Nigg Cattle Station
When first opened to the city in April 1850 the Aberdeen Railway Company (ARCo.) used sidings for cattle at Ferryhill Station. Anticipating that siding accommodation would not suffice for the winter traffic, later that year ARCo. proceeded to use the vacant ground beside the mainline just south of the Dee Viaduct, in Nigg Parish, as the site for their new cattle station. This had probably been used as a base for viaduct construction and had been part of Craiginches Farm. Sheds were erected there and deliveries of turnips, hay and straw were ordered for that location. Soon afterwards the local farmers, cattle-dealers and fleshers (butchers) established a tryst or weekly market at an adjacent site. However by 1859 the inconvenience of driving cattle through the city streets and crossing the Wellington (toll) Bridge from Waterloo (GNSR Co.) and Market Street (Deeside Railway Company) Stations induced the Directors to change back to having a cattle station at Ferryhill in 1860. At the time this map was surveyed the Nigg Cattle Station was still in regular use; the cattle sheds were located along the edge of Wellington Road. These would have been used for longer term keeping of livestock waiting to be transported south. The cattle sheds remained at the Nigg/Craiginches site for some years as a railway store with resident storekeeper and were later used by A&G Paterson as part of Craiginches Sawmill. Research and text by Charlie Niven. Map provided by kind permission of the National Library of Scotland. https://maps.nls.uk/copyright.html
Location: Nigg Cattle Station
Original line: Aberdeen Railway
Photographer: National Library of Scotland
Contact photographer: National Library of Scotland
Date: 08/07/2022
Image number: 81744
