Brechin railway station facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Brechin
Station on heritage railway
Location	Brechin, Angus Scotland
Coordinates	56°43′53″N 2°39′09″W / 56.731298°N 2.652414°W / 56.731298; -2.652414
Platforms	2
History
Original company	Aberdeen Railway
Pre-grouping	Caledonian Railway
Post-grouping	LMS
Key dates
1 February 1848	Opened by the Aberdeen Railway
4 August 1952	Closed to passengers
1981	Closed to all traffic
1993	Re-opened by Caledonian Railway (Brechin)
Listed Building – Category B
Designated	18 August 1986
Reference no.	LB22536

Brechin is a station in Angus, on the Caledonian Railway line.

History

The station opened for business on 1 February 1848. Initially four trains per day ran between Brechin and Montrose. The fare between Brechin and Montrose was 1s.4d First Class, 1s. Second Class and 8d Third Class.

The station buildings were constructed between 1847 and 1848. By 1872 there were complaints about the state of the station and the lack of comfortable accommodation for passengers. However, nothing was done until the Caledonian Railway purchased the Forfar and Brechin Railway in 1893. The new owners then planned a major extension, largely prompted by the imminent arrival of the Brechin and Edzell District Railway. They began negotiation with Brechin Town Council for the purchase of land and widening of streets. The changes started in 1895 with the expansion of the goods department on land purchased by the company from the Town Council in Strachan's Park. They station passenger accommodation was then extended between 1897 and 1898 to designs by Thomas Barr, District Engineer of Perth.

During the extension works there was a serious accident at the station on 27 August 1895. A passenger service from Forfar due in at 9.00am failed to stop at the platform and crashed through the terminus and ended up on the roadway leading to the goods station. A number of passengers on the train sustained severe shock, but fortunately there were no injuries. A Board of Trade enquiry was held on 10 September 1895 by Colonel George William Addison R.E.

Shortly after the station was extended there was a serious accident on 2 November 1898. The driver of a goods train from Forfar consisting of engine no. 521, a six-wheeled locomotive with a 6 wheeled tender, 30 loaded cattle trucks and a brake van lost control of his train when descending the incline towards the station. It struck the buffer stops at the end of the line and demolished them, crossed the platform behind the stops and went through the stone wall of the station building and came to rest in the booking hall. Several columns were destroyed and a section of the platform canopy collapsed. The driver and fireman managed to jump clear before the engine left the rails and were not badly injured. Eleven cattle trucks were wrecked at 88 head of cattle were killed or injured. The blame was placed on the driver, John Habenton, for not exercising control over his train.

The station closed to passenger traffic on 4 August 1952. The last train on the branch line was the 6.13 pm train from Montrose which was made up of three first-class coaches. Passenger services on the Forfar-Brechin and Brechin-Bridge of Dun-Montrose line were withdrawn to save £11,000 per annum (equivalent to £230,000 in 2021).

Modern day

In 2023, a footbridge manufactured in 1877 and formerly located in Glasgow will be reconstructed at the station.

Stationmasters

Preceding station	Heritage railways			Following station
Terminus		Caledonian Railway (Brechin)		Bridge of Dun
Historical railways
Terminus		Caledonian Railway Aberdeen Railway		Bridge of Dun
Terminus		Caledonian Railway Forfar and Brechin Railway		Careston
Terminus		Caledonian Railway Brechin and Edzell District Railway		Stracathro

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  The station front in 1974

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  View trackside

Sources

• Butt, R.V.J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st Edition ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-8526-0508-1. OCLC 60251199.

• Jowett, Alan (March 1989). Jowett's Railway Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland: From Pre-Grouping to the Present Day (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-086-0. OCLC 22311137.
• Caledonian Railway (Brechin) Ltd