Crieff Junction Railway

The Crieff Junction Railway was opened in 1856 to link the town of Crieff to the main line railway network in Scotland, at a junction at the present day Gleneagles station (then called Crieff Junction). In the second half of the twentieth century railway business declined sharply, and despite economy measures the line closed in 1964.

The Scottish Central Railway (SCR) was authorised by Act of Parliament on 31 July 1845. It was to build a main line from the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway near Castlecary to Perth. Early on it allied itself with the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway and the Caledonian Railway, as it was dependent on one or both of them for access to Glasgow and Edinburgh. For some years Parliament refused to allow amalgamation of the SCR with either of the other lines.

The authorising Act included a branch line to Crieff from "a location east of the summit near Greenloaning". This was the later Gleneagles, but at that time there was no settlement in the area, and the station at the junction was to be simply for exchange purposes. The SCR found that construction of its main line was more demanding, of time and of money, than it anticipated, and it allowed the Crieff branch to be put into abeyance.

Crieff was the second largest town in Perthshire, and the branch line to Crieff had to be built. The SCR arranged for a nominally independent company, the Crieff Junction Railway to be formed; it obtained its authorising Act of Parliament on 15 August 1853. The Scottish Central was to work the line at cost, with one-third of the feeder business brought to the SCR allowed to the Crieff Junction company.

The engineer Thomas Bouch was appointed as Engineer of the line. However at this time he had many other commitments and he was unable to devote much time to the Crieff Junction line. In consequence the construction process was very slow; promised dates for opening were repeatedly missed. Staff had been engaged for the earlier opening dates, and were then stood down when it was obvious there would be nothing for them to do. As completion day neared there was a serious dispute over payments with the contractor for the line, and further delay followed from that cause. Muthill station had three station masters in succession before the opening of the line.

Opening day was finally set for 13 March 1856, but the troubles were not over yet. The SCR refused to allow its locomotive to traverse the pointwork at Crieff Junction station on the grounds that it was unsafe. The matter was resolved by a modification, but the first trains did not run until the following day.

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