Killiecrankie

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Killiecrankie (1864-1965)

Station code: National Rail ScotRail
, Scotland
Opened on the Inverness and Perth Junction Railway.

Description

This was a two platform station with ornate timber buildings featuring canopies. The station is closed but the line remains open. The station was a loop on the single track Highland main line. The platforms extended out on either side of the fine lattice girder bridge which carried a minor road and crossed the middle of the station. The buildings were to the east. The main building was on the southbound platform.

The station opened in 1864 or 1865 (sources vary), shortly after the line itself opened. The original station was minimal, just a platform. Although a siding was added in the 1880s it was 1896 before the loop, new platforms and station buildings were provided. The loop increased the line's capacity.

The goods yard was at the east end, south of the line, approached from the east. There were two signal boxes, dating from 1896, and a long loop which extended west of the platform ends. The north box was on the south side of the line at the west end and the south box on the southbound platform opposite the goods yard. The north box was removed in 1920, replaced with a ground frame. The south box took over the loop and was slightly relocated.

Killiecrankie House is to the north east and the Pass of Killiecrankie, Killiecrankie Tunnel and Killiecrankie Viaduct are to the south east. The River Garry is a little to the south.

The remaining signal box and the loop was removed in 1963. The station closed to passengers in 1965.

Nothing now remains of the station except nearby railwaymen's cottages and portions of the platforms at the north end where they were built in timber on a bridge over a stream. A house has been built on the site of the southbound platform station building.

Local

The Battle of Killiecrankie, 1689, took place north of the former station and on the north/east side of the line. A Jacobite army under John Graham, Viscount Dundee, defeated General Hugh Mackay's army, fighting for William of Orange. Graham died in the battle and the Jacobite army was itself later defeated itself at Dunkeld.

The National Trust for Scotland has a visitors' centre.

NTS - Killiecrankie

Nearby is the 'The Soldier's Leap' where MacBane, a government soldier fleeing the rout, is said to have jumped the River Garry (a gap of around 5m).

Tags

Station

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
11/03/2020


Chronology Dates

01/07/1865Inverness and Perth Junction Railway
Killiecrankie opened.
03/05/1965Aberfeldy Branch (Inverness and Perth Junction Railway)
Inverness and Perth Junction Railway
Aberfeldy branch closed, along with the closure of stations on the Highland Main Line with the withdrawal of local trains. On the branch Aberfeldy, Grandtully, Balnaguard Halt closed along with the junction station Ballinluig. South of the junction, on the main line, Dalguise and Murthly closed. To the north Killiecrankie, Struan, Dalnaspidal, Tomatin, Moy, Daviot, and Culloden Moor closed.

News items

28/06/2022No battle over Killiecrankie fencing renewal [Network Rail]
23/05/2022Pass times: When trains sped from Killiecrankie and Blair Atholl [The Courier]
05/08/2021Embankment works bring stability to Highland Mainline [Network Rail]

Books


Bradshaw's Guides Scotlands Railways West Coast - Carlisle to Inverness: 5

Highland Railway Album: No. 1

Highland Railway Album: No. 2

Highland Railway Carriages and Wagons

Highland Railway: People and Places - From the Inverness and Nairn Railway to Scotrail

The Highland Railway

The Highland Railway : The History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands - Vol 2