Dundee and Perth Railway

The line had three rope-worked inclines with the sections either side operated by horses, and it had primitive stone block sleeper track with fish-bellied rails, to the unusual gauge of 4 ft 6.5 in (1,384 mm).

A railway between Dundee and Perth had been proposed in the 1830s, but there was hostility from influential local people and the idea had been dropped.

Insuperable opposition from powerful landowners made the scheme impossible to pursue, and it was dropped.

In the 1840s there was a lengthy period of debate about the best route to connect central Scotland by rail to the emerging English network.

c. ccxxviii) of 27 July 1846, and seems to have been done to prevent the Scottish Midland Junction Railway, then building from Perth to Forfar, from using the Newtyle line to gain access to Dundee.

[5] The D&PR was not active in gaining positive public opinion, and the idea was unwelcome to the Burgh, and a proposed bridge across the Tay was objected to.

the company agreed, for the time being, to terminate at Barnhill, on the east side of the River Tay and some distance south of Perth (road) Bridge, a significantly inconvenient location.

As it became clear that several railways all wished to have a terminal in Perth, the idea of a "General" or joint station arose.

The SCR accordingly settled on a location somewhat further north than had been contemplated earlier, as it was apparently not necessary to allow for the D&PR alignment.

The D&PR now settled on a second temporary terminus at Princes Street while it decided on its approach to the joint station.

The D&P would guarantee an 8% return on the £66,666 cost of building a linking line across the north side of Dundee and the construction of a central station.

c. lii) on 31 August; the latter act also renamed the company the Dundee and Perth and Aberdeen Railway Junction (DPARJ).

The cumbersome title was explained by the fact that the Dundee and Arbroath line had powers to connect to the Arbroath and Forfar line which was being taken over by the Aberdeen Railway: the lease would connect Perth and Dundee with the Aberdeen Railway.

Although he remarked that the bridge deflected excessively under load, the section of line opened on 1 March 1849.

[5] Now the Caledonian Railway announced that it had concluded an agreement to lease the DPARJ at 8% of its capital cost.

In 1861 separate platforms outside the main station and at right angles to it, were opened for them; they were referred to as the Dundee Dock.

Through passenger trains running beyond Perth entered the Dundee Dock and then reversed out of it, continuing their journey southward.

The wooden Tay bridge at Perth was obviously in poor condition and was replaced by 1864 The SCR considered the terminus at Dundee West to be a modest and inadequate structure, but worse than that, it was in a dangerous condition, and from 1863 it was extended and reconstructed, opening fully in October 1866.

The new passenger station was opened in 1889:[2] "one of the most beautifully proportioned late Victorian buildings in Britain and a celebration of Scottish Baronial architecture.

A regular service from Dundee West to Edinburgh Princes Street via Perth continued, a remnant of the Caledonian Railway.

[2] Except for the spur into Dundee West station, the line is still open with passenger services provided by ScotRail.