In 1831 an inland-facing line had been opened; it was the Dundee and Newtyle Railway, designed to connect the port with the fertile agricultural area of Strathmore.

As it had challenging terrain to traverse, crossing the range of the Sidlaw Hills, it had been built with three steep inclines worked by stationary steam engines.

A public meeting was held on 12 October 1835, and it was agreed to prepare a Parliamentary Bill; Grainger and Miller were asked to execute the full survey required for the purpose.

Three weeks later John Miller presented his survey and findings; the line could be built for £85,000 including land acquisition and rolling stock, and would return 7.5%.

[1][page needed] The bill was presented to the 1836 session of Parliament, and passed on 19 May 1836: the Dundee and Arbroath Railway was incorporated, with capital of £100,000.

[6][page needed] The line was open from Lady Loan in Arbroath to Craigie Crossing, about two miles (3 km) short of Dundee.

[5][page needed] The reason for the opening stopping short of Dundee itself now emerged: the westward progress of construction took the line directly to the water's edge, and the uncertain ground there required a causeway; in the final approach to Dundee the line passed across the frontage of industrial premises, severing their access to the river.

After some delay the railway came to an amicable agreement with the proprietors, which seems to have involved paying them to relocate their works to the river side of the new line.

Ten months later the final extension took place, to the Trades Lane terminus: the station was in the angle between the present day Marketgait and Camperdown Street.

The initial passenger train service was two return trips daily augmented by a third on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

[1][page needed] The line was single track but right hand running applied at passing places, until the regauging of 1847.

[3][page needed][8] The locomotives at first were named Wallace, Griffin, Fury and Rapid; they had the 2-2-2 wheel arrangement with 13 inch cylinders and an 18-inch stroke.

Whishaw says "the steam is not allowed to blow off to waste, but is admitted to the tank of [the] tender, to raise the temperature of the water."

The gauge change meant that considerable sums of money were required, as rolling stock needed to be converted or acquired as well.

The Arbroath connecting line and the gauge change were completed on 23 December 1847, and the Broughty Ferry branch was opened in May 1848.

It made a triangular junction with the main line, occupying the alignment of the present-day St Vincent Street, but on 1 May 1851 it was replaced with a single connection in a more easterly position, facing Arbroath only, and requiring a reversal for trains to Dundee.

[1][page needed] In June 1854 it was announced that an agreement had been finalised with The Marquess of Dalhousie to work a line he was proposing to build privately, from quarries at Carmyllie to Elliot.

[12] This was retained, and the new station joined the earlier alignment at Camperdown Junction, named after the adjacent dock basin.

[1][page needed] The several independent railways in the area north of Falkirk had experienced changing allegiances, and at one time amalgamations had been frowned on by legislators.

This new company controlled the line from Perth and Arbroath to Aberdeen, and the Dundee and Arbroath line saw its future more positively in that group: it agreed to be vested in the SNER from 31 January 1862; this was ratified by an act of Parliament, the Scottish North Eastern Railway Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict.

[4][page needed] The North British Railway was dominant in its network in Fife and had long aspired to cross the Firth of Tay by a bridge.

The NBR had previously made attempts to get authorisation for a bridge crossing and been rebuffed, but now in 1869 a definite proposal found widespread support.

During the process of building the (first) Tay Bridge, the NBR had petitioned Parliament for the Dundee and Arbroath section (the former D&AR now owned by the Caledonian) to be transferred to joint ownership.

When the SNER had been created in 1856 there had been concerns about monopolistic power of large railway companies, and Parliament was amenable to the change, which would enable the NBR to operate a service between Edinburgh and Aberdeen relatively independently.

This transfer was mandated by the North British Railway, Dundee and Arbroath Joint Line Act 1879 (42 & 43 Vict.

In addition there had previously been working agreements for Dundee East station for goods and passenger purposes, and these continued.

[note 4] The train service pattern did not change fundamentally; residential traffic around Dundee had built up in the twentieth century and this continued.

Dundee East station only handled local passenger trains and as this traffic declined, the requirement for the terminus fell away; it closed on 5 January 1959.

[1][page needed] The Dundee Harbour lines were adjacent to Camperdown Junction; train operation on them was subject to bye-laws.