Old Meldrum railway station
| Old Meldrum | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Place | Old Meldrum |
| Area | Aberdeenshire |
| Coordinates | 57°20′02″N 2°19′41″W / 57.334°N 2.328°WCoordinates: 57°20′02″N 2°19′41″W / 57.334°N 2.328°W |
| Operations | |
| Original company | Inverury and Old Meldrum Junction Railway |
| Pre-grouping | Great North of Scotland Railway |
| History | |
| 26 June 1856 | opened |
| 2 November 1931 | closed for passengers |
| mid 1960s | closed completely |
| 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 |
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Old Meldrum railway station was a railway station in Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire.
Until the turn of the 18th century Oldmeldrum - then written Old Meldrum - was the principal market town between Aberdeen and Banff. However, with the building of the canal between Aberdeen and Port Elphinstone - on the River Don at Inverurie (then spelled Inverury) - the pre-eminence of Oldmeldrum waned. Whereas goods had been transported by road via Oldmeldrum and the small port of Newburgh at the mouth of the River Ythan, trade increasingly concentrated on Inverurie and its canal link with Aberdeen. By 1850, Inverurie was almost twice the size of Oldmeldrum.
When railway mania came to the North East in the 1840s, the canal in turn made way for the new Great North of Scotland Railway (GNSR), which was opened from Aberdeen to Huntly in 1854. The people of Oldmeldrum had high hopes that a link to the new railway would restore its prosperity. Although the Oldmeldrum branch was not initially included in the raft of branch lines planned by GNSR, it became the first to be opened, in 1856. Proposals for the Oldmeldrum branch included its extension northwards to join the Banff, Macduff and Turriff Junction Railway. Consideration was also given to a line extending via Methlick to join the Formartine and Buchan Railway to Fraserburgh and Peterhead. Eventually, though, these ideas were discarded in favour of a simple branch to Oldmeldrum.
The Inverury and Old Meldrum Junction Railway (I&OJR) was promoted with GNSR support and its Act received Royal Assent on 15 June 1855. This authorised the construction of the line from a junction near Inverurie, running for 5 miles, 1194 yards to its destination. Subsequently, in 1902, the original Inverurie was moved half a mile northwards to its current location, with the result that the official length of the Oldmeldrum branch became 4 miles, 1617 yards. Originally there was only one intermediate station - at Lethenty, which served the important oatmeal mill - but later a halt was opened at Fingask, where there were wool-carding mills.
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Wikipedia