THE DUNDEE & NEWTYLE RAILWAY TODAY
By Bill Reid
From my photographs and screen grabs from Google Earth and Google Street Views
Plus train video screen grab photos and Internet maps
The D&N was the first railway on the north side of the Tay, opened in December 1831, which also included the first steam locomotive in Scotland in 1833.
.The Dundee & Newtyle was a rope-pulled incline railway with stationary engines based at the Law, where the line went through a short tunnel at just over
300 ft above sea level and at Rosemill for the Balbeuchly incline, with the third incline at Hatton, to the south of Newtyle. From Newtle the line continued to
Alyth Junction (Station) where it joined the direct Perth to Aberdeen mainline, with a D&N branch going northwards and terminating at Alyth. There was
also a junction to the west giving a direct service to Perth. While originally the Dundee & Newtyle railway all the railways through the Strathmore Valley
came under the Caledonian Railway Company up until 1923 when that came under the North Eastern Railway Co. then in 1948 under British Railways. The
D&N closed to passengers in 1955 but remained open for goods until total closure in the mid 60's under the Dr. Beeching Rationalisation & Modernisation
cuts.
The first D&N station was on Ward Road Dundee, where the incline immediately began up to the Law Tunnel. From the station, street running took the
line down to the harbour. With the coming of the new divergence lines a new station, Dundee West was built close by the N.B.R's Tay Bridge Station.
At this time Dundee had terminal stations at Dundee East and Dundee West, with passengers having to get themselves between the two stations.
The new direct link to Aberdeen via Dock Street Tunnel came later after which Dundee East was closed.
During the 1860's all three inclines were by-passed with longer but easier gradients. The new line branched off at Ninewells Junction to the west of the
city on the Dundee- Perth mainline. With stations at Liff, Lochee West and Lochee, where the line continued north meeting the old incline at Fairmuir,
where a new junction was made with a goods branch running eastwards to Fairmuir and Maryfield Goods Yards. There were plans to extend the branch to
join the Aberdeen line near Broughty Ferry but that never came to reality.
At Rosemill a junction was formed with the short section of the incline railway becoming Rosemill Goods, while the new line went north to
Auchterhourse, with a new station at Dronley. A new station was also built at Auchterhouse with the old station becoming the goods yard. From
Auchterhouse the original track bed remained as far as Millhole, just south of the Hatton incline but then took a long westerly and then northerly route
to the west of Newtyle, crossing the main road before turning eastwards to a new station, where the line then turned northwards onto the old track bed to
Alyth Junction. Newtyle old station remained in use as the goods yard and the northern section of track joined the new line just east of the new station.
The three incline sections were abandoned.
Most of the stations were closed by the mid 50's but the line continued with goods along Fairmuir & Maryfield coal yards until total closure in the
early 60's.
01. WARD ROAD TO LAW HILL TUNNEL
02. LAW TUNNEL TO DOWNFIELD STATION (Baldoven)
03. DOWNFIELD TO ROSEMILL JUNCTION
04. Rosemill Junction To Balbeuchley Top
05. Balbeuchley Top To Auchterhouse Old Station
06. AUCHTERHOUSE TO NEWTYLE (New Route)
07. HATTON INCLINE (Millhole) TO NEWTYLE OLD Station (Original Route)
08. NEWTYLE NEW TO ADLER JUNCTION (NewApril 2017)
09. NEWTYLE GOODS TO ALYTH JUNCTION & ALYTH
10. Ninewells Jct To Muirfield Junction
11. Muirfield Junction To Maryfield Goods
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Links & Reading:
The Dundee & Newtyle Railway by Niall Ferguson. Still available from some books shops and on the Internet.
The Dundee & Newtyle (A history by Elliot Simpson)
http://www.auchterhouse.com/history/railway.htm (Includes and excellent map of the railway)
http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=7762615 Excellent 'remains' photos including the Law Tunnel, Balbeuchley Incline and Dronley
http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/rail/incline/dund.htm Explains the inclines but sketches are very poor quality and almost useless.
Video Screen grabs from the The Railways Of Scotland Volume 8 "Dundee".
An excellent video available on DVD, from Cinerail at: http://www.cinerail.com/cinerail/railways-of-scotland.html There are many great archive
scenes of almost every Scottish route you can think of. Well worth a look.The Cromford & High Peak Incline railway in Derbyshire has been luckier in having much of it's buildings, including an Engine House preserved. This is what could have
happened, indeed, should have happened with at least one of the D&N inclines. However, the C&H gives an excellent comparison of what the D&N would have looked like.http://www.hows.org.uk/personal/rail/incline/hop.htm
Boddam To Ellon Branch (Walks) By Bill Reid.
Contact: reidcrcwdr@talktalk.net
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