Carsbreck railway station was a private station opened on the

Scottish Central Railway The Scottish Central Railway was formed in 1845 to link Perth and Stirling to Central Scotland, by building a railway line to join the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway near Castlecary. The line opened in 1848 including a branch to South Alloa. The ...

near Carsebreck Loch, the Royal Caledonian Curling pond, between

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

and

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

for the use of the curlers belonging to the

Royal Caledonian Curling Club The Royal Caledonian Curling Club (RCCC), branded as Scottish Curling is a curling club in Edinburgh, Scotland. It developed the first official rules for the sport, and is the governing body of curling in Scotland. The RCCC was founded on 25 ...

. It was first named by the

as 'Royal Curling Club Station,Smith, Page 73 a host of later names being Caledonian Curling Society's Platform, Curling Pond Halt, Royal Curling Club Platform, Royal Curling Club Station, Netherton Halt and finally as Carsbreck Station. It is unclear how many of these were official names. The site lay in the parish of Ardoch,

Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross ( sco, Pairth an Kinross; gd, Peairt agus Ceann Rois) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Fife, Highland and S ...

with the villages of Braco,

Greenloaning Greenloaning is a village in Perth and Kinross, Perthshire, Scotland. It lies by the Allan Water and the Stirling-Perth Railway line. It is south of Braco and north of Dunblane. The Allanbank Hotel existed as an inn between the 18th centur ...

and

Blackford Blackford might refer to: People with the surname *Charles Minor Blackford (1833–1903), an American lawyer *Hosea Blackford, a fictional character in books by Harry Turtledove *Ian Blackford, a Scottish politician *Isaac Blackford (1786–1859), ...

nearby. The

line had been opened in 1848.

History

The existence of the railway at the site had been a major consideration in the selection of this site for the construction of a curling pond together with the geography of the site and its retentive clay bottom,The Curling History Blog
/ref> peat having been extracted. The station had been opened by February 1853 and in addition to those named above 'Nethertown' and 'Carsebreck' are on record. Between 1853 and 1935 twenty-five

bonspiel A bonspiel is a curling tournament, consisting of several games, often held on a weekend. Until the 20th century most bonspiels were held outdoors, on a frozen freshwater loch. Today almost all bonspiels are held indoors on specially prepared ar ...

s or 'Grand Matches' were held at Carsebreck Loch. Changes in the climate created uncertainty of suitable ice being present and the curling pond ceased to be used with 1935 given as the closure date by one author and 1951 by another authority however the last Grand Match to be played at Carsebreck was in 1935.

Infrastructure

An 1853 map of the site shows the double track line with two 'platform' areas demarcated and a building on the southern side. The word 'siding' is annotated however no siding as such is shown. The 'Brick House' is not marked. A roughcast two storey building, 'Brick House', thought to have been a surfaceman and crossing keeper's dwellings dating from

days, unoccupied but still standing, lies to the south next to a level crossing and a single fairly substantial building, possibly the

curling house A curling house was used to store curling stones, brushes and other equipment used to maintain a curling pond and play the game of curling in Scotland and elsewhere. Introduction The houses were often purely functional in character, being relat ...

was at that time located on the southbound 'platform' area Perth and Clackmannanshire, 117.11, Surveyed: 1899, Published: 1901
/ref> together with small shelters on each platform. The

as stated had a club house and possibly a

and the existence of a siding is recorded in 1853. A path ran from the station across a drainage ditch and the

Allan Water The Allan Water ( gd, Uisge Alain) is a river in central Scotland. Rising in the Ochil Hills, it runs through Strathallan to Dunblane and Bridge of Allan before joining the River Forth. It is liable to cause floods in lower Bridge of Allan. ...

to the curling loch and to Carsebreck Farm. No access to the station from the nearby road or from Netherton Farm originally existed. The 'platform' area was originally quite short and it is said that for many years, up until 1906, curlers disembarked directly onto the ballast. No name board appears to have been present. A major upgrade took place and in 1935 a track layout diagram and film seems to shows only a single very long platform on the northern side of a wooden construction with three sets of steps. A signal box, opened on 23 May 1905, stood on the southern side and several signals were present. Two tracks lay either side of the double track line with several sets of points creating two passing loops and four head shunts. Level crossings were located either side of the platform.Caledonian Railway Association Forum
/ref> The layout was designed for the frequent arrival, temporary storage and rapid departure of trains. The sidings were lifted during WWII as part of the war effort and the curling pond received no maintenance.Smith, Page 128

Services

Apart from advertised events such as bonspiels the stations use would not have been listed and it did not appear on the public timetables, the station being private and the sport had a very seasonal and unpredictable requirement for train services. The

negotiated a special ticket at half the normal price for the thousands of curlers who used the station. In 1935 it is recorded that 2576 curlers and 5000 people in total attended the

that had started at 11.25 and finished at 2.30pm and the queuing of passengers had to be carefully organised with only four carriages able to use the station platform at one time. In 1853 trains with more than twenty carriages were provided, the locomotives being unequal to the task and the bulk of curlers arrived around an hour late. No matches were held from 1856 to 1859 with reduced attendance in 1860 however 1861 was a year of perfect conditions.Murray, Page 103

The site today

The line remains open and the loch is still present, however nothing substantial remains of the platforms or the building other than the raised area at the southern platform.

References

Sources

* * Murray. W. H. (1981). ''The Curling Companion.'' Glasgow : Richard Drew. * Smith, David B. (1981). ''Curling : an Illustrated History.'' Edinburgh : John Donald. .

External links

National Library of Scotland - Carsebreck Pond Bonspiel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carsbreck Railway Station 1853 establishments in Scotland 1935 disestablishments in Scotland Disused railway stations in Perth and Kinross Former Caledonian Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1853 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1935 Former private railway stations