Ballater railway station

Ballater
Ballater railway station in 1961
Location
Place	Scotland
Area	Aberdeenshire
Operations
Original company	Great North of Scotland Railway
Pre-grouping	Great North of Scotland Railway
Post-grouping	London and North Eastern Railway
Platforms	2
History
17 October 1866	Station opens
28 February 1966	Station closed
12 May 2015	Fire seriously damages former station
Disused railway stations in the United Kingdom
Closed railway stations in Britain A B C D–F G H–J K–L M–O P–R S T–V W–Z

Ballater railway station is a former station in the village of Ballater in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The station was formerly the terminus of a branch line from Aberdeen.

It was the nearest station to Balmoral Castle, a personal residence of the British monarch.

Opened by the Great North of Scotland Railway it became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923, passing on to the Scottish Region of British Railways during the nationalisation of 1948. It was then closed by the British Railways Board in 1966 (as part of the "Beeching cuts").

In August 1912, Ballater railway station played an important role when the body of Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife, the son-in-law of King Edward VII, was transferred to Mar Lodge, Braemar, from St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. On 9 August 1912 the Glasgow Herald reported on the funeral:

The casket arrived at Aberdeen from Euston at 7.15 yesterday morning, being conveyed in a special saloon which at Aberdeen was attached to the 8.5 a.m. train for Ballater. Heavy rain showers had fallen on Deeside in the early morning, and when the train reached Ballater shortly after ten o'clock the atmosphere was depressingly gloomy, while the distant hills to the West were thickly enveloped in mist, adding a further melancholy note to the circumstances attending the sad home-bringing of the departed Chief of the Duffs. Travelling in the special saloon from London to Ballater were Sir Maurice Abbot Anderson and Lady Anderson and Dr Essery, while awaiting the arrival of the train at Ballater were Mr W[illia]m Mackintosh, factor and commissioner on the Mar estates; Mr C. H. Taylor, private secretary to the late Duke; and eight members of the Duff Highlanders, specially selected to transfer the casket from the train to a motor hearse which was in waiting to convey the remains over the 18 odd miles to New Mar Lodge. Many hundreds of residents and visitors to the district had assembled in the Station Square and reverently observed the Highlanders transfer the massive polished oak coffin from the saloon to the hearse. Over the casket was laid a Union Jack, which was the only touch of colour associated with the sombre vehicle.