Dundee and Arbroath Railway

[v · d · e]  Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Locale Scotland Dates of operation October 1838 – 1 February 1880 Successor line Caledonian Railway / North British Railway Track gauge Initially 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm); converted to 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) Length 16.75 miles (26.96 km)
Legend
- - Arbroath and Forfar Railway - - North British, Arbroath and Montrose Railway St Vigean's Junction Arbroath Catherine Street (A&FR) Arbroath (new) Arbroath Lady Loan - - Carmyllie Railway Elliot Junction Easthaven Carnoustie Golf Street Halt Barry Links Buddon Monifieth - - Dundee and Forfar Direct Line Barnhill Junction Broughty Ferry Pier Broughty Ferry West Ferry Stannergate Camperdown Junction Dundee East Dundee Tay Bridge - - North British Railway (to Tay Bridge and associated lines)

The Dundee and Arbroath Railway was a railway link between those two towns in Scotland.

History

The railway company received its Parliamentary Act on 19 May 1836. It was planned as a 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) gauge railway, because, at that time, it was expected to be a purely local railway with no connection to the national network. The main part of the line, some 14.5 miles (23.3 km) from Arbroath to a temporary terminus at Craigie, opened on 6 October 1838. A 1.5-mile (2.4 km) extension to Roodyards, at the east end of Dundee, opened on 3 June 1839, and the final section, of only 0.75 miles (1.21 km) from Roodyards to Trades Lane opened on 2 April 1840.

It soon became clear that the railway could not remain isolated from the rest of the network, and on 19 May 1845 a conference was held in London between representatives of the Dundee & Arbroath Railway, the Dundee & Perth Railway and the Arbroath & Forfar Railway to agree how to provide through traffic over the three railways.

This required the line to be converted to standard gauge, which took place on 6 July 1847. Then, on 23 December 1847, a connecting line at Arbroath was opened, which linked it to the Arbroath & Forfar Railway.

In May 1848 the short branch from Broughty Ferry to Broughty Ferry Pier opened. This formed the northern terminal of the ferry service across the Firth of Tay from Ferryport-on-Craig, which was operated by the Edinburgh and Northern Railway. This branch closed when the Tay Bridge opened.^[1]

On 31 August 1848 the Dundee and Perth Railway was authorised by Act of Parliament to lease the company, with the latter being renamed as Dundee and Perth and Aberdeen Railway Junction Company. Although the Dundee & Perth Railway operated the Dundee & Arbroath line, and paid rental to the Dundee & Arbroath company, the lease was never executed, and the arrangement was dissolved on 9 March 1850. The Dundee & Arbroath worked its own undertaking again from that date.^[2]

The original terminus station in Dundee, Trades Lane station, was replaced by the new Dundee East station on 14 December 1857.

On January 31, 1862 it was absorbed into the Scottish North Eastern Railway. On 1 February 1880 (as a result of an Act of Parliament on 21 July 1879), the line passed jointly to the Caledonian Railway and North British Railway, which in turn became part of the London Midland and Scottish Railway and London and North Eastern Railway respectively as a result of the 1923 grouping.

Connections to other lines

Current operations

With the exception of the short spurs for the stations at Dundee East, Broughty Ferry Pier and Arbroath West, the line is still open, with passenger services operated by First ScotRail and East Coast.

References

• 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. 
• RAILSCOT on Dundee and Arbroath Railway
• Gazeteer of Scotland OCR'd in Electric Scotland

1. ^ "Railway Magazine", February 1958
2. ^ "Railway Magazine", January 1958

External links

• March 1843 timetable from Bradshaw's Railway Monthly (XVI) (text) (scan)