Cairnie Junction
Location type
StationName and dates
Cairnie Junction (1898-1968)Opened on the Great North of Scotland Railway.
Opened on the Moray Coast Railway (Great North of Scotland Railway).
Description
This was an exchange station. The main line remains open here but is now a single track with little hint of the former station. A platelayers hut remains, this was south of the station on the west side of the line. The track is the former westbound line, the eastbound being lifted. The kink of the line round the station has been straightened.
Trains could combine or divide here. A train from Aberdeen could divide into 'Coast' (via Buckie [GNSR]) and 'Glen' (via Dufftown) portions which ran independently to Elgin [East]. Certainly this was the division of these two GNoSR routes to Elgin East.
The station did not open with the junction, this had opened in 1886 along with the curve to Grange North Junction when the Moray Coast route opened throughout. It was 1898 before the exchange station opened.
The station opened when the railway from Rothiemay to Keith was doubled in 1898.
The station consisted of an island platform with a tall signal box (opened with the station in 1898) at the west end and station building with canopies on all sides in the centre of the platform. The view from the box looked over the building. The box had a stone base and timber upper, similar to boxes elsewhere such as those at Kittybrewster. This box replaced an earlier box - Grange South Junction - which stood at the junction between 1886 and the station's opening.
This was the junction between the Great North of Scotland Railway's main line between Aberdeen and Keith, the line via the Moray Coast (Cullen and Buckie [GNSR]) to Elgin East, and its branch to Banff. The main line was double and the branch was double as far as Grange North Junction, the junction between these was just north of the station.
Down either side of the island platform was a platform line, loop line and siding.
The station, signal box and junction closed with the closure of the Moray Coast Railway (Great North of Scotland Railway) in 1968.
The railway was reduced to a single track between Keith and Huntly in 1970.
Tags
Station junctionAliases
Grange South JunctionExternal links
Canmore site recordNLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
NLS Map
| Nearby stations Grange Millegan Rothiemay Knock Glenbarry Keith Town Keith Strathisla Mills Platform Auchindachy Huntly Aultmore Towiemore Halt Cornhill Tauchers Platform Drummuir | Grange North Junction Shiel Wood Timber Siding Deveron Viaduct Keith Junction Chivas Bros Siding [Keith] Keith Shed [GNSR] [1st] Keith Shed [HR] Strathmill Distillery Siding Tourist/other Avochie Signal Box Mill o^ Wood Signal Box Knockdhu Distillery Newmill Signal Box Strathisla Distillery Keith North Signal Box Strathmill Distillery |
| Location names in dark blue are on the same original line. | |
