Keith and Dufftown Railway (GNoSR)

The line closed to passenger traffic in 1968 and completely in 1991, but a heritage group took it over and most of the route now operates under the original title of the Keith and Dufftown Railway.

Keith was a market centre of considerable importance[1] and it became the meeting point of two railways that had aspired to connect Aberdeen and Inverness.

Neither could raise the capital to build the entire route, and eventually the Great North of Scotland Railway (GNoSR) built its line from Aberdeen to Keith, opening in 1856.

[2] In 1845 the (proposed) Banffshire Railway deposited Parliamentary plans for a 21-mile line from Portgordon on the coast to Dufftown, passing through Keith.

At first the prospects for this company looked good, but the financial crash following the Railway Mania made it impossible to raise money to build it, and it was dissolved.

[4][5][6][7] The Keith and Dufftown directors had already provisionally arranged that Mitchell, Ireland of Montrose would construct the line for a price of £43,125, of which £7,500 would be in shares.

In October 1858 the directors confirmed that, despite the stalemate, they would continue in the hope that something might turn up, ideally a major cash injection by the GNoSR.

By October 1859 there was at last some movement: the Duke of Richmond guaranteed £7,500 and the Earl of Fife £5,000, provided that the Great North would take on the undertaking.

The original construction powers were due to expire on 1 July 1860, and a new Bill had been prepared (by the GNoSR) to obtain an extension of time and to modify the route, at the cost of even steeper gradients.

This was bad news for the GNoSR, as Inverness people and goods would no longer need to travel via Aberdeen if such a line was built.

[11] It was agreed to extend the line across the River Fiddich to Balvenie, as the original terminus was "quite unsuitable for Dufftown and district", for an additional £12,723.

It therefore encouraged the promotion of the Speyside Railway, which was to run from Dufftown through Craigellachie and Grantown to Boat of Garten, approaching Aviemore on the I&PJR.

However if the objective was to by-pass the obstructive Inverness companies, there was a major problem: the Boat of Garten connection was at the whim of the I&PJR.

For some time the Speyside Railway – in reality the GNoSR – came no further south than Abernethy for three years, finally being connected at Boat of Garten on 1 August 1866.

[21] However mounting losses on the railways, as business transferred to road transport, were not sustainable, and the passenger service on the former Keith and Dufftown line closed on 6 May 1968.

[22] An organisation called Grampian Railtours started operating charter passenger excursions from Aberdeen to Dufftown, visiting distilleries, from 1984 under the brand Northern Belle.