Aberfeldy Branch (Inverness and Perth Junction Railway)

Introduction

This branch is closed. The main line between Inverness and Perth remains open and passenger services are provided by ScotRail and other railway companies. Today the nearest station is at Pitlochry. This branch ran up Strathtay to the town of Aberfeldy. The nearby River Tay is popular for white water rafting and canoeing. There is a base for this at the former intermediary station of Grandtully. The Rob Roy Way follows the glen.




Dates

22/07/1861Inverness and Perth Junction Railway
Aberfeldy Branch (Inverness and Perth Junction Railway)
Act obtained for a line between Dunkeld and Forres, and Ballinluig to Aberfeldy. Engineer: Joseph Mitchell. Running power from Stanley Junction to Perth General over the Scottish Midland Junction Railway.
03/07/1865Aberfeldy Branch (Inverness and Perth Junction Railway)
Aberfeldy branch opened. Stations opened at Grandtully and Aberfeldy, and a new platform opened at the existing Ballinluig station at the junction with the main line.
02/12/1935Aberfeldy Branch (Inverness and Perth Junction Railway)
Balnaguard Halt opened by the LMS.
01/03/1965Aberfeldy Branch (Inverness and Perth Junction Railway)
Aberfeldy to Ballinluig closed to freight.
03/05/1965Aberfeldy Branch (Inverness and Perth Junction Railway)
Inverness and Perth Junction Railway
Aberfeldy branch closed, along with the closure of stations on the Highland Main Line with the withdrawal of local trains. On the branch Aberfeldy, Grandtully, Balnaguard Halt closed along with the junction station Ballinluig. South of the junction, on the main line, Dalguise and Murthly closed. To the north Killiecrankie, Struan, Dalnaspidal, Tomatin, Moy, Daviot, and Culloden Moor closed.

Locations along the line

These locations are along the line.



This was a three platform station with two platforms on either side of the loop and a second face of the northbound platform served the Aberfeldy branch, there being a loop alongside the curving platform. The main station building was on the southbound main line platform and there was a waiting room on the northbound and Aberfeldy platform between the two platform faces.
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See also
Inverness and Perth Junction Railway
40032 passing through Ballinluig with the 0910 Edinburgh to Inverness service in 1979. The north signal box can be seen next to the level crossing on ...
Roger Geach 24/06/1979
Railway Farm, home of the Station Cat Pottery, lies just off the Ballinluig to Aberfeldy Road on the land between the Tummel and Tay rivers. The ...
Mark Bartlett 05/11/2022
This was the view south from the former loading bank at Ballinluig in 1990 showing the last remaining station building on the left (it also appears in ...
Ewan Crawford //1990
The Aberfeldy branch train at Ballinluig in June 1964. ...
Brian Haslehust /06/1964
4 of 23 images. more


This single track viaduct was immediately west of Ballinluig station on the Aberfeldy Branch (Inverness and Perth Junction Railway). It has been demolished and the site is now occupied by a road bridge on the A827. This road bridge replaced an 1889 bowstring girder bridge which was just to the north. This, in turn, replaced the Ballinluig Ferry - which was still the method of crossing the ...

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This viaduct, 'A' listed, should not to be confused with the now demolished Ballinluig Viaduct which crossed the River Tummel and was just to the east. This bridge crosses the River Tay. The bridges were very similar in appearance. Both were designed by Joseph Mitchell.
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A side view of the community owned Logierait Viaduct and sign showing its website
John Yellowlees 01/07/2017
A vew from the former railway bridge over the River Tay on 4th November 2018. The Church of Logierait, on the north bank of the Tay, dates from 1806 ...
Alan Cormack 04/11/2018
Logierait Viaduct is the only community-owned viaduct. The plaque reads:

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John Yellowlees 01/07/2017
The plate at the west end of Logierait Viaduct, photographed in 2003. View across the Tay towards Ballinluig. For a general view of the bridge itself ...
John Furnevel 24/05/2003
4 of 13 images. more


This was a single platform halt with a timber platform and wooden waiting shed. The platform was on the south side of the line.
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The site of Balnaguard Halt on the Aberfeldy branch in 1998. Somewhere under that tarpaulin and tyres are the remains of the halt. The timber platform ...
Ewan Crawford //1998
In 2012 Bill Roberton photographed the LMS sign that marked the path leading to Balnaguard Halt on the Aberfeldy branch 37798. This had opened in ...
Mark Bartlett 05/11/2022
Station signpost on the main road at Balnaguard in February 2012. Balnaguard station closed in 1965 along with the rest of the Aberfeldy ...
Bill Roberton 25/02/2012
Looking east at the former site of Balnaguard Halt. ...
Ewan Crawford //
4 of 4 images.


This was a one platform station with a small size Highland Railway timber building.
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The Aberfeldy branch, just to the west of Grandtully, now a popular footpath. The River Tay can be glimpsed to the left.
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Bill Roberton 26/06/2023
June 2023 view looking east at a minor road bridge to the site of Grandtully station beyond.
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Bill Roberton 26/06/2023
Looking east over the former Grandtully station site in June 2023. This is now used for recreational activities. The goods loading bank survives in ...
Bill Roberton 26/06/2023
Arriving at Grandtully, on the single coach branch service to Aberfeldy, hauled by Sulzer D5129 (see 86873). ...
Brian Haslehust /06/1964
4 of 11 images. more


This distillery, opened 1898, is to the east of the former Aberfeldy station. It was served by a pair of sidings on the south side of the railway, approached from the west. The railway formerly passed by the north side of the distillery. To the west access to the sidings was controlled from a signal cabin, not a block post, open from 1897 to 1935. The box was on the north side of the line. The ...

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See also
Rail Served Distilleries
An alternative view, from June 2008, of the Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST, works number 2073 of 1939, that is attached to a flat wagon loaded with barrels at ...
David Pesterfield 20/06/2008
Builders plate of Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST of 1939, works number 2073, which sits on a length of track in the Dewars Distillery complex at Aberfeldy, ...
David Pesterfield 20/06/2008
June 2008 view of Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST of 1939, works number 2073, sat on a length of track in the Dewars Distillery complex at Aberfeldy, attached ...
David Pesterfield 20/06/2008
Remains of embankment just to the east of Aberfeldy that formerly carried the Highland Railway branch from Ballinluig to its terminus in the town but ...
David Bosher 12/03/2019
4 of 10 images. more


This was a single ended one track shed just east of the station, accessed from the station, to the west, via the turntable. The turntable was removed by the 1920s.
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Caledonian 0-4-4T 55217 taking water at Aberfeldy shed in the summer of 1960. ...
David Stewart 18/06/1960
1 of 1 images.


This was a two platform terminus in the east of Aberfeldy. It served not just the village but was also the closest to Taymouth Castle seat of the various Marquess of Breadalbanes, major landowners with interests in the Highland Railway, Callander and Oban Railway and others. The main platform could accommodate a long train alongside the station building and had a run-round loop and ...

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A service for Ballinluig at Aberfeldy, headed by Sulzer Type 2 D5130. The photograph is thought to date from early 1965. ...
Brian Haslehust //1965
Sulzer Type 2, later Class 24, D5130 at Aberfeldy with a branch service for Ballinluig. The photograph is thought to date from early 1965. ...
Brian Haslehust //1965
Sulzer Type 2 D5130 after arrival at Aberfeldy with the branch service from Ballinluig. The photograph is thought to date from early 1965. ...
Brian Haslehust //1965
An aerial ropeway operated between Gatehouse Quarry and Aberfeldy station, a distance of two miles, from 1903 to 1938. It carried crushed stone for ...
Bill Roberton 27/06/2023
4 of 18 images. more