Cullen 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 tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

that served the small fishing village of Cullen, close to

Portknockie Portknockie ( gd, Port Chnocaidh, the hilly port) is a coastal village on the Moray Firth within Moray, Scotland. The village's name is written as Portknockies in the Old Parish Registers. This would suggest that the port's name referred to not ...

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. Between 1975 ...

. The railway station was opened by the

Great North of Scotland Railway The Great North of Scotland Railway (GNSR) was one of the two smallest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping, operating in the north-east of the country. Formed in 1845, it carried its first passengers the fr ...

(GNoSR) on its Moray Firth coast line in 1886, served by

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

to Elgin trains. In 1923 the GNoSR became part of 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 ...

and at nationalisation in 1948 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 ...

. 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

In 1881 the

put a bill to parliament to extend its

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 ...

line 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 ...

as far as

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 ...

. In 1882 the Great North of Scotland applied for permission to build a line from

following the coast to

and then running on to Elgin.

Great North of Scotland Railway

The GNoSR station opened as 'Cullen' 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 through trains running between Aberdeen and Elgin. There were no Sunday services.

The station infrastructure

Cullen station had a single curved platform with the typical wooden style of station building, however it was larger than many of the others with a central canopy between two wings. a passing loop was not provided. The 1902 OS map shows a weighing machine in the goods yard, several sidings and a goods shed. A station agent's or stationmaster's cottage sat near to the station. The line was predominantly single track apart from a double track section between

and

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 ...

. Track lifting took place shortly after closure in 1968.

The Cullen viaducts

Cullen viaduct (NJ 50623 67213) is a category B listed structure with eight arches, built to carry a single track, constructed in 1884 and approached by substantial embankments. It was "''designed around hollow masonry piers founded on concrete bases up to 20 feet (6.1m) below ground level, the limestone blocks being filled with rubble. The arches were built of red bricks set in cement with a ring of ashlar on each side, while the parapets were of blue limestone with a freestone capping.''" P M Barnett was the engineer responsible, such structures being made necessary by the refusal to permit the railway on an easier access through the Seafield Estate's property. To the east a single arch bridge survives, a four arch viaduct and finally another four-arched bridge. These structures were saved from demolition and now form part of a cycle route.Forgotten Relics
Accessed : 2015-01-26

Station remnants

The station was demolished and the site is occupied by housing, however the Cullen railway viaducts were saved from demolition.

Moray Cycle Route

Much of the trackbed of the old railway now forms the Moray Cycle Route.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * * * * * {{cite book, last=Vallance, first=H. A. , title= Great North of Scotland Railway, series=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

Photograph of Cullen station on Flickr
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