Auchterless railway station

Auchterless railway station was a railway station in Auchterless, Aberdeenshire.[5][6] It served the rural area, the estate of Towie Barclay and a settlement known as Kirkton of Auchterless stands 3 miles (5 km) away. It was opened in 1857 by the Banff Macduff & Turriff Junction Railway, later part of the Great North of Scotland Railway, then the LNER and finally British Railways, on the branchline from Inveramsay to Macduff, the station closed to passengers in 1951 and to goods in 1966.[4] The station lay below Gallowhill and the town lay to the north-east.

Auchterless
Site of the station (1997)
Location	Kirkton of Auchterless, Aberdeenshire Scotland
Coordinates	57.4878°N 2.4243°W
Grid reference	NJ746443
Platforms	2[1]
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Banff, Macduff and Turriff Junction Railway
Pre-grouping	Great North of Scotland Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
5 September 1857	Station opened[2]
1 October 1951	Station closed to passengers[2]
10 August 1964	Station closed to goods[3]
1966	Line closed entirely[4]

History

Opened by the Banff, Macduff and Turriff Junction Railway,[2] then part of the Great North of Scotland Railway it became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923, passing on to the Scottish Region of British Railways during the nationalisation of 1948. It was then closed by British Railways.

Infrastructure

The altered station buildings in 2019

The station lay 14 miles (23 km) from Inveramsay[3] and stood at 170 feet (52 m) above sea level.[7] Two signal boxes were eventually located here, designated 'South' and 'North'. They were both opened on 28 March 1892 and were closed on 28 March 1933.[3] The station originally had two stone built platforms with a small wooden shelter on one side and a typical brick built ticket office and waiting room on the other northbound platform. A footbridge crossed the passing loop to the north of the station buildings, and a signal box stood next to the level crossing.[1] The signal box to the south closed in 1933, whilst the box to the north remained as a gate box for the level crossing until 1966.[4] The passing loop and second platform, footbridge, etc were removed before passenger services ceased to reduce maintenance costs.[4] The station house and cottage stood to the north.[8]

The goods station stood to the south on the western side of the single track line and was approached from the south.[4] The goods yard in 1900 had three sidings, a shed and a loading dock with some ancillary buildings.[9] The goods yard had a 1 long ton 5 cwt (2,800 lb or 1.3 t) crane and a weighing machine.[10]

Remains

The main station survives in altered form as a private dwelling and the railway cottage and house are still present.[4]

Services

From 1926 Sunday excursion trains from Aberdeen were advertised and from 1938 they appeared in the timetables. In 1932 passenger trains stopped at all the stations with five a day in each direction.[11] Although regular passengers services ceased in 1951 a SLS/RCTS Joint Scottish Tour visited Turriff on 13 June 1960 and another excursion ran in 1965. In WWII fuel oil was transported to Turriff and was then piped to Ministry of Defence storage tanks which supplied local airfields.[12] By 1948 four return trips a day were made as the coal supply situation had improved.[12] Another severe coal shortage occurred in 1951 and the passenger service ceased despite protests.[13] All trains stopped at Auchterless.

Preceding station		Disused railways		Following station
Fyvie Line and station closed		Great North of Scotland Railway Banff, Macduff and Turriff Junction Railway		Turriff Line and station closed

References

Notes

1. McLeish, p.26
2. Butt (1995), page 21
3. McLeish, p.79
4. Railscot - Auchterless
5. British Railways Atlas.1947. p.38
6. RAILSCOT
7. McLeish, p.20
8. Aberdeenshire XIX.15 (Auchterless; Fyvie; Monquhitter; Turriff). Publication date:1926. Revised:1925 Levelled:1900
9. Aberdeenshire, 019.15, Surveyed: 1899 to 1900, Published: 1900
10. McLeish, p.39
11. McLeish, p.59
12. McLeish, p.62
13. McLeish, p.63

Sources

• 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 978-1-85260-508-7. 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 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
• McLeish, Duncan (2014). Rails to Banff, Macduff and Oldmeldrum. Pub. GNoSRA. ISBN 978-0902343-26-9.
• RAILSCOT on Banff, Macduff and Turriff Junction Railway
• RAILSCOT on Banff, Macduff and Turriff Extension Railway