Inverness and Nairn Railway

Introduction

This line is open. Passenger services are provided by ScotRail from Inverness to Aberdeen. Stations remain open at Inverness and Nairn. This line was extended east by the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway to meet the Great North of Scotland Railway at Keith.

The original termini at Inverness and Nairn are still in use, the former greatly expanded and the later with an end-on junction at its east end.

The line is largely single track, but it was doubled from Inverness as far east as Dalcross and singled around 1967.



Dates

24/07/1854Inverness and Nairn Railway
Line authorised, 15 miles from Inverness to Nairn and a 1/2 mile branch to Inverness Harbour. Contractor : Thomas Brassey & James Falshaw.
05/11/1855Inverness and Nairn Railway
Line opened with stations at Inverness, Culloden [1st], Dalcross, Fort George [1st], Cawdor and Nairn.
  /  /1857Inverness and Nairn Railway
Cawdor renamed Kildrummie.
17/05/1861Inverness and Nairn RailwayInverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway
Inverness and Nairn Railway absorbed by Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway.
01/07/1899Fort George Branch (Highland Railway)
Line opened. The original Fort George [1st] station on the Inverness and Nairn Railway was sited slightly further west and renamed Gollanfield Junction.
  /  /1962Inverness and Nairn Railway
Inverness Shed closed.
  /  /1963Inverness and Nairn Railway
Inverness Shed demolished.
  /08/1999Inverness and Nairn Railway
Foundations of the former Inverness Shed roundhouse uncovered during archaeological survey before construction of a supermarket. The site of the turntable is marked by a payout of granite setts.
08/09/2002Inverness and Nairn Railway
Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)
Blocked by flood-water.
  /10/2007Inverness and Nairn Railway
Inverness Airport station estimated to cost £8m and open by 2010. Intended to also serve the new town at Tornagrain.
01/04/2010Inverness and Nairn Railway
66048, which derailed at Carrbridge, is fitted with a new bogie at Lochgorm Works.

Portions of line and locations

This line is divided into a number of portions.


Inverness to Nairn

This is a seven platform terminus for services to and from locations to the south such as Glasgow Queen Street High Level, Edinburgh Waverley and London, and locations north and west such as Kyle of Lochalsh, Thurso and Wick.
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See also
Inverness and Ross-shire Railway
Scotrail HST on platform 3 at Inverness prior to working the 17:13 to Aberdeen on 4th October 2023.
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Crinan Dunbar 04/10/2023
Inverness 1 May 2017. ...
John Yellowlees 01/05/2017
An early crest, and a modern poster, in the train shed at Inverness. ...
Crinan Dunbar 23/05/2023
Barrel train 'Not to be Moved' at Inverness in July 2022.
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John Yellowlees 29/07/2022
4 of 158 images. more


This goods yard was south of Inverness station and approached from the east. Lines fanned out to serve a goods shed and loading banks (in the north/west part of the site alongside the passenger station) and livestock sidings with loading banks (in the southern portion of the yard alongside Inverness livestock auction market).
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27025 in the Inverness station sidings (the goods just south of the station, now a Morrison's Supermarket). 25 September 1982. ...
Peter Todd 25/09/1982
37039 on the move through the yards at Inverness in May 1982. ...
Peter Todd 10/05/1982
40044 stands in Inverness goods in October 1981. ...
Peter Todd 01/10/1981
A 1970s view of pipe traffic at Inverness Freight Depot framed by 18th century warehouses, subsequently relocated to make way for the relentless local ...
Frank Spaven Collection (Courtesy David Spaven) //
4 of 14 images. more


This shed was located to the south of the station. The stone built shed was a roundhouse, entry to the roundhouse being through a triumphal archway (with the watertank concealed above). It was a 34 road shed. The shed opened in 1863 with the opening of the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway which opened a new route to the south, not via Aberdeen but via Forres [2nd] and ...

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Pickersgill ex-Caledonian 4-4-0 no 54466 in the roundhouse at Inverness in 1962, a few months before its withdrawal. See image 9216. ...
R Sillitto/A Renfrew Collection (Courtesy Bruce McCartney) //1962
Grab shot from a train leaving Inverness in 1959, with B1 and Black 5 locomotives visible in the shed yard. ...
D Walker Collection [Courtesy Bruce McCartney] //1959
Photograph taken from a train passing Inverness shed in 1958. The locomotive nearest the camera is Black 5 45124. ...
D Welsh Collection [Courtesy Bruce McCartney] //1958
An Inverness BRCW Type 2 and ex-banana van parked at Inverness MPD in the late 1960s. Note the tablet catcher mounted on the loco cab side - these ...
David Spaven //
4 of 9 images. more


This was a platform east of Welsh's Bridge, the road bridge crossing the line to approach William Welsh's Millburn House on the north side of the railway. The location was just east of the bridge and, slightly further west, Welsh's Bridge Junction.
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This signal cabin controlled the junction between the lines to Aberdeen and Perth (to the east) and the approach to Inverness Shed, Inverness Goods yard, Inverness station, Lochgorm Works, bypass to Rose Street Junction, carriage sidings and Millburn Yard.
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See also
Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)
Welsh's Bridge cabin in Inverness, and its gantry, seen from the south side in the 1970s. The box was at the eastern approach to the station ...
Aitken Scott //
Approaching Welsh's Bridge Junction, Inverness, in 1986.
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Bill Roberton //1986
Welsh's Bridge Signal Box, Inverness, seen from the south side. Thought to be taken in the early 1970s. ...
Aitken Scott //
08788 is one of Invernesss Station pilots. ...
John Gray 02/04/2005
4 of 28 images. more


Millburn Yard is a marshalling yard which was laid out in 1943 as a wartime provision during the Second World War, there being insufficient sidings in Inverness. The yard remains in use today. It is located to the east of Inverness station on the north side of the Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway). The yard is approached from the east. The yard is an expansion of ...

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67008 at Inverness. ...
John Gray 02/04/2005
37418 East Lancashire Railway at rest in Inverness Yard. ...
John Gray 02/04/2005
37 416 shunting PW wagons at Millburn. ...
Ewan Crawford //
Snow Plough ZZA ADB965234 sits in Milburn Yard, Inverness on a glorious summer day. 27th June 2018. ...
Caleb Abbott 27/06/2018
4 of 26 images. more


This junction is east of Inverness station and is where the routes to Aberdeen and Perth divide. The Perth route initially travels north before swinging over the Aberdeen route to gain some height before turning south.
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See also
Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)
Photographed from the A9 overbridge, just a little to the east of Millburn Junction, 66425 heads towards Culloden with 4D47, the 13.40 Inverness to ...
John Clark 19/08/2023
An 08 shunts in Millburn Yard. Viewed from Glasgow-Inverness train. ...
Ewan Crawford //1989
61994 with its support coach leaves Inverness for Thornton on 12 April having undertaken GB2 duties the previous day. ...
John Gray 12/04/2009
Oil train about to depart from Millburn Yard, Inverness, for Lairg. ...
Ewan Crawford //
4 of 18 images. more


In 1943 a connecting line was laid west from the immediate east side of Raigmore Level Crossing which climbed to reach the Perth line near Millburn Junction and give access to Millburn Yard to the north. The connection was single track.
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An Aberdeen bound 47 hauled train approaches Raigmore level crossing east of Millburn Junction in 1990. The remains of the 'Burma Road' are to the ...
Ewan Crawford //1990
The lifted link from the Perth line to Raigmore Level Crossing on the Aberdeen line. View looks east. ...
Ewan Crawford //
2 of 2 images.


This level crossing is east of Inverness on the line to Aberdeen. Harbour Road crosses the line on the level. A former crossing keeper's house is north of the line, east of the road.
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An Aberdeen-bound DMU approaches Raigmore level crossing in Inverness in 1976. The route leading up to the Highland Main Line on the right was known ...
Frank Spaven Collection (Courtesy David Spaven) //1976
1 of 1 images.


This was a two platform station. The station was at Allanfearn, but on opening was the closest station to Culloden, thus the name used until the direct line from Aviemore to Inverness opened in 1898, with its Culloden Moor station.
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Originally named Culloden, until the direct line to Aviemore opened in 1898, Allanfearn was the first station out of Inverness on the line to Nairn. ...
Mark Bartlett 01/07/2011
1 of 1 images.


This is a private level crossing east of the former Allanfearn station. The gates are manually operated. Lower Cullernie is to the immediate south west.
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Lower Cullernie Level Crossing seen from the road. The view is north towards Alturlie Point. ...
Network Rail /04/2021
1 of 1 images.


This was a private halt built to serve Castle Stuart which was to the north. ...

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An evening service heads east towards Castle Stuart Platform. Poor weather has the hills behind disappear to the left hand side. Also to the left is ...
Ewan Crawford 30/09/2009
New single track replaces the former double track route between Inverness and Nairn, as seen from the front of an Aberdeen bound DMU in the late ...
Frank Spaven Collection (Courtesy David Spaven) //
2 of 2 images.


This relatively recent siding, west of Dalcross level crossing was on the south side of the line and ran west into the Highland Forest Products factory. There was a ground frame for the siding. It ceased to be used around 1990 and its site has been built over by an expansion of the factory.
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Track renewal alongside Dalcross products, west of the under construction Inverness Airport station. ...
Network Rail /10/2022
The siding for Dalcross products limited. ...
Ewan Crawford //
2 of 2 images.


The former Dalcross station was south west of today's Inverness Airport. A new station is planned for the airport, but it is unlikely to be built at the original Dalcross station site. Planning permission for a single platform station to the north east, closer to the airport, has lapsed and will probably be replaced with a double track station plan which would be more in keeping with the ...

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The road at Dalcross Level Crossing, where the Inverness and Aberdeen line crosses the C1020 at the former station, has been stopped up and replaced ...
Network Rail /10/2022
Token exchange at speed between ex-HR Jones Goods 4-6-0 no 103 and the signalman at Dalcross station in the summer of 1965. ...
Frank Spaven Collection (Courtesy David Spaven) //1965
An Aberdeen - Inverness service passes Norbord Highland's factory at Dalcross in September 2009. This factory was rail served with the siding being ...
Ewan Crawford 30/09/2009
The former Dalcross station, between Inverness and Nairn, viewed from the north side of the level crossing in July 2011. The station closed in 1965 ...
Mark Bartlett 01/07/2011
4 of 4 images.


On Thursday 2nd February 2023 the new 15m Inverness Airport station will be officially opened by Jenny Gilruth MSP, Scottish Government Minister for ...
Network Rail /01/2023
A rail mounted crane delivers platform portions at Inverness Airport station.
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Network Rail 29/09/2022
Commemorative ticket issued for the Inverness Airport railway station opening in February 2023. ...
John Yellowlees 02/02/2023
A portion of new platform is lowered at Inverness Airport station.
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Network Rail 29/09/2022
4 of 21 images. more


This station was largely to the west of an overbridge. It was a three platform station, a reconstruction of Fort George [1st] station, with two main line platforms to the south and a bay to the north for the Fort George [2nd] branch on the north side of the eastbound platform.
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See also
Fort George Branch (Highland Railway)
Class 47 hauled passenger train heads east at the former Gollanfield Junction station. ...
Ewan Crawford //
An early morning Aberdeen to Inverness service runs through Gollanfield. 158706 is passing the overgrown trackbed of the short Fort George branch, ...
Mark Bartlett 01/07/2011
2 of 2 images.


This was a single platform station largely to the east of a road overbridge. The platform was to the south of the running line.
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The former station building at Gollanfield Junction station. View looks south. ...
Ewan Crawford //
Early morning view looking east towards Nairn from the overbridge at Gollanfield. The old station, once the junction for Fort George, is the more ...
Mark Bartlett 01/07/2011
2 of 2 images.


This was a short lived station north of Kildrummie. Nothing now remains. It was originally named Cawdor, thought was hardly convenient as Cawdor and Cawdor Castle are around 5 miles away with no direct road.
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This is a two platform station in the south of Nairn. The station buildings on both platforms are similar to those at Pitlochry. The main building, a single storey, is on the eastbound (Aberdeen) platform, on the town side of the station. Thought to be designed by William Roberts and Murdoch Paterson it dates from 1885 and is 'B' listed. The platforms are linked by a lattice ...

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See also
Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway
A bright and sunny afternoon at Nairn station looking west in November 2005, with a ScotRail 158 pulling away on the final leg of its journey to ...
John Furnevel 02/11/2005
The elegant main station building at Nairn in November 2005, looking east towards Forres. ...
John Furnevel 02/11/2005
The westbound platform waiting room at Nairn is now a Men's Shed. ...
John Yellowlees 03/12/2018
Platform 2 at Nairn on a sunny November day in 2005. View is east towards the station footbridge. ...
John Furnevel 02/11/2005
4 of 53 images. more





Inverness Harbour Branch

Inverness Harbour Branch

This signal cabin controlled the junction between the lines to Aberdeen and Perth (to the east) and the approach to Inverness Shed, Inverness Goods yard, Inverness station, Lochgorm Works, bypass to Rose Street Junction, carriage sidings and Millburn Yard.
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See also
Inverness and Aviemore Direct Railway (Highland Railway)
Welsh's Bridge cabin in Inverness, and its gantry, seen from the south side in the 1970s. The box was at the eastern approach to the station ...
Aitken Scott //
Approaching Welsh's Bridge Junction, Inverness, in 1986.
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Bill Roberton //1986
Welsh's Bridge Signal Box, Inverness, seen from the south side. Thought to be taken in the early 1970s. ...
Aitken Scott //
08788 is one of Invernesss Station pilots. ...
John Gray 02/04/2005
4 of 28 images. more


The site of the bulk of the Needlefield Carriage Sidings in Inverness is now a container depot. The site is north of Inverness station, and its bypass line, just to the east of Longman Road.
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The section of Highland House, Inverness, damaged as a result of a fire on 28 October 2009. ...
John Gray 31/10/2009
Grab shot of Inverness Depot on 20th August 2018, with a HST alongside presumably on a training trip. ...
Caleb Abbott 20/08/2018
The Highland Sleeper does not run on a saturday evening. Here it is protruding from Inverness Depot. ...
Brian Forbes 22/9/2007
Highland House, Longman Road, Inverness, the office building used by Network Rail where a suspicious fire broke out on 28 October 2009. ...
John Gray 31/10/2009
4 of 15 images. more


These sidings, in addition to Millburn Yard and the former Needlefield Carriage Sidings, are the goods sidings in Inverness and are located to the north of the station, with access from Longman Road.
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The once-ubiquitous old-style wooden BR container (in this case conveying biscuits from the south) standing in the Needlefield warehouse siding, ...
David Spaven //1974
1 of 1 images.


The Lochgorm Works was established by the Inverness and Nairn Railway. The works are to the north of Inverness station and south of the branch to Inverness Harbour (later the station avoiding line) and Needlefield Carriage Sidings.
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The front end of 47550 at Inverness Depot, being repainted before being named 'University of Dundee', at Easter 1982.
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Crinan Dunbar 10/04/1982
Three unidentified BRCW Class 26s at Inverness in the Spring of 1983. ...
Crinan Dunbar /04/1983
BRCW Type 2 26045, on the buffers at Inverness Depot during an official visit in 1982.
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Peter Todd 10/05/1982
Front end of English Electric Type 3 37039, seen during an organised visit to Inverness Depot on 10th May 1982.
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Peter Todd 10/05/1982
4 of 37 images. more


This junction was formed in 1862 with the opening of the Inverness and Ross-shire Railway as far as Dingwall. The new line connected with the Inverness Harbour branch of the Inverness and Nairn Railway of 1855.
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Inverness and Ross-shire Railway
Rose Street cabin, Inverness. This controlled the 3 northern platforms and both main lines along The Rose Street Curve. An up loop and the north entry ...
Brian Forbes /04/1988
D8033 on a freight to the north in 1960. The photograph is from the end of the northern platforms at Inverness station. ...
David Murray-Smith 06/04/1960
D8033 on the station bypass at Rose Street Junction in Inverness with a freight to the north in 1960. ...
David Murray-Smith 06/04/1960
An EWS Class 66 passes Inverness Depot with the Safeway intermodal service from Georgemas Junction in 2000. A DRS-operated train for Tesco is now ...
Bill Roberton //2000
4 of 20 images. more


A large ammunition depot was established alongside Inverness Harbour during the Great War. The depot was associated with the Grand Fleet based at Scapa Flow.
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A 3/4 mile branch to Inverness Harbour opened with the Inverness and Nairn Railway in 1855. The branch commenced at Welsh's Bridge Junction where it left the approach to Inverness station to run west to the bank of the River Ness (just south of Cromwell's Fort [Inverness]). The branch ended with a loop and a turnplate serving quayside sidings running north.
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