Aultmore railway station

Aultmore railway station was a station which served the village of Aultmore, in the Scottish county of Moray. It was served by trains on the Buckie and Portessie Branch north of Keith. The latter station is now the nearest to Aultmore. Until 1 January 1899 the station was known as Forgie.[1]

Aultmore
Location
PlaceAultmore
AreaMoray
Grid referenceNJ401532
Operations
Original companyHighland Railway
Pre-groupingHighland Railway
Post-groupingLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
Platforms2
History
1 January 1884Station opens as Forgie
1 January 1899Renamed Aultmore
9 August 1915Station closes to passengers
3 October 1966Station closes totally
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain
A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z

History

Opened by the Highland Railway in 1884 it had a short life, the line closing to passengers in 1915. Aultmore became the terminus of a goods spur from Keith and continued this role until 1966. Alexander Macrae was the stationmaster appointed on 28 October 1904 having been promoted from Inverness station[2] and remaining until closure on 7 August 1915.[2]

Infrastructure

The station had two platforms and loop line with originally a goods siding and loading dock to the north,[3] later a second loading dock and sidings were added on the "down" side.[4] The station building was on the "up" side and was 2.5 miles from Keith railway station.[3] A stationmasters' house was provided as was a porters' house.[5] Located on a gradient of 1 in 60 the gradient eased a little to the north at 1 in 70.[3] On 7 November 1917 the Admiralty requisitioned the track between Aultmore and Portessie for use at Invergordon and Inverness however in June 1918 they also lifted the track between Aultmore and Crooksmill, leaving however the station buildings and sidings intact.[6]

In June 1919 the Highland Railway relaid the section to Aultmore from Crooksmill and resumed goods services at the request of the local authorities.[7] In 1925 the station buildings were restored however they were never used for passenger services.[8] In 1937 the track was simplified and realigned to provide a layout of just two sidings and by this time the platforms had been reduced to just banks of earth.[9] By 10 December 1937 the track between Aultmore and Buckie had once again been lifted.[10] The Keith signal lineman made regular visits to Aultmore to maintain the ground lever frame and the Distillery Manager's Office had a railway telephone for the purposes of ordering the delivery of waggons.[11]

Signalling

Signalling was by block telegraph and semaphore signals with the first section being Keith West to Forgie (Aultmore), followed by Forgie (Aultmore) to Enzie.[12] The line was usually worked on a 'one engine in steam' principle, special trains being timed so as not to conflict with the regular timetabled services.[12]

Services

The timetable for the first regular services shows four trains in each direction however as they were all "mixed" trains the passengers were required to wait whilst shunting of goods waggons took place.[13] In 1907 the summer timetable showed five trains in each direction, reducing to three in the winter.

A 12:50 pm goods train ran from Portessie to work the goods stations at Buckie and Aultmore, the local goods from Keith being withdrawn.[14] From 1 November 1907 the engine was withdrawn from Portessie and instead a 2:15 pm ran to Aultmore to work the goods station as and when required.[15] A daily 5:00 pm return goods ran from 1919[8] Services were suspended between 1943 and 1945[16] and finally ceased in 1966.

The site today

The stationmasters' house is in use as a private home.

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References
  1. Wilkinson 1988, p. 40.
  2. Wilkinson 1988, p. 49.
  3. Wilkinson 1988, p. 31.
  4. Wilkinson 1988, p. 77.
  5. Wilkinson 1988, p. 26.
  6. Wilkinson 1988, p. 54.
  7. Wilkinson 1988, p. 55.
  8. Wilkinson 1988, p. 58.
  9. Wilkinson 1988, p. 61.
  10. Wilkinson 1988, p. 62.
  11. Wilkinson 1988, p. 63.
  12. Wilkinson 1988, p. 35.
  13. Wilkinson 1988, p. 29.
  14. Wilkinson 1988, p. 43.
  15. Wilkinson 1988, p. 44.
  16. Wilkinson 1988, p. 65.
  • Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
  • Jowett, Alan (2000). Jowett's Nationalised Railway Atlas (1st ed.). Penryn, Cornwall: Atlantic Transport Publishers. ISBN 978-0-906899-99-1. OCLC 228266687.
  • Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
  • Wilkinson, Brian (1988). The Heilan Line. The Portessie Branch of the Highland Railway. Dornoch Press. ISBN 0-9513358-2-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Station on navigable O.S. map station site is near distillery on thin goods line
  • RAILSCOT on Buckie and Portessie Branch
Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Keith Junction   Highland Railway
Buckie and Portessie Branch
   Enzie

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