Mills of Drum railway station

Mills of Drum railway station was opened in September 1853 by the Deeside Railway and served the rural area around Park House and Crathes estates at the Mills of Drum or Drum Mills, corn mills, that lay close to the River Dee. The Deeside Railway was taken over by the GNoSR in the 1860s. Mills of Drum only remained open until 1863 as an intermediate station on the Deeside Railway that ran from Aberdeen (Joint) to Ballater. Mills of Drum station was located in Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Mills of Drum
Location	Crathes, Aberdeenshire Scotland
Coordinates	57.0624°N 2.3960°W
Grid reference	NO760968
Platforms	1
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Deeside Railway
Pre-grouping	Great North of Scotland Railway
Key dates
8 September 1853	Station opened[1]
1 January 1863[1]	Station closed to passengers
1966	Line closed to passengers

History

The short single-platform station was opened in 1853[1] and stood on the single track line with a level crossing to the west and a toll gate on the nearby road.[2][3] By 1903 the site had been renamed Mills of Crathes.[4] The station name is recorded on the 1855 maps[5] It stood 13 miles or 21 km from Aberdeen.

The Deeside branch at first was operated by the Deeside Railway. The line became itself became part of the GNoSR and at grouping merged with the London and North Eastern Railway. The line was closed to passengers on 28 February 1966.[6] The line has been lifted and extensive sections form part of the Deeside Way long distance footpath.

Infrastructure

Mills of Drum

The station only had a short single platform on the single track line without any sidings or passing loop, etc.[7]

Services

The station was closed after a short life, however the line remained open for passenger services until 1966. Initially three trains a day ran, operated by the Aberdeen Railway, with only one locomotive available. The Deeside Railway purchased its own rolling stock which were in service by summer 1854.[8]

The site today

The station has been demolished and the track lifted. The Deeside long-distance path runs through the old station site. The Royal Deeside Railway is located at Milton of Crathes down the line towards Ballater.

References

1. Butt 1995, p. 160.
2. Black's new large map of Scotland. Centre North East section
3. Aberdeenshire LXXXV.10 (Drumoak) Survey date: 1865 Publication date: 1866
4. Kincardineshire Sheet IX.NE, Surveyed: 1904, Published: 1904
5. Map shewing the routes of the proposed Formartine & Buchan Railway and the propo...
6. Butt 1995, p. 83.
7. 1864-1871 - ORDNANCE SURVEY - Six-inch 1st edition maps of Scotland
8. Vallance 1991, pp. 75–77.

Sources

• 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.
• Vallance, H. A. (27 June 1991). Great North of Scotland railway. The History of the Railways of the Scottish Highlands Vol. 3. David St John Thomas. ISBN 978-0-946537-60-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• Film of the station and the Deeside line.

Preceding station	Historical railways			Following station
Park railway station (Deeside) Line and station closed		Deeside Railway		Crathes Line and station closed