Page Three of Four
A grand view on the approach to Glenfiddich
Distillery
Glenfiddich a famous name in Whisky
The large Bondage Stores, where millions of
barrels of "Uisge Beath" "The Water Of Life" lies maturing
The typical design of a Scottish distillery,
set in the fine Speyside countryside
The Unit comes off Glenfiddich viaduct. The
branch crossed the river
Fiddich many times from Keith to Craigellachie and beyond
towards
Aviemore
Left: Glenfiddich viaduct with the
distillery on the
left.
Right: Approaching Dufftown
Balvenie Distillery on the approaches to
Dufftown station. The Bondage stores are on the right
Approaching Dufftown goods yard
Left: The Ex Canadian National Ganger's
Trolly.
Right: Entering Dufftown Station
Dufftown Station. An Ex Southern Railway
third rail electric Pullman Driving Coach stands at the Craigellachie
end of
the platform
Passengers alighting from the DMU with the
restaurant coaches on
the right
The DMU makes a nice picture at Dufftown and
reminds me of what it was like when working over the line, except of
course
that the 'up' platform and track are no longer in use
The rebuilt station building is exactly like
the original one that was destroyed by fire during the closure years
The Ex Southern Railway third-rail Pullman
unit makes an interesting photo but is completely out of character on
the
Ex GNSR branch
Another photo that brings memories of
working over the line. The unused 'up' platform looks very sad. The
signal box stood in
the space on the right between where I am standing and the trees
Another Diesel Unit well out of character
for the branch. An Ex B.R. Class 140 diesel unit. These were the first
of the cheap and
nasty bus-bodied units that were due to take over our railways.
Thankfully some considerable improvement to the design and
quality today makes them a little more acceptable, but only for short
runs of up to an hour. Sadly, they are used for some quite
long runs.
This unit is in a terrible state and it is
very doubtful if it will ever run under it's own power again. Thank
goodness, says I.
The end of the line! Or is it! The private
company still has aims of pushing on to Craigellachie, which would be
nice to see
coming reality
The station looks quite isolated in the countryside, which it is as
Dufftown is almost a mile from
the station
"NOW" Balvanie Distillery as it is today
"THEN" Going back in time, 45 years in fact!
A photo that I snapped from the locomotive cab window while we
stood
at Dufftown station, on an Aberdeen to Elgin service. The sign on the
'up' platform tells us that we are 483ft above sea
level and the name Balvanie is seen on the Distillery building, with
the Bondage stores on the right.
This photo is from my web site "Kittybrewster
Memories"
The DMU stands ready for the 2pm departure
to Keith Town station, with the restaurant coaches on the right