Tochieneal railway station

Tochieneal
Location
Place	Tochieneal
Area	Moray
Coordinates	57°40′41″N 2°48′01″W / 57.67814°N 2.800212°WCoordinates: 57°40′41″N 2°48′01″W / 57.67814°N 2.800212°W
Grid reference	NJ 5238 6565
Operations
Pre-grouping	Great North of Scotland Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Platforms	2
History
1 April 1884	Great North of Scotland station opened[1]
1 October 1951[1][2]	Closed
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z
UK Railways portal

Tochieneal railway station was a railway station that served the small industrial village of Tochieneal,^[3] close to Cullen in Moray. The railway station was opened by the Great North of Scotland Railway (GNoSR) on its Moray Firth coast line in 1886, served by Aberdeen to Elgin trains. The station closed to regular passenger traffic on 1 October 1951, more than a decade before the total closure of the line itself in 1968.^[4]

In 1923 the GNoSR became part of the London and North Eastern Railway and at nationalisation in 1948 became part of British Railways. The line itself was later recommended for closure by Dr Beeching's report "The Reshaping of British Railways" and closed on 6 May 1968.

History

Background

In 1881 the Great North of Scotland Railway put a bill to parliament to extend its Portsoy line along the Moray Firth as far as Buckie.^[5] In 1882 the Great North of Scotland applied for permission to build a 25 ¹⁄₄-mile (40.6 km) line from Portsoy following the coast to Buckie and then running on to Elgin.

Great North of Scotland Railway

The GNoSR station opened as 'Tochieneal' on 1 April 1884^[1] with the central section of the coast line, served by through Aberdeen to Elgin trains.^[6] In 1923 the Great North of Scotland Railway was absorbed by the London and North Eastern Railway. This was nationalised in 1948, and services provided by British Railways until the station closed in 1951. The line itself was recommended for closure by Dr Beeching's in his report "The Reshaping of British Railways"^[7] and closed on 6 May 1968.^[8][9]

Services

The GNoSR station was served by through trains running between Aberdeen and Elgin.^[6] There were no Sunday services.^[10]

The station infrastructure

Tochieneal station had two platforms, a passing loop, originally two signal boxes, a water tower and a road bridge overlooked the site.^[11]The 1902 OS map shows station buildings on both platforms and a foot bridge. A station agent's or stationmaster's cottage sat near to the site. Several sidings were present with a loading dock and a goods shed.^[12]

The line was predominantly single track apart from a double track section between Buckie and Portessie.^[9] Track lifting took place shortly after closure in 1968.^[9]

Station remnants

In 2009 the loading dock survived intact.^[13]

References

Footnotes

1. Butt 1995, p. 231.
2. Butt 1995, p. 42.
3. Gazetteer of Scotland
4. Butt 1995, p. 74.
5. Barclay-Harvey 1950, pp. 92–93.
6. Vallance 1991, p. 95.
7. Beeching 1963a, p. 125
   Beeching 1963b, map 9
8. Butt 1995, p. 47.
9. Maxtone 2005, p. 3.
10. "Passenger Timetable: Scottish Region". British Railways. May 1948. Table 150. Retrieved 2013-06-20.
11. Maxtone 2005, p. 42.
12. Banffshire, Sheet 003.09. Publication date: 1904. Revised: ca. 1902
13. RailScot

Sources

• Beeching, Richard (1963). The Reshaping of British Railways (PDF). HMSO.
• Beeching, Richard (1963). The Reshaping of British Railways (maps) (PDF). HMSO.
• 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.). Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-508-1.
• Barclay-Harvey, Malcolm (1950). A History of the Great North of Scotland Railway. Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-2592-9.
• Maxtone, G.R. (2005). The Railways of the Banff & Moray Coast. Keith & Dufftown Railway Association. ISBN 0-9547346-1-0.

External links

• RAILSCOT on Moray Coast Railway