Keith and Dufftown Railway
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (April 2020) |
| Keith and Dufftown Railway | |
|---|---|
| The Whisky Line | |
 Class 108 diesel multiple unit "Spirit of Speyside". | |
| Locale | Keith, Moray |
| Terminus | Dufftown railway station |
| Commercial operations | |
| Built by | Keith and Dufftown Railway (GNoSR) |
| Original gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Preserved operations | |
| Owned by | The Keith & Dufftown Railway Association |
| Stations | 3 |
| Length | 11 miles (18 km) |
| Preserved gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) |
| Preservation history | |
| 1998 | Transferred from Railtrack to Keith & Dufftown Railway Association |
| June 2000 | Reopened to traffic |
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The Keith and Dufftown Railway ("The Whisky Line") is a heritage railway in Scotland, running for 11 miles (18 km) from Keith Town, Keith (Ordnance Survey grid reference NJ429508) to Dufftown (NJ322414) via Drummuir (NJ378442) and Auchindachy.
Originally the former Great North of Scotland Railway's Keith and Dufftown Railway, which was part of the link Aberdeen with Elgin (with the Strathspey Railway and Morayshire Railway), the line was latterly a freight-only branch for British Rail then truncated at Dufftown and serving the distillery there. Regular passenger services had been withdrawn in May 1968, but in later years it hosted a series of Northern Belle summer Sunday lunch specials from Aberdeen. These ceased in 1991 and after several years disuse, the line passed into the hands of the current operator in 1998; regular heritage trains then began running in 2000.[1]
The line is open, and a regular service runs throughout the railway's operating season from March to September. Special events are also run, including Santa Specials and Scots Nights. These services are run on the Class 108 DMUs.
Dufftown is the main centre of operation of the railway, and has a booking office, a waiting room and a café called the Sidings Café, which is open March to November. There are two headshunts and a loop. Work is being undertaken to install a new loop at Dufftown so that there can be two tracks going into the new engine shed.
At Keith Town station, there is a booking office and a shop which sells railway memorabilia, books, Thomas the Tank Engine items and model railway items which are sold by members of the association. This shop too is also only open during the operating season.
At present there is no connection to the main line: there are two 60 ft sections of track uplifted (these were removed in 1998 when the line was handed over). However, there are long-term plans to reconnect to the mainline; there were discussions about this between the K&DRA, the local MSP Richard Lochhead and Transport Scotland in the autumn of 2015.[2]
Rolling stock
[edit]| Key: | In service | Withdrawn | Preserved | Sold for scrap | Under repair | Sold for further use |
|---|
| Number | Class | Name | Year Acquired | Previous Operator | Livery | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 Diesel Hydraulic | No.415 | August 2015 | ex-Castle Donington Power Station | Blue | ||
| English Electric 0-6-0 DM | Spirit O'Fife | 15 March 2000 | ex-Scottish Grain Distillers | J&B Cream | ||
| Clayton 0-4-0 DM | The Wee Mac | ex-Royal Navy Dockyard, Rosyth | Green | |||
| 51568+52053 | Class 108 | Spirit of Banffshire | Summer 2001 | ex-British Rail | BR Green | |
| 53628+54223 | Class 108 | Spirit of Speyside | 7 March 2000 | ex-British Rail | BR Green | |
| 56224 | Class 108 | "Dram Tram" | 17 March 2010 | ex-British Rail | BR Green | Built in 1959. - Renovated in 2022 as a Whisky Bar |
| 140001 | Class 140 | 1994 | ex-British Rail | BR Rail Blue and Grey | Formed of 55500+55501. Prototype | |
| 144022 | Class 144 | 4 September 2020 | ex-Northern Trains | Northern Rail Unbranded | Formed of 55821+55858+55844. | |
| Unknown | Class 107 | September 2023 | ex-British Rail, Strathspey Railway (Preserved) | Strathspey Blue Livery | Recently Purchased for Repair | |
| Unknown | Class 107 | September 2023 | ex-British Rail, Strathspey Railway (Preserved) | Strathspey Blue Livery | Recently Purchased for Repair |
The railway also owns two BR Mk1 Coaches No81295 and No975758, and a Mk2f TSO. The Mk2f arrived to replace the two Pullman coaches that were returned south.
The Keith and Dufftown also has 3 Canadian Sprinters which could be used to inspect the line. In addition, there is a variety of permanent way wagons, including 2 "Grampus" wagons, a "Dogfish" ballast wagon, a "Salmon" wagon and a guard's van.
References
[edit]- ^ Moray Speyside Tourism - Keith and Dufftown RailwayMoray Speyside Tourism website; Retrieved 19 August 2016
- ^ "Campaign to reconnect whisky railway to main lines" Robertson, John The Press and Journal news article 9 October 2015; Retrieved 19 August 2016
External links
[edit]- [1] Video footage of Dufftown railway station.
- [2] Video footage of the stations on the line.
Media related to Keith and Dufftown Railway at Wikimedia Commons- The Railway website
