Dundee and Newtyle Railway

It was built to carry goods between Dundee and the fertile area known as Strathmore; this involved crossing the Sidlaw Hills, and was accomplished with three rope-worked inclined planes.

Newtyle was simply a remote railhead, and the anticipated traffic volumes were not achieved, the inclines incurred heavy operating costs, and the railway never made money.

Responding to the criticism of the remote Newtyle station, two further railways were built; these were nominally independent but for practical purposes were branches of the Dundee line.

[2] A canal had been proposed in 1817, but a more realistic idea was formed in 1825 when Dundee Burgh Council decided to fund a survey for a railway.

A parliamentary bill was submitted for the line and it was enacted as the Dundee and Newtyle Railway Act 1826 (7 Geo.

Landale was dismissed from the service of the company, amid criticisms that he failed to control the contractors properly, and that the estimates had been considerably overspent.

[4] The Dundee terminal was at Ward Road on the north side of the town, and immediately ascended Law Hill by a 1 in 10 incline, 1,060 yards (970 m) long; at the top it entered Law Tunnel, about 330 yards (300 m) long; the tunnel was ten feet (3.05 m) wide and 10 ft 2 in (3.10 m) high.

The company introduced a variety of season tickets, and workmen's fares conveying sheep shearers at cheap rates as well as excursionists.

[3] In fact Marshall states that two old "Tally-Ho" coaches that had been operating on the Perth turnpike, which were fixed to a wagon chassis.

[8] The stations were very crude affairs, and in these early days were more comparable with the places at which stage coaches might pick up and set down; they were at: The train service consisted of mixed trains leaving both Dundee and Newtyle at 8.00 a.m., 10.00 a.m. and 4.00 p.m. with an additional goods service at 1.00 p.m.[8] The company was evidently unhappy about the state of the engineering of its line, and in 1832 it commissioned the engineer Nicholas Wood to review it.

In fact he generally approved the situation, only commenting that horse traction should be continued "until the traffic should be more developed", and that he "looked forward to the early extension of the line at both ends, particularly at Dundee."

A fourth engine, an 0-4-0 of the Planet type named John Bull, was acquired from Robert Stephenson & Co in April 1836.

When Alexander Allan (superintendent of the Scottish Central Railway) discovered one of the original locos in use as a stationary engine in 1854, he realised it was of historical importance, and had it 'removed and all the parts carefully put together, cleaned, painted, and lined'.

In 1834 definite plans were prepared for an extension to the harbour; this had been authorised in principle by the original Dundee and Newtyle Railway Act 1826.

The burgh was enhancing its dock facilities at the time and wished to encourage railway access, and therefore agreed to the extension through the streets: the line was to run down Lindsay Street, across Nethegate to Yeaman Shore, then turning east to join the Dundee Harbour internal railway lines.

[8] The construction of the line had not been well executed, and maintenance costs were considerable; in addition the three stationary engines were expensive to operate.

The agricultural traffic from Strathmore had not developed as much as had been forecast, so that the lower income and the weekly burden of the outgoings was a serious problem.

Within Strathmore, railway construction would be easy, and in 1835 two small companies were authorised to build outwards from Newtyle.

The line from Newtyle station to the point of divergence descended at 1 in 100, but it was worked by horse traction, occasionally supplemented by locomotives.

"[8] The Dundee Weekly News of 5 November 1898 carried a report from William M'Intosh who stated that from 1837 to about 1841, during windy weather, a tarpaulin was lashed to the end of the passenger carriage, propelling it by wind power at from 10 to 20 mph (16 to 32 km/h).

The D&PR took some time to assess its new property, but in 1847 it obtained the Dundee and Newtyle Railway (Widening, Altering and Improving) Act 1847 (10 & 11 Vict.

The locomotives Earl of Airlie, Lord Wharnclife and Trotter were converted, but John Bull was sold to contractors.

The SMHR acquired those two small railways, and closed them for upgrading to main line standards, and providing double track.

The SMJR opened from Perth to Forfar on 2 August 1848; a short connecting line was provided at Meigle to join the two routes.

This long westward sweep avoided the Law tunnel and incline, and gave better access to the harbour through the Dundee and Perth station in Union Street.

For the time being the Newtyle incline continued in use, until the Scottish Central Railway took over the Dundee and Perth line in 1863.

[8] Towards the final decades of the nineteenth century, Dundee had expanded northwards and there was a demand for goods facilities in that part of the Burgh.

In 1890 the branch was extended eastwards to Maryfield, a further goods station located at Mains Loan and Clepington Road.

[1]) In the early years of the twentieth century, Dundee was growing in importance, and in size, and travelling to work by train was rising in significance.

[1] The original Dundee and Newtyle Railway line opened on 16 December 1831 on the upper levels, and throughout on 3 April 1832.