Dinnet railway station

The station was opened in 1866[1] on the Deeside branch by the Aboyne and Braemar Railway that never extended beyond Ballater and from the start its services were operated by the Deeside Railway. Later it became part of the GNoSR and at grouping merged with the London and North Eastern Railway. It stood 36.75 miles (59Km) from Aberdeen and 6.5 miles (10.5 km) from Ballater. It was closed to passengers on 28 February 1966.[3] The line has been lifted and sections form part of the Deeside Way long distance footpath. The station was unstaffed from circa 1964 when goods services were withdrawn.[4]

The 1966 BRB Closure notice.

The 1963 timetable.

The station originally only had a single short platform and a public house stood nearby. A small station building was present and the goods yard existed in the same location as later maps show it following the expansion of the station's facilities with the building of a new road and the establishment of a level crossing, signal boxes, and passing loop.[5] The village of Dinnet did not exist at the time and the station was named after the Dinnet Estate.[6]

The waiting room and ticket office consisting of a rough-cast and brick built single-storey structure, a station clock built into the front wall and a central covered area. The station master's house stood just to the east of the main station building. A pedestrian overbridge stood near the station building and a small shelter stood on the second platform.[4] A second signal box stood on the platform to the east overlooking the passing loop and a siding.[7]

The level crossing and gates stood just to the west of the stone built platform on a straight section of track with the signal box close by and a small goods yard with a small head shunt and a loading bay with a crane. Timber was often loaded here and a link with the Monadavan Diatomite Works via a narrow gauge railway may have existed up until circa 1919.[6][4][7] The freight sidings were lifted following the cessation of freight services in 1964.

These works from 1876 quarried diatomite or Diatomaceous earth deposited beneath the peat that was refined to produce Kieselguhr, an essential component of Dynamite. A narrow gauge railway existed within the works and this may have extended to the station. The diatomite was transported to the Nobel Explosives plant at Ardeer in North Ayrshire until 1919.[5]

The line was chosen to trial the battery multiple unit and once introduced on 21 April 1958 the train service was doubled to six trains a day[8] and in addition a Sunday service was reinstated.[9] Dinnet, unlike Cambus O'May was not a request stop.

The modified and enlarged main station building survives as office accommodation for the local Dinnet and Kinnord Estate and the platforms remain with the trackbed in use as part of the Deeside Way. The station master's house is a private dwelling.[4] The Royal Deeside Railway is located at Milton of Crathes some distance down the line towards Aberdeen.

• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
• Maxtone, Graham and Cooper, Mike (2018). Then and Now on the Great North. V.1. GNoSR Association. ISBN 978-0902343-30-6.

• Film of the station and the Deeside line.