Dundee and Arbroath Railway

Introduction

This pioneering railway remains open today. The line runs from Dundee to Arbroath. The line was built to a gauge of 5ft 6in which led to closure for re-gauging, once standard gauge become common. It originally employed right hand working. Today it forms part of the main line from Dundee to Aberdeen carrying both local and long distance trains. The west end, the approach from Craigie into Dundee, was built by another company, the Trades Lane and Carolina Port Railway. It became a joint Caledonian Railway and North British Railway line in 1880 after the opening of the Tay Bridge [1st].






Dates

  /  /1836Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Act receives Royal assent.
  /  /1838Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Locomotives were supplied by Kinmond, Hutton and Steel of the Wallace Foundry, Blackness, Dundee.
06/10/1838Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Arbroath (Lady Loan) to Dundee Craigie opened. Stations opened at: Arbroath (Lady Loan), Easthaven, Carnoustie [1st], Monifieth, Broughty Ferry, Dundee Craigie (a temporary terminus east of Dundee).
03/06/1839Dundee and Arbroath Railway Trades Lane and Carolina Port Railway
The Dundee and Arbroath Railway is extended west from Craigie to Roodyards by the Trades Lane and Carolina Port Railway (Dundee Harbour Trustees). With the extension opened the temporary Craigie terminus closed.
02/04/1840Dundee and Arbroath Railway Trades Lane and Carolina Port Railway
Roodyards to Dundee Trades Lane opened. Roodyards closed.
  /  /1846Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Arbroath and Forfar Railway
Junction Line (Dundee and Arbroath Railway)
Authorisation of a new D&A owned curve to link the Arbroath and Forfar Railway (at Almeriecloss) and Dundee and Arbroath Railway (at Geordie's Burn) with a new Arbroath Junction station. Also allows for abandonment of the Dundee and Arbroath Railway's terminus Arbroath (Lady Loan).
  /  /1846Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Broughty Ferry to Broughty Pier authorised, a tightly curved line. The pier to be operated in connection with the ferries to Tayport.
  /  /1848Dundee and Perth Railway Dundee and Arbroath Railway
The Dundee and Perth Railway is given permission by parliament to lease the Dundee and Arbroath Railway. (Not done at this time.)
  /  /1848Dundee and Perth Railway Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Dundee Junction line authorised to link the Dundee and Perth Railway to the Dundee and Arbroath Railway (Trades Lane and Carolina Port Railway). (Not built.)
01/02/1848Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Arbroath (Lady Loan) closed and line cut back to the west where the new deviation connected.
01/02/1848Dundee and Arbroath Railway Arbroath and Forfar Railway Junction Line (Dundee and Arbroath Railway)
New D&A owned curve to linking the Arbroath and Forfar Railway (at Almeriecloss) and Dundee and Arbroath Railway (at Geordie's Burn) opened. The curve includes the new Arbroath Junction station.
15/05/1848Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Broughty Ferry to Broughty Pier opened. Broughty Pier station opened.
  /08/1848Dundee, Perth and Aberdeen Junction Railway
The Dundee and Perth Railway, having take a lease of the Dundee and Newtyle Railway in 1846 and entered into a long term operational agreement with the Dundee and Arbroath Railway in 1848, changes its name to the Dundee, Perth and Aberdeen Junction Railway.
  /  /1850Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Lease of line to the Dundee, Perth and Aberdeen Junction Railway ends.
  /  /1851Dundee and Perth Railway Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Proposed Dundee Junction line to link the Dundee and Perth Railway to the Dundee and Arbroath Railway (Trades Lane and Carolina Port Railway) abandoned.
01/05/1851Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Broughty Ferry to Broughty Pier closed, having been replaced with a new curve running from Broughty Pier to Broughty Junction.
31/07/1851Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Barry opened.
  /  /1855Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Elliot Junction opened.
14/12/1857Dundee and Arbroath Railway Trades Lane and Carolina Port Railway
Dundee East opened and Dundee Trades Lane closed.
  /  /1859Dundee and Arbroath Railway
West Ferry opened.
  /  /1860Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Broughty Ferry Shed and works closed and transferred to Arbroath.
31/01/1862Dundee and Arbroath Railway Scottish North Eastern Railway
The Dundee and Arbroath Railway is absorbed by the Scottish North Eastern Railway (official authorisation was in 1863).
  /  /1863Dundee and Arbroath Railway Scottish North Eastern Railway
Authorisation of the absorption of the Dundee and Arbroath Railway by the Scottish North Eastern Railway.
  /  /1866Dundee and Arbroath Railway
North British Railway authorised to purchase joint ownership of line.
  /  /1866North British Railway
Connection to the Dundee and Arbroath Railway authorised.
  /  /1867Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Broughty Ferry branch authorised.
  /  /1872Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Authorisation to improve Broughty Ferry station.
01/06/1878Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Broughty Junction to Broughty Pier closed to passengers with the opening of the Tay Bridge and Associated Lines (North British Railway).
01/02/1880Dundee and Arbroath Joint Railway Caledonian Railway North British Railway
Dundee and Arbroath Joint Railway authorised (Caledonian Railway and North British Railway). This involved the bulk of the former Dundee and Arbroath Railway between Camperdown Junction and near Arbroath station and a short portion of the Arbroath and Forfar Railway as far as St Vigeans Junction. This followed the opening of the Tay Bridge [1st] in 1878 and the impending opening of the North British, Arbroath and Montrose Railway of 1880.
01/02/1880Carmyllie Railway
Becomes joint Caledonian Railway and North British Railway, when the Dundee and Arbroath Railway becomes the Dundee and Arbroath Joint Railway.
01/02/1880Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Broughty Junction to Broughty Pier re-opened following the Tay Bridge [1st] disaster - Tay Bridge and Associated Lines (North British Railway).
19/06/1887Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Broughty Junction to Broughty Pier closed to passengers on opening of the new Tay Bridge.
  /  /1890Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Barry Review Platform opened for military use.
01/06/1893Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Barry Review Platform renamed Buddon Siding.
  /  /1900Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Carnoustie rebuilt. (Often said to be relocated from west side of level crossing to east side - but maps show the station clearly on the east side before 1900.)
  /02/1901Trades Lane and Carolina Port Railway Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Stannergate opened.
28/12/1906Dundee and Arbroath Railway
A North British Railway express which had been travelling from Edinburgh Waverley to Aberdeen Joint is blocked by snow at Arbroath and returns south. It strikes a local Caledonian Railway Arbroath to Dundee East train at Elliot Junction in a blizzard killing 22 passengers.
  /  /1908Dundee Corporation
Dundee Electricity Works opened at Stannergate for the corporation. Sidings served the works from the nearby Dundee and Arbroath Railway.
  /07/1910Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Buddon Siding renamed Buddon and opened to public. Opened to goods.
  /  /1911Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Rebuilding of Arbroath station complete. (Caledonian Railway authorised to buy land in 1900 and North British Railway in 1907.)
01/09/1914Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Buddon closed to public and renamed Buddon Siding.
  /  /1915Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Agreement with Secretary of State for War for Whitegates Level Crossing DA to be stopped up.
01/05/1916Trades Lane and Carolina Port Railway Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Stannergate closed.
01/01/1917Dundee and Arbroath Railway
West Ferry and Elliot Junction closed.
01/02/1919Dundee and Arbroath Railway
West Ferry and Elliot Junction re-opened.
01/04/1919Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Barry renamed Barry Links.
  /  /1957Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Buddon Siding closed.
05/01/1959Trades Lane and Carolina Port Railway
Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Dundee East to Camperdown Junction closed to passengers.
07/11/1960Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Golf Street Halt opened, initially only to southbound trains.
11/09/1961Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Golf Street Halt opened to northbound trains, ie opened completely.
18/06/1962Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Balmossie Halt opened.
  /  /1967Trades Lane and Carolina Port Railway Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Dundee East closed to freight.
04/09/1967Dundee and Arbroath Railway
West Ferry, Easthaven, Elliot Junction stations closed.
  /07/1982Trades Lane and Carolina Port Railway
Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Dundee Harbour sidings closed.
16/05/1983Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Balmossie Halt renamed Balmossie, and Golf Street Halt renamed Golf Street.
  /05/1997Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Barry West signal box closed, taken over by the box at Carnoustie.
  /08/1999Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Railtrack agrees to £700,000 repairs to Broughty Ferry station.
  /07/2018Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Broughty Ferry platforms extended.
  /02/2019Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Barriers replaced at Carnoustie station level crossing.

Locations along the line

These locations are along the line.

Craigie was a temporary terminus consisting of a platform erected by the Broughty Ferry Road level crossing near Craigie House. The house was to the north.
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See also
Trades Lane and Carolina Port Railway


This was a two platform station to the west of Broughty Ferry. The main building, of two storeys, was at the west end of the westbound platform and there was a waiting shelter on the eastbound platform.
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170 418 has just past the former station at West Ferry on 8 April 2011 as it heads south towards Dundee. ...
Bill Roberton 08/04/2011
The 4A13 Grangemouth - Aberdeen intermodal train, hauled by DRS 66423, seen heading north from Dundee near West Ferry on 8 April 2011. ...
Bill Roberton 08/04/2011
57601 hauls the Royal Scotsman along the line from Dundee towards Aberdeen. ...
Adrian Coward 21/09/2006
ScotRail DMU on the way to Dundee, having passed through Broughty Ferry at speed! ...
Adrian Coward 21/09/2006
4 of 5 images. more


This is a two platform station with a level crossing at the east end and a large station building at the east end of the westbound platform. The former signal box has been reassembled, after a period of storage, on the westbound platform.
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Aerial view of Broughty Ferry station and level crossing in a view looking south. ...
Network Rail //
Aerial view of Broughty Ferry station and level crossing in a view looking south. ...
Network Rail //
Looking east at Broughty Ferry in 1985. The lattice post signals have been replaced or removed.
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Bill Roberton //1985
Broughty Ferry station, viewed from the busy level crossing on Gray Street, on 24th March 2023. ...
Gordon Steel 24/03/2023
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This was a train ferry station. From here passengers, goods and freight travelled by train ferry to Tayport.
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View over the train ferry slip at Broughty Pier on 18th September 2020. A tramway ran from the railway terminus to the barracks on the right.
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Bill Roberton 18/09/2020
Looking south along the railway pier at Broughty Ferry in September 2020, with the train ferry slipway in the foreground. The station building was ...
Bill Roberton 18/09/2020
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To the west were lines to (from north to south):
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See also
Dundee and Forfar Direct Railway
The Forfar direct line left the Dundee & Arbroath on the 'wrong', southern side and climbed before swinging over it at Barnhill [Angus]. This was ...
David Panton 13/11/2019
View west along the D&A towards Broughty Junction in 1996. The abutments supported the bridge that, until 1967, carried the Caledonian direct line to ...
Ewan Crawford //1996
2 of 2 images.


This is a minimal modern station of two platforms between Broughty Ferry and Monifieth.
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Balmossie, opened as late as 18th June 1962 and known as Balmossie Halt until 16th May 1983, southbound platform, on the evening of Saturday, 14th ...
David Bosher 14/08/2021
Balmossie, to the east of Dundee and looking towards Arbroath, on the evening of Saturday, 14th August 2021. This was opened on 18th June 1962 as ...
David Bosher 14/08/2021
158712 with the first of two evening Parliamentary services to call at Balmossie, arriving on time at 17.59 on 14th August 2021 with a train from ...
David Bosher 14/08/2021
Balmossie has not been called a Halt since 1983, but I find it difficult to call it a station. Here it is in all its glory in January 2019, seen ...
David Panton 22/01/2019
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This is a two platform station. It has a lattice girder footbridge (C listed). An early station building, now a house, is on the eastbound platform. It is a single storey building with some Tudor styling, plain but with a finial over a gable facing the trackbed. Originally the building backed onto a goods shed before enlargement of the goods yard around 1900.
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December 2018 improvements to services between Dundee and Arbroath mean that calls at Monifeith have leapt from 7 a day to 28, giving it a proper ...
David Panton 22/01/2019
Platform view looking north at Monifieth in September 2006. The station building that once stood here still survives - at Birkhill on the SRPS system ...
John Furnevel 12/09/2006
150 258 with the daily down train at Monifieth in July 1998. ...
David Panton /07/1998
Monifieth Rotary have adopted Monifieth Station with a barrel-train so as to mark additional calls there from 9 December by the 0453 ...
John Yellowlees 29/10/2013
4 of 4 images.


This station was opened to serve the military Barry Buddon Training Camp, which dates from around 1850.
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This is a two platform station. It is west of Carnoustie. It has gained some notoriety due to the very low number of passengers using the station annually.
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158712 from Glasgow Queen Street to Arbroath, departing from Barry Links with the first of two evening Parliamentary services, on 14th August 2021. ...
David Bosher 14/08/2021
Barry Links station has quite a footbridge, as seen in 2005. ...
Ewan Crawford 30/10/2005
Exterior of Barry Links station with footbridge and level crossing, on the evening of Saturday, 14th August 2021. This station has only two ...
David Bosher 14/08/2021
Barry Links, looking towards Arbroath, on 14th August 2021. This station was once heavily used by the military with special trains to take them to a ...
David Bosher 14/08/2021
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This signal box was between Barry Links (to the west) and Golf Street (a little to the east) stations. It controlled access to three works on the north side of the line which were, from west to east:
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A relatively modern small station with two timber platforms and a footbridge to the west of Carnoustie. The southbound platform opened in 1960 and the northbound in 1961.
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170402, heading away from Golf Street, with this station's second and final Parliamentary train of the evening from Edinburgh Waverley to Arbroath, on ...
David Bosher 14/08/2021
Golf Street, here looking towards Dundee on the evening of 14th August 2021, was not opened until BR days on 7th November 1960 as Golf Street Halt and ...
David Bosher 14/08/2021
'I'm not stopping'. Just as well really as the train is three times longer than the platform. An LNER service for Aberdeen passes Golf Street on 15 ...
David Panton 15/05/2019
The rather insubstantial platforms at Golf Street actually give under your feet. This must be one of the few stations in Britain without departure ...
David Panton 27/02/2019
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This station was replaced in 1900 with the present Carnoustie station. The site of the first station was then given over entirely to the goods yard for the new station.
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The view west at Carnoustie in 2005 showing the box, footbridge and former station building from the original Carnoustie station. This building, ...
Ewan Crawford 30/10/2005
158.734 heads south at Carnoustie in 2005. Golf Street station can be seen in the distance. ...
Ewan Crawford 30/10/2005
107046 crosses over to the Up line as part of a reversal move at Carnoustie in 1991.
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Bill Roberton //1991
Carnoustie level crossing, signal box and, on the right, an original station building which survived several station reconstructions. Despite its ...
Bill Roberton //1991
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This signal box was between Carnoustie (to the west) and Easthaven (to the east). The box was on the south side of the line alongside a trailing crossover and siding making a trailing connection to the eastbound line. This sidings served the Panbride Bleachfield which had further sidings accessed by turnplates.
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This is a two platform station on the east side of a level crossing. In 1900 it replaced an older station, on the same cramped site, the ticket office of which was to the west of the level crossing Carnoustie [1st] (see this link for notes about the older station location). To the west is a signal box, dating from 1898. This is on the south side of the line and just west of the level ...

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1439 to GLC arriving at Carnoustie ...
John Yellowlees 13/04/2016
An Arbroath to Edinburgh service makes its first stop on the precocious spring day of 27 February 2019. I can read the driver's Him again? ...
David Panton 27/02/2019
A Glasgow to Aberdeen HST passes Carnoustie on 15 May 2019. The level-crossing barriers were recently replaced, but the renewal of signalling promised ...
David Panton 15/05/2019
The 'See it, say it, sorted' set makes its first stop with an Arbroath to Edinburgh service on 15 May 2019. Note the semaphore peeking above it; we ...
David Panton 15/05/2019
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This signal box was between Carnoustie (to the west) and Easthaven (to the east). The box was on the south side of the line alongside a trailing crossover and siding making a trailing connection to the eastbound line. This sidings served the Panbride Bleachfield which had further sidings accessed by turnplates.
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This was a small two platform station. The main station building was on the eastbound platform.
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Standard Class 4MT tank between at Easthaven (just west of a minor level crossing) with an Arbroath - Tayport train in 1961. ...
David Murray-Smith 03/04/1961
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This station was located at the junction for the Carmyllie Railway. This was initially a goods and minerals only line, opened 1854, the line opening to passengers in 1900. The junction allowed trains from the Arbroath direction access to the branch.
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See also
Carmyllie Railway
Elliot Junction, looking east, in 1996 showing the footbridge which served the now removed island platform. Originally the bridge only served the ...
Ewan Crawford //1996
The 11.30 from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, powered by 43183 and 43136, passes the site of Elliot Junction's island platform on 18 September 2021. Above ...
Bill Roberton 18/09/2021
Among those killed in the alcohol-related collision at Elliot Junction in December 1906 was Alexander Black, the Liberal MP for Banffshire, whose ...
John Yellowlees 27/01/2019
Level Crossing gate next to the junction at Elliot Junction where the line crossed the A92. View looks north. ...
Ewan Crawford //1998
4 of 9 images. more


This station was located to the west of the harbour in Arbroath. A tramway connected with the harbour line of the Arbroath and Forfar Railway just to the east in the harbour. The tramway was not suitable for upgrade to a railway and a new Arbroath station (then Arbroath Joint) was opened on a connecting railway built by the Dundee and Arbroath Railway and Lady Loan closed.
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