Buckie railway station was a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

Buckie Buckie ( gd, Bucaidh) is a burgh town (defined as such in 1888) on the Moray Firth coast of Scotland. Historically in Banffshire, Buckie was the largest town in the county until the administrative area was abolished in 1975. The town is the t ...

, in current day

Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland (council area), ...

. The station was opened by the Great North of Scotland Railway (GNoSR) on its Moray Firth coast line in 1886, served by Aberdeen to Elgin trains. The

Highland Railway The Highland Railway (HR) was one of the smaller British railways before the Railways Act 1921, operating north of Perth railway station in Scotland and serving the farthest north of Britain. Based in Inverness, the company was formed by merger ...

had opened their station named Buckie (H.R.) two years previously, on a branch from , but this closed in 1915. The GNoSR was absorbed by the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

in 1923 and became part of

British Railways British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

when the railways were nationalised in 1948. The station and line was recommended for closure by

Dr Beeching Richard Beeching, Baron Beeching (21 April 1913 – 23 March 1985), commonly known as Dr Beeching, was a physicist and engineer who for a short but very notable time was chairman of British Railways. He became a household name in Britain in the ...

's report "The Reshaping of British Railways" and closed on 6 May 1968.

History

Background

The Great North of Scotland Railway introduced a bill to parliament in 1881 to extend its line from

Portsoy Portsoy ( gd, Port Saoidh) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Historically, Portsoy was in Banffshire. The original name may come from ''Port Saoithe'', meaning "saithe harbour". Portsoy is located on the Moray Firth coast of northeast Scotlan ...

along the

Moray Firth The Moray Firth (; Scottish Gaelic: ''An Cuan Moireach'', ''Linne Mhoireibh'' or ''Caolas Mhoireibh'') is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth) of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotl ...

, and this was opposed by the

and rejected. The following year both the Great North and Highland railways applied to parliament for permission, the Great North for a line from Portsoy along the coast through Buckie to Elgin, and the Highland for a branch from

Keith Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

to Buckie and Cullen. Authority was granted, but in the case of the Highland Railway only for a line as far as

Portessie Portessie ( sco, Peterhythe or The Sloch) is a small fishing village east of Buckie, on the north-east coast of Scotland. It is commonly nicknamed "the Sloch", due to the name of the original settlement being Rottenslough. The village is sandwich ...

Great North of Scotland Railway

The GNoSR station opened on 1 May 1886 with the central section of the coast line, served by through Aberdeen to Elgin trains. In 1923 the Great North of Scotland Railway was absorbed by the

. This was nationalised in 1948, and services provided by

. The station and line was recommended for closure by

's in his report "The Reshaping of British Railways" and closed on 6 May 1968.

Services

The GNoSR station was served by four through trains a day between Aberdeen to Elgin. The speed of trains increased, so that in 1896 ''Locomotive Magazine'' was able to record a run from Aberdeen to Elgin that completed the in hours. In summer 1948, Buckie was served by four Aberdeen to Inverness trains, with Buckie about hours from Aberdeen. There was also a mid-day Keith Town to Inverness service and an evening service from Aberdeen that terminated at Elgin. There were three services from Inverness to Aberdeen, a service from Lossiemouth and Elgin to Aberdeen and a Saturday service from Inverness to Keith that after 19 June was accelerated and extended to Aberdeen. There were no Sunday services.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * * * * * {{cite book, last=Vallance, first=H. A. , title= Great North of Scotland railway. The History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands vol 3., date=27 June 1991, publisher=David St John Thomas, isbn=978-0-946537-60-0

External links

RAILSCOT on Buckie and Portessie Branch
Former Great North of Scotland Railway stations Disused railway stations in Moray Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1886 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1968 Beeching closures in Scotland Buckie