Crieff Junction Railway

Introduction

This railway is closed. It was the first of three railways to serve Crieff. The line opened in 1856, running through fairly level farmland to Crieff from Gleneagles (near Auchterarder).

A second line, an extension of a branch to Methven, approached from Perth in 1866. The third line extended west to Comrie in 1893 (and ultimately it reached further west to meet the Callander and Oban Railway). For this third line the original Crieff [1st] station was replaced on a grand scale by the new through Crieff [2nd] station. The original Crieff station became part of the goods yard.

For the Gleneagles Hotel, opened in 1924 after a protracted development delayed by the Great War, the Crieff Junction line was deviated at a new Gleneagles station and a goods only branch built to the hotel.

The line to Perth closed to passengers in 1951 and the Crieff Junction closed in 1964 when the line was closed from Comrie to Gleneagles. The original terminus at Crieff survived as part of the goods yard served from Perth until 1967.






Dates

  /  /1846Crieff Junction Railway
An Act for an earlier incarnation of the Crieff line is passed.
  /  /1853Crieff Junction Railway
Act receives Royal assent.
31/12/1855Railway Clearing House
By this date, Cork and Bandon Railway, Crieff Junction Railway, Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway, Dublin and Drogheda Railway, Forth and Clyde Junction Railway, Furness Railway, Great Southern and Western Railway, Irish South Eastern Railway, Killarney Junction Railway, Leeds, Bradford and Halifax Junction Railway, Leven Railway, London and South Western Railway, London, Tilbury and Southend Railway, Monkland Railways, Monmouthshire Railway and Canal, Newport, Abergavenny and Hereford Railway, Norfolk Railway, North and South Western Junction Railway, Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway, Peebles Railway, Perth and Dunkeld Railway, Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway, St Andrews Railway, Ulster and Dundalk Railway, Waterford and Kilkenny Railway and Waterford and Limerick Railway join.
16/03/1856Crieff Junction Railway
Line opened from Crieff Junction to Crieff [1st]. Stations opened at Crieff Junction, Tullibardine, Muthill, Highlandman and Crieff [1st].
  /  /1865Crieff Junction Railway Scottish Central Railway
Crieff Junction Railway absorbed by Scottish Central Railway.
  /  /1865Crieff Junction Railway Crieff and Methven Junction Railway
Junction agreed between the existing Crieff Junction Railway and new Crieff and Methven Junction Railway. The lines were to run parallel for some distance before reaching Crieff East Signalbox.
28/03/1920Scottish Central Railway Crieff Junction Railway
Authorisation for a deviation of the Crieff Junction Railway at Gleneagles and reconstruction of the station.
15/09/1958Crieff Junction Railway
Wickham Railbus introduced on Gleneagles to Crieff [2nd] service. Two halts opened: Pittenzie Halt and Strageath Halt. The introduction leads to an impressive increase in traffic, 2.5 times the steam service.
01/09/1964Crieff Junction Railway
Muthill (excluded) to Gleneagles (excluded) closed to freight
02/11/1964Crieff Junction Railway
Crieff [1st] (excluded) to Muthill closed to freight.

Portions of line and locations

This line is divided into a number of portions.


Gleneagles to Crieff

This was a single track railway with passing places at Crieff Junction and Muthill.

This was a four platform station with two platforms on the main line and two on the branch to Crieff [1st]. It ws replaced by the present Gleneagles station. The main station building was on the northbound main line platform and had canopies. there was a building on the southbound main line platform and small shelter on the northbound branch platform.
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See also
Scottish Central Railway
Gleneagles Station and Gleneagles Hotel Branch (Caledonian Railway)


This was a single platform station. The platform was on the east side of the line and the station building was of two storeys, one at street level and one above at platform level. The railway was raised here to pass over a road to the south (bridge now removed)
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Tullibardine station seen from the station courtyard in the summer of 1988. The owner kindly allowed me to take several photographs. I recall being ...
Ewan Crawford //1988
Road approach to the former station at Tullibardine, Perthshire in the summer of 2007. The station, on the Gleneagles to Crieff route closed along ...
John Furnevel 12/07/2007
View north along the disused platform at Tullibardine in 1988. The station building is now a house. With permission of the owner. ...
Ewan Crawford //1988
The converted former station building at Tullibardine on the Gleneagles - Crieff line. Photographed on 12 July 2007 looking west, with the disused ...
John Furnevel 12/07/2007
4 of 6 images. more




This was a two platform station with a loop on a single track line. The station was on the north side of a level crossing with 'Station Road' which ran west to Muthill itself. The main station building was on the southbound platform and the signal box (1892) was on the north side of the level crossing, east side of the line at the southern end of the southbound platform.
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Looking north over the former level crossing towards Muthill station in 1988. The station and line closed in 1964 and the station site became James ...
Ewan Crawford //1988
View in a railcar on the Gleneagles to Crieff line, early 60s. The railcar is in the Drumness cutting, a rather deep one, where the line turns to pass ...
Aitken Scott //
Entering Muthill from the south. A passenger and the signalman, who is ready with the token for the next section, stand on the platform. Photographs ...
Aitken Scott //
45461 enters with train from Gleneagles to Comrie. ...
John Robin 14/09/1963
4 of 4 images.


This was a particularly minimal halt consisting of a slabbed area bordering track and equipped with a single set of steps. These were used to mount the railbus.
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Strageath Halt viewed through the cab of a railbus on its way from Gleneagles to Crieff. Photographs from a journey between Gleneagles and Crieff ...
Aitken Scott //
A summer's day in 1961 with locals awaiting the 11 a.m. Gleneagles-Crieff railbus at Strageath Halt. This was one of two basic wooden platforms opened ...
Frank Spaven Collection (Courtesy David Spaven) //1961
2 of 2 images.


This was a three span single track bowstring girder viaduct over the River Earn between Strageath Halt and Highlandman. The piers remain.
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This was a single platform station. The platform was on the east side of the line with a station house. To the north was a level crossing and to the south a goods loop, on the east side, with sidings which were approached from the south. The signal box (1892) was on the east side of the line south of the crossing, at the north end of the platform.
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Entering Highlandman from the south, seen through the cab of a railbus en route from Gleneagles to Crieff. Photographs from a journey between ...
Aitken Scott //
What was once the station forecourt at Highlandman on the Crieff - Gleneagles line [closed to passengers July 1964]. View is south with the ...
John Furnevel 12/07/2007
View from guards van of last train from Comrie. See image 15799 ...
John Robin 04/07/1964
The beautifully converted station at Highlandman in the summer of 2007, looking south along the platform from the site of the level crossing. Note the ...
John Furnevel 12/07/2007
4 of 4 images.


This was a particularly minimal halt consisting of a slabbed area bordering the north side of the track at a level crossing and equipped with a single set of steps. These were used to mount the diesel railbuses introduced in 1958, the halt opening for their arrival (along with Strageath Halt. The Angus Railway Group's Steam Album Volume Three wonderfully described it as 'Station accommodation ...

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Looking west to Pittenzie Halt in 1995. The parallel tracks of the lines to Gleneagles (left hand side, on which the halt was located) and Perth ...
Ewan Crawford //1995
A Gleneagles to Crieff railcar approaches Pittenzie Halt from the east. The line to Perth is on the right. In the distance carriages can be seen in ...
Aitken Scott //
2 of 2 images.


This signal box controlled the junction between several lines. To the east were the lines from Gleneagles (opened 1856), Perth (opened 1866), the reversing spur for Crieff Goods (originally Crieff [1st] of 1856) and the reversing spur for Crieff Sheds and further goods sidings. To the west it controlled the approach to Crieff Goods and the line through Crieff [2nd] ...

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See also
Crieff and Comrie Railway
Crieff and Methven Junction Railway


This was the original locomotive shed in Crieff, built for the Crieff Junction Railway. It was by the Duchlage Road level crossing where the line entered the station Crieff [1st] from the south east. It was a single road brick built shed.
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The original terminus in Crieff was just to the south of Crieff [2nd] and was to become a goods yard on the opening of that station. It opened in 1856, the terminus of the service from Crieff Junction (rebuilt as Gleneagles in 1919). From 1866 it further became the terminus of the new line from Methven Junction, completing a through route from Perth.
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The only trace I could find of the first station (and later the goods yard) at Crieff in February 2019 was the railway boundary wall which still runs ...
Colin McDonald 19/02/2019
Perth Black 5 no 45476 shunts Crieff goods yard in 1960. ...
David Stewart //1960
A colleague tests out the Crieff loading gauge during the visit on 17 March 1970. This was sited on the west side of and immediately adjacent to ...
Bill Jamieson 17/03/1970
Track level view over the former Crieff goods yard on 17 March 1970 looking towards King Street. The deep glacial trench of Glen Turret is prominent ...
Bill Jamieson 17/03/1970
4 of 6 images. more