Scottish North Eastern Railway

The Scottish North Eastern Railway was a railway company in Scotland operating a main line from Perth to Aberdeen, with branches to Kirriemuir, Brechin and Montrose. It was created when the Aberdeen Railway amalgamated with the Scottish Midland Junction Railway on 29 July 1856. It did not remain independent for long, for it was itself absorbed by the Caledonian Railway on 10 August 1866.

Much of its network closed in 1967 when the former North British Railway route to Aberdeen via Dundee became the main route.

There was a frenzy of railway promotions in Scotland in 1845; there had been widespread controversy over a route from central Scotland to England, where a railway network was forming, and the public discussion encouraged thought of Scottish routes too.

On 31 July 1845 the Caledonian Railway was authorised, with the then enormous capital of £1,500,000, to build from Glasgow and Edinburgh to Carlisle. On the same day the Scottish Central Railway, the Dundee and Perth Railway, the Aberdeen Railway and the Scottish Midland Junction Railway were authorised. The SCR was to build from Castlecary (forming a connection with the Caledonian and the already existing Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway to Perth; the Aberdeen Railway was to build from Guthrie, near Arbroath, to Aberdeen, with branches to Montrose and Brechin; and it was to lease the Arbroath and Forfar Railway, a local stone block sleeper line. The SMJR was to link Perth and Forfar. Together the three railways would connect central Scotland to Perth, Forfar and Aberdeen, and with the Caledonian and its allies they would link to London as well.

...
Wikipedia