast Joint Stock, GNR, North Eastern, East Coast Joint Stock, Midland, and probably Midland & North British joint stock) and from Scotland (Caledonian and North British) but also of privately hired ‘family’ saloons, horseboxes, flat wagons conveying carriages and, from the turn of the century, motorcar vans, all supplied by a wide variety of English and Scottish railways.” [1: p4]

Occasionally, these trains would also include the “private saloon of the Duke of Sutherland, who owned not only one or two passenger vehicles but a 2-4-0 tank engine, Dunrobin, and its successor, an 0-4-4 tank of the same name, which he ran – often driving himself – on his private railway. It was in Sutherland, and ran from Golspie via his seat, Dunrobin Castle, to Helmsdale. The line was eventually taken over by the Highland and forms part of the Farther North line from Inverness to Wick and Thurso. Both Dunrobins were allowed to work (within limits) over HR tracks, even south of Inverness, but not, it seems on public passenger trains  – at least not expresses.” [1: p4]

The private train of the Duke of Sutherland – this is the second incarnation of ‘Dunrobin‘ an 0-4-4T locomotive which pulled a dedicated saloon. It left Scotland, first for New Romney and then, in 1950, for Canada. It is seen here in British Columbia, © British Colo.bia Government. [1: p5]

Drew notes that, “The marshalling of the heterogeneous caravans at Perth, where vehicles were made over by the CR and NBR, was a frequent cause of unpunctuality and indeed chaos. Besides, most of the trains tended to run late during the summer, especially on the HR main line, which even after the central portion south of Druimuachdar has been double-tracked in the 1890s, tended to be congested; a high-season shortage of HR motive power aggravated matters, and reliance on telegraphy for many years before introduction of the telephone did not make for flexibility in train operation. Disgruntled Sassenach passengers in Perth, Edinburgh Waverley and other big Scottish stations would mutter that they ordered this matter better in England.” 1: p4]

It would be easy to take the perspective of a southerner when considering the HR, seeing it “mainly as a means of moving tourists and sportsmen from England, and such consumer goods and other freight as the impoverished Highlands could afford to import.” [1: p4] But it would be quite wrong to do so. “The Highland Railway was conceived by Highlanders, in the Highlands, as an outlet for the fish and agricultural produce of the Highlands from northern Perthshire to John o’ Groats and from Inverness eastwards to the Aberdeenshire border and westwards to Wester Ross, a region that in the 1840s was still only slowly recovering from the oppression and impoverishment that had followed the Forty-Five insurrection a century before. The HR was the creation not of middle-class businessmen but of country landowners who ranged from the rich Duke of Sutherland to poor lairds who could afford little more than to encourage, rather than to oppose (like many landowners in the south) building the railway over their land, often asking for a station to serve their tenants.” [1: p4]

With a route mileage of more than five hundred miles, H. A. Vallance tells us, “the Highland occupied third place among the five fully-independent pre-1923 main line railways of Scotland. Its popularity with those who love railways arise from the scenic charm of its terrain, and also from the way in which the small company succeeded in working its traffic in the face of natural difficulties, and with limited financial resources, over routes that were largely single track.” [17: dust-jacket]

Prior to the 1850s, “there was already a trickle of summer tourists from the Lowlands and England, who used a surprisingly well-developed system of stagecoaches or drove in their own carriages; but it was not until the 1850s, after Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort had ‘invented’ Highland tourism by establishing Balmoral, that the trickle began to grow into a flood. Deerstalking, grouse-shooting and fishing, at least by rich people from south of Perth, developed slowly. For 20 years after the HR Inverness-Perth line, by the original route via Forres, was opened in 1863 the management adopted a take-it-or-leave-it attitude to passengers, though by the 1880s receipts from through passenger traffic from England, including much first class in the summer, were considerable. And for long afterwards the HR left the provision of really comfortable passenger vehicles to the English railways and the Caledonian.” [1: p4-5]

Drew continues: “To promoters seeking a route for a railway from Inverness to the south there were three options. The first was a relatively easy alignment along the flat coast via Forres to Elgin, thence through undulating but not mountainous country to near Inverurie and on through Lowland Buchan to Aberdeen. Second was the route of the old coach road via Kingussie, Druimuachdar and Blair Atholl to Perth, and the third was through [the] Great Glen to the area of Fort William, beyond which progress to Glasgow was through a region of mountains and lochs which had long been thought impassable for a railway – or at least to involve too many major civil engineering works – until it was traversed by the West Highland line towards the end of the century, some years after the threat of a Glasgow & North Western Railway over an even more difficult route than the West Highland.” [1: p5]

The disadvantages of the route via Aberdeen were it’s circuitous route and, at the time particularly, there being no bridges crossing the River Tay and the Firth of Forth and the failure of any such route to serve inland Invernessshire. Also significantly perhaps, was an innate suspicion (perhaps too strong a word) amongst highlander promoters of a railway that there was any need to serve the lowland city of Aberdeen.

“Nevertheless,” says Drew, “the first train to reach Inverness from the South, in 1858, was from Aberdeen, over the Great North of Scotland [Railway (GNSR)] as far as Keith and then over the Inverness & Aberdeen Junction line, which later became part of the HR.” [1: p5]

The Aberdeen to Inverness Railway Line, (GNSR – Aberdeen to Keith)

The route from Aberdeen to Inverness. Trains ran out of Aberdeen on the Great Northern of Scotland line and entered Inverness along the Inverness & Aberdeen Junction Railway, © Nilfanion and licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 3.0). [14]

The GNSR was “floated to build a railway from Aberdeen to Inverness. … It obtained its Act on 26th June 1846. It is estimated that [this] cost £80,000 and the company was at once in financial straits, … accentuated by the crash which followed the ‘Railway Mania’s, then at its height. … [Eventually, work] started on 25th November 1852. … The railway was opened from Kittybrewster (1½ miles from Aberdeen) to Huntly, a distance of 39 miles, on 19th September 1854. Four years previously, the railway had been completed from Perth to Aberdeen. A through journey was then made possible between England and the south of Scotland, and Huntly. From this latter point coaches, running in connection with the trains, continued the journey to Inverness.” [17: p12-15]

The line was extended into Aberdeen to Waterloo Quay in 1855, and in October 1856 it reached Keith around halfway between Aberdeen and Inverness. The GNSR had overstretched itself and could not fund the remaining 55 miles of line to Inverness.

The original Great North of Scotland Railway terminus in Aberdeen opened on 1st April 1856, and closed to passenger service on 4th November 1867 with the opening of Aberdeen Joint Railway Station. This extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey undertaken between 1864 and 1867, published in 1869 shows the station as it was in its prime. [15][18]
The next significant location on the line was the station at Kittybrewster which is shown here as an extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey undertaken between 1864 and 1867, published in 1868. [19]
Dyce Railway Station was opened (along with the line) in 1854 by the Great North of Scotland Railway (GNSR). It later became a junction for the Formartine and Buchan Railway (F&BR) which diverged here and headed north to Peterhead and Fraserburgh; this opened to traffic in 1861 and had its own platforms alongside the main line ones. Passenger services over the F&BR ended as a result of the Beeching Axe on 4th October 1965 but the station remained open until 6th May 1968. [15] Freight continued to Peterhead until 1970 and to Fraserburgh until October 1979. There is still evidence on the ground of the old branch platforms which sat on the site of the station car park. The former branch lines are now a long distance cycle path, accessible from the western end of the car park. The station was reopened by British Rail on 15th September 1984. This extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1865, published in 1866 shows the station soon after it became a junction station. [16][20]

The GNSR left Dyce and followed the southern edge of the River Don’s floodplain, passing through Kintore before bridging both the Aberdeen Canal and the River Don just to the North of Port Elphinstone Railway Station.

Kintore Railway Station acted as a junction station for the Alford Valley Railway which branched off the GNSR line just to the Northwest of Kintore Railway Station. The Alford Valley Railway opened in 1859. It had stations at Kemnay, Monymusk, Tillyfourie, Whitehouse and Alford. The line also served Kemnay Quarry and three other granite quarries in the area. The train took just over an hour for the 16-mile (26 km) journey. [27][28]
This next extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1864 to 1866, published in 1867, shows Port Elphinstone Railway Station and the bridges over the Aberdeen Canal and the River Don. As can be seen on this extract a short branch line served the canal wharves at Port Elphinstone. [21]
Inverurie Railway Station was the next significant location on the GNSR and appears on this extract from the 25″Ordnance Survey of 1864 to 1866, published in 1867. [22]
Further to the Northwest, the line bridged the River Urie (Ury). This extract is from the Ordnance Survey of 1866 & 1867, published in 1867. [23]

To the West of Keith, the Highland Railway held sway. The Inverness &Aberdeen Junction Railway was one of the constituent parties that formed the Highland Railway in 1865, as noted below.

The line crossed the River Urie (Ury) once again further to the Northwest. This extract comes from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1867, published in 1868. [24]

Beyond this viaduct the line ran along the South side of the River Ury and then to the South side of the Gadie Burn. It crossed the Burn just to the West of the village of Oyne and its railway station.

The village of Oyne, its railway station, and both road and railway bridges over the Gadie Burn. This extract is taken from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1867, published in 1868. [25]
Insch Railway Station at Rothney, as it appeared on the 1867 25″ Ordnance Survey. [26]
The next station on the line was Wardhouse Station. [29]
And then Kennethmont Railway Station. [30]
And Gartly Railway Station. [31]
North of Gartly the railway bridged the River Bogie twice in short succession before arriving at Huntly. [32]
Huntly Railway Station sat on the East bank of the River Bogie with Huntly to the West of the river. Huntly was the temporary terminus of the GNSR from 19th September 1854 until an extension was opened taking the line as far as Keith in October 1856. [17: p15-16] This extract is from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1871, published in 1872. [33]

North of Huntly, on the extension to Keith the line. Missed the River Deveron and ran through Rothiemay Railway Station.

This extract from the 25″Ordnance Survey of 1870 and 1871, published in 1872 shows the viaduct over the River Deveron and Rothiemay Railway Station. [34]
Further West the line passed through Grange Station which three years after opening in 1856 became the junction station for the Banff, Portsoy and Strathisla Railway which opened a branch to Banff and Portsoy. [35][36]
This next extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1867 & 1868, published in 1869, shows Keith Railway Station which was the terminus of the GNSR line from October 1856 until the Inverness & Aberdeen Junction Railway reached Keith from Nairn in 1858.  . [37][38]

The Keith and Dufftown Railway ran Southwest from Keith to Dufftown. It can be seen curving away from the station at the left of the OS map extract above. At Dufftown, the line made an end-on connection with the Speyside Railway at Dufftown, and the Morayshire Railway connected to the Speyside Railway at Craigellachie, this ultimately gave the GNSR access to Elgin. [39]

The Aberdeen to Inverness Railway Line (HR – Keith to Inverness)

The GNSR’s protracted/torturous efforts to reach Inverness created space for others to act. Interests in Inverness sought to provide a different link to the South via Druimuachdar to Perth but were thwarted by its rejection by Parliament (in 1846), nonetheless they “obtained authority for a short line from Inverness to Nairn with a view both to blocking a GNSR approach to Inverness and also the Inverness route which eventually branched off from the Inverness-Aberdeen route at Forres, Nairn, and ran via Dava summit (1052ft), Grantown-on-Spey, Aviemore and on to Perth via Druimuachdar. (Only in the 1890s was the direct line built from Inverness via Slochd summit and Carr Bridge to Aviemore, affording the shortest route to the South.)” [1: p5-7]

Drew continues: “The Inverness & Nairn railway took only a year to build (1854-55). The eastward extension of the Inverness-Nairn line was the Inverness & Aberdeen Junction, which ran via Forres and Elgin to Keith, to which point it was opened in 1858, met the GNSR and provided the Inverness-Aberdeen through route. Two years later the Inverness & Perth Junction Company was formed. Construction of the Forres-Perth line made quick progress from both ends, despite the need to take the line for 100 miles through the central mountain tract of Scotland. The through route from Inverness via Forres to Perth was completed in 1863. The Inverness & Aberdeen Junction, which had absorbed the Inverness & Nairn, and the Inverness & Perth Junction, were amalgamated in 1865 to form the Highland Railway.” [1: p7]

This extract from the 25″Ordnance Survey of 18 , published 18 , shows Keith Railway Station and the first length of the line under HR control. To the West of the station the line crossed the River Isla and passed through the junction with the HR line to Buckie. This was the Buckie and Portessie Branch which served an important fishing harbour at Buckie. The branch opened at the beginning of August 1884 and was finally completely closed on 3rd October 1966. However, this does not tell the full story. As an emergency measure in 1915, the track was lifted between Buckie and Aultmore, to be used elsewhere for the War effort.  The Portessie to Buckie and Aultmore to Keith stubs remained open (there was a distillery at Aultmore).After the Grouping in 1923, the LMSR relaid the removed section, but then decided against re-opening it.  The Portessie to Buckie stub closed in 1944, but the Keith to Aultmore stub lasted until 1966. [2][7]
The same area in the 21st century as it appears on the ESRI satellite imagery from the NLS. [2]
And as it appears on the OS Landranger series maps. [11]
Keith Junction Station in the 21st century, looking East, © Richard Webb and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [9]
A little further West, the line passed close to Glentauchers-Glenlivet Distillery which had its own sidings. [12]
The same area in the 21st century satellite imagery provided by the NLS. [12]
And further to the West, through Mulben Railway Station. [13]
The same area in the 21st century satellite imagery provided by the NLS. [13]

After a series of bridges over the Burn of Mulben, the line bridged the River Spey and turned North along the West bank of the Spey. …

As the line turned North on the West bank of the River Spey it was joined by the line known as the Orton Section of the GNSR which connected the GNSR at Rothes with the HR. [40]
On modern satellite imagery we can see that the line from Rothes no longer exists. The HR line can still be seen turning to the North alongside the Spey. [40]
This next extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey from the turn of the 20th century shows the line running North through Orton Railway Station only a short distance from the bridge over the Spey. [41]
The same area in the 21st century satellite imagery provided by the NLS. [41]
Orbliston Junction was the next station along the line. It opened on 18th August 1858 with the name ‘Fochabers’, though it was 4 km west of the town. Its name was changed to ‘Orbliston Junction’ on 16th October 1893, when the Highland Railway opened the Fochabers branch line. The branch closed to passengers in 1931, but the name didn’t change to ‘Orbliston’ until 12th September 1960. The station closed to both passengers and goods traffic on 7th December 1964. The branch to Fochabers. Can be seen leaving the main line in the top-left of this extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey from the turn of the 20th century. [42][43]
The same area in the 21st century as shown on the ESRI satellite imagery from the NLS. [42]
Looking North through Orbliston Railway Station in June 1960, © Highland Railway Society, c/o AmBaile.org.uk. [44]

Heading West once again after Orbliston Railway Station the line continued on through Lhanbryd(e) Railway Station. …

Lhanbryd (Lhanbryd) Railway Station at the turn of the 20th century. The station opened on 18th August 1858 and was closed to both passengers and goods traffic by December 1964. The site is now a private residence. [45][47]
The same area in the 21st century. [45]
Looking West through Lhanbryde Railway Station, © Highland Railway Society c/o AmBaile.org.uk. [46]
This next extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of the turn of the 20th century shows the approach to The HR’s Elgin Station from the East. The GNSR bridged the HR line East of Elgin and then turned tightly to the Southwest entering its own station which sat to the East of the HR’s Station. [48]
A similar area as it appears on modern satellite imagery. [48]
A closer focus on the HR’s Station at Elgin, enlarged from the same OS map as the map extract above. [49]
A similar area as it appears on modern satellite imagery. [49]
Elgin Railway Station looking West towards Inverness. The old Highland Railway Station was rebuilt in 1990, © Anne Burgess and made available for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [51]

West of Elgin the line bridged the River Lossie before passing through Mosstowie Station, then passed a connection to a mineral railway serving Newton Quarries and on to Alves Station.

The 25″ Ordnance Survey of the turn of the 20th century shows the bridge over the River Lossie. [50]
The same location in the 21st century, as it appears on the ESRI satellite imagery from the NLS. [50]
Mosstowie railway Station. [52]
The same location in the 21st century. [52]
Looking West from the road bridge at what was once Mosstowie Railway Station. Mosstowie Station opened on 25th March 1858 by the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway. It had closed to both passengers and goods traffic by 7th March 1955. [53][Google Streetview, October 2014]
The connection with the mineral railway which served Newton Quarries. [54]
The same location in the 21st century. Nothing is visible of the old mineral railway close to the railway line but the trees to the right of this image mark its alignment further away from the old HR’s line. In 1898, a signal box was provided for the short mineral line to Newton Quarries. It was locomotive worked between 1898 and 1937. There was a level crossing just to the west of the box which was located on the south side of the line opposite the Newton Quarry siding. The mineral line was reached by a double reversal. The quarry was 2/3 of a mile to the north. [54][55]
Alves Railway Station opened in 1858 and closed in 1965. The line through the station was later singled. This was the junction station for the branchline to Burghead and Hopeman. [56]
The same location today. [56]
A view west through Alves Station site in 2017 towards Inverness, © Nigel Thompson and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [57]

After Alves Station it was only a short distance to the junction for the Burghead & Hopeman Branch. The line then continued on to Kinloss.

The 25″ Ordnance Survey shows the junction with the HR’s Burghead & Hopeman Branch and the adjacent roads and bridge at around the turn of the 20th century. [58]
The same location in the 21st century. The road has been realigned. The route of both railway lines are still easily made out! [58]
The old road bridge still crosses the railway adjacent to the newer A96 road bridge. [Google Streetview, May 2023]
Looking West along the line from the A96. [Google Streetview, May 2023]
Kinloss Railway Station opened on 25th March 1858 by the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway. It was re-sited on 18th April 1860, to the east, but it was moved back to its original location in May 1904. It closed to passengers on 3rd May 1965nand completely on 7th November 1966. [59][60]
The same area in the 21st century. [59]
Kinloss Railway Station in the 21st century, looking East from the level-crossing. [Google Streetview, May 2023]
Looking West from the level-crossing at Kinloss Station site. [Google Streetview, May 2023]

After leaving Kinloss trains for Inverness next ran into Forres Railway Station. Over the years the railway infrastructure at Forres has seen significant changes.

In 1858, the first railway station at Forres was located at the end of Market Street which became known as Old Station Road. The station building was demolished in the 1950s. It had been used as the stationmaster’s house since the junction opened.

A route to the South from Inverness was finally completed in 1863. It met the line running between Elgin and Inverness at Forres. Forres was chosen as the junction for the new mainline south, since it was the half-way point on the Inverness & Aberdeen Junction Railway between Inverness and Keith. Keith was also an important railway junction and the point where the line joined the GNSR and branches to the coast and Strathspey. [62]

A new ‘triangular’ station wastl constructed to allow all trains entering Forres, from either the East or West, to access the new line directly on a curve. The three curved platforms, and three junctions, gave the new Forres station its distinctive layout. [62]

The location of the new station was south-west of the existing Inverness-Aberdeen line. The original line was retained as a goods loop, with trains now leaving and re-joining the line (east-west) on a curve. Services from Inverness to Perth curved to the south on a junction at the west of the station, to arrive at the southbound platforms. [62]

Three individual signal boxes controlled the junctions at each point of the triangle: Forres East, Forres West, and Forres South. [62]

This extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1868, published in 1870 shows the location of the original railway station at Forres which was at the end of Old Station Road in the centre of this extract. [63]
This wider extract from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1904, published 1905, shows the full station site at Forres with the old line in use as a goods loop and the main line diverted to the South to accommodate a triangular junction station. As can be seen there were private sidings serving local industry (particularly Waterford Mills and the North of Scotland Chemical Works), a significant goods yard, locomotive depot and a triangular junction with the station at the Northwest apex of the traingle. [64]
The same area in the 21st century as it appears on the ESRI satellite imagery from the NLS. [64]
Forres Station in 1898, seen from the South, © Public Domain. [66]

The station building was replaced in the mid-1950s by a red brick building. [62]

The 1950s brick built station building at Forres, © Walter Dendy and authorised for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [62]

The closure of the link to the South from Forres occurred as part of the cuts following the Beeching Report in the 1960s. Further remodelling of the whole area took place in the 21st century. This saw much of the existing infrastructure removed and a new functional station built by 2017. [62]

The new station facilities at Forres, looking Northeast towards Kinloss and Elgin, © Nigel Thompson and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [65]

West of Forres, the line crossed the River Findhorn, and just prior to Bridie Station bridged the Muckle Burn.

. [67]
. [67]
Findhorn Viaduct early in 2025, © Joseph Snitch. [68]
The line bridged Muckle Burn before entering Brodie Railway Station. The station was opened in 1857 by the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway. It was closed to both passengers and goods traffic by 1965. [69][71]
The same area in the 21st century. [69]
The railway bridge over Muckle Burn, seen from the North. [Google Streetview, June 2023]
Looking East in 1977 through Brodie Station after the closure of the station and the removal of the platforms, © Ben Brooksbank and licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 2.0). [70]
Looking East from the level-crossing at Brodie into the old station site in the 21st century. [Google Streetview, June 2023]
Looking West towards Inverness at the level-crossing at Brodie. [Google Streetview, June 2023]

West of Bodies the line ran on through Auldearn Station, bridged the River Nairn and entered Nairn Railway Station.

Auldearn Railway Station on the 35″ Ordnance Survey from the turn of the 20th century. It opened on 9th December 1895 and was closed by 6th June 1960. [72]
The site in the 21st century – all evidence of the station has disappeared. [72]
Looking West from the overbridge at the East end of the site of Auldearn Railway Station. [Google Streetview, May 2022]
The bridge over the River Nairn as it appears on the 25″ Ordnance Survey from the turn of the 20th century. [73]
The same location in the 21st century. [73]
Nairn Railway Bridge. This image is embedded from the ICE Image Library, © Institution of Civil Engineers, Mitchell, J.: Photographs of works on the Highland Railway, 1865 1865MITPWH. [74]
Nairn Railway Station as shown on the 25″ Ordnance Survey from the turn of the 20th century. [75]
The same location in the 21st century. [75]

Nairn Railway Station opened on 7th November 1855. In 1885, the Highland Railway Company agreed to improve the facilities at Nairn. The station buildings were replaced with improved accommodation for passenger and staff. The gables of the cross wings were surmounted with the Scotch thistle, the Prince of Wales feather, and other designs sculpted in stone. The masonry work was completed by Mr. Squair of Nairn. At the same time a new station master’s house was erected. The platforms were extended to around 440 yards (400 m) and raised in height to the level of the carriages. A new iron foot bridge over the line connected the platforms, avoiding passengers using a foot crossing over the running lines. The bridge over Cawdor Road was also widened at the same time. The work was completed in 1886. [76]

Nairn Railway Station in 2013, © Edgepedia and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence (CC BY-SA 3.0). [76]

Heading Southwest out of Nairn trains passed through Gollanfield Junction Station which served the short Fort George Branch.

Gollanfield Station as it appeared on the Landranger OS map prior to closure. [79]
Gollanfield Junction Railway Station opened in 1855 by the Inverness and Nairn Railway, it was initially named Fort George after the military base nearby. In July 1899, the Highland Railway opened a direct branch to Fort George (which was actually sited in the village of Ardersier). With the opening of the branch, the station was renamed Gollanfield Junction. Passenger services on the branch were withdrawn in 1943 and it closed to all traffic in August 1958. The following year, the station was renamed Gollanfield by British Railways. [77][78]
The same location in the 21st century. Goods traffic at the station ceased in May 1964 and it was closed to passenger traffic on 3rd May 1965. Most of the buildings were subsequently demolished after closure, but the station house remains standing and is used as a private residence. [77][78]
Looking East from the road bridge which used to span Gollanfield Railway Station, [Google Streetview, August 2021]
Looking West from the road bridge which used to span Gollanfield Railway Station, [Google Streetview, August 2021]

Further details of Gollanfield Railway Station and photographs can be found here. [79]

The next stop on the line was at its terminus at Inverness.

The railway layout at Inverness showing the locations of the Highland Railway’s workshops, goods yard and engine shed. [17: p34] “The existing terminus at Inverness was not adapted for conversion to a through station, as it faced south, with a frontage in Academy Street, whereas the new line approached the city from the west. It was therefore decided to enlarge the station by the provision of extra terminal platforms on the west side to accommodate the Rossshire trains. The two railways diverged immediately beyond the station, passing on either side of the locomotive shops. … The third side of the triangle, providing physical connection from east to west, was formed by part of the harbour branch. This line subsequently became known as the Rose Street curve. … Although further additions were made to the station from time to time, until there were four platforms in the southern section and three in the northern, the layout remained practically unaltered. The somewhat unusual arrangement of lines proved convenient as, apart from a few through coaches, Inverness was the terminus of all trains arriving. To facilitate the interchange of passengers, it became the practice to send trains from the south via the Rose Street curve, whence they were reversed into the northern part of the station. A similar procedure was adopted with arrivals from the north, but trains from the Keith line usually ran direct to a platform in the southern section.” [17: p32]
Inverness Railway Station (bottom-left), Engine shed (centre) and Lochgorm Works as they appear on the 25″Ordnance Survey of 1903. [80]
The same area in the 21st century. [80]
The Eastern approach to Inverness Railway Station in 1935. The roundhouse and its entrance gateway (known as Marble Arch and which contained a large water tank) is on the right. It was built in 1863 and survived into the 1960s. There are an impressive number of goods wagons visible in this image, © Public Domain (D. C. Thomson). [81]
This photograph was probably taken in the 1950s. It also shows the Eastern approach to Inverness Railway Station but includes an aerial view of the train sheds of the passenger station, © Public Domain (D. C. Thomson). [81]
The station frontage in the 1950s, © Public Domain (D. C. Thomson). [81]

The second in this series about the Highland Railway’s main lines can be found here. [82]

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