Dundee West railway station served the city of

Dundee, Scotland Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, from 1847 to 1965 on the

Dundee and Perth Railway The Dundee and Perth Railway was a Scottish railway company. It opened its line in 1847 from Dundee to a temporary station at Barnhill and extended to Perth station in 1849. It hoped to link with other railways to reach Aberdeen and changed its n ...

. Author John Minnis has described demolition of the "wonderful" station building (built between 1889 and 1890) as "perhaps the most tragic loss" of a piece of railway architecture in Scotland.

History

The original station, which was made of wood, opened as Dundee on 24 May 1847 by the

and was the eastern terminus of the line, Goods facilities were on both sides of the station with one line serving Dundee Earl Grey Dock, which was to the east. It went through a lot of names; the station's name was changed to Dundee West in 1848, changed to Dundee West Street in 1853, changed to Dundee Union Street in 1856 and eventually changed back to Dundee West in 1866. The station was rebuilt twice: once in 1864 and again in 1890, this one being built to the west of the second station. The station closed to both passengers and goods traffic on 1 May 1965, the last train departing for Glasgow at 8 P.M."Last train was standing at Dundee West 55 years ago" - '' The Courier'', 22 April 2020, p. 21 It was demolished the following year to make way for a bypass to the new

Tay Road Bridge The Tay Road Bridge ( gd, Drochaid-rathaid na Tatha) carries the A92 road across the Firth of Tay from Newport-on-Tay in Fife to Dundee in Scotland, just downstream of the Tay Rail Bridge. At around , it is one of the longest road bridges in E ...

. The third station, built for the

Caledonian Railway The Caledonian Railway (CR) was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively extended its network and reached Edinburgh an ...

in 1889–1890, was designed by Thomas Barr. It was of red sandstone and built in the Scottish Baronial style. Scottish architectural historian

Charles McKean Charles McKean FRSE FRSA FRHistS FRIBA (16 July 1946 – 29 September 2013) was a Scottish historian, author and scholar. Biography McKean was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 16 July 1946. He was educated at Fettes College, the University of P ...

, and his co-authors of a book on Dundee' lost architectural heritage, described the building as "overly bombastic in nature" and suggest it was built as "a gesture of defiance" by the

in response to the arrival of an alternate route in Dundee run by its bitter rival the North British Railway via the Tay Rail Bridge. It was demolished upon closure. Trains ran to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, while local traffic took passengers to Gleneagles,

Crieff Crieff (; gd, Craoibh, meaning "tree") is a Scottish market town in Perth and Kinross on the A85 road between Perth and Crianlarich, and the A822 between Greenloaning and Aberfeldy. The A822 joins the A823 to Dunfermline. Crieff has becom ...

and Blairgowrie. At its height, the station employed scores of people and handled 15,000 tons of minerals (mostly coal for Dundee's factories).

References

External links

{{s-end Disused railway stations in Dundee Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1847 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 Beeching closures in Scotland Former Caledonian Railway stations 1847 establishments in Scotland 1965 disestablishments in Scotland