Bieldside railway station served the

Bieldside Bieldside is a suburb to the west of Aberdeen City Centre, Scotland. Together with the neighbouring suburb of Cults, Aberdeenshire, Cults, it is the wealthiest area in Scotland. It has one pub/restaurant, The Bieldside, a foodstore, a hairdresse ...

area within the parish of

Peterculter Peterculter , also known as Culter, is an outer suburb of Aberdeen, Scotland, about from the city centre. It lies on the north bank of the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, River Dee, at its confluence with the Culter Burn. Following the Local Governm ...

from 1897 to 1937 on the

Deeside Railway The Deeside Railway was a passenger and goods railway between Aberdeen and Ballater in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Opening in 1853 to Banchory, an extension reached Aboyne in 1859. A separate company, the Aboyne & Braemar Railway, built an extensi ...

that ran from Aberdeen (Joint) to

Ballater Ballater (, ) is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on the River Dee, immediately east of the Cairngorm Mountains. Situated at an elevation of , Ballater is a centre for hikers and known for its spring water, once said to cure scrofula. ...

. This area was the location of a number of mansion houses and estates such as Woodthorpe, Dalmunzie, The Firs, etc., some built as a result of the railway.

History

The station was opened in June 1897 as part of the Aberdeen suburban service on the Deeside branch and at first branch services were operated by the

. Later the line became part of the GNoSR who opened

and at grouping merged with the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after London, Midland and Scottish Railway, LMS) of the "Big Four (British railway companies), Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It ope ...

. Bieldside is likely to have become an unstaffed halt circa 1930 and was closed to passengers on 5 April 1937 as a part of the withdrawal of the Aberdeen suburban service. The station probably became unstaffed at the same time as Murtle and

Milltimber Milltimber is a suburb of Aberdeen, Scotland, around west of Aberdeen city centre. From 1854 to 1937 the area was served by Milltimber railway station on the Aberdeen suburban railway. Along with the nearby settlements of Cults and Bieldsid ...

with the aforementioned closure of the Aberdeen suburban service. After its closure in 1937 the line itself remained open to

until 1966. The line has been lifted and this section forms part of the

Deeside Way The Deeside Way is a rail trail that follows, in part, the bed of the former Deeside Railway in Aberdeenshire. Forming part of the National Cycle Network (National Route 195) the trail leads from Aberdeen to Ballater. The route The pathway r ...

long-distance footpath.

Infrastructure

The wooden station building with its 'hipped roof', had a waiting room, ticket office, staff accommodation and toilets, similar to those at

Torphins Torphins ( ; ) is a village in River Dee, Aberdeenshire, Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland which lies about west of Aberdeen. It is situated on the A980 road, A980, about north-west of Banchory, and was once served by the Great North of ...

Lumphanan Lumphanan ( ; ) is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland located from Aberdeen and from Banchory. History Lumphanan is documented to be the site of the Battle of Lumphanan of 1057 AD, where Malcolm III of Scotland defeated Macbeth of Sco ...

and elsewhere on the line. It did not possess a goods yard. The decision to construct the station was made on 11 January 1893 and it opened in 1897 at a cost of £1363. The line was doubled in 1892, a stone stationmasters house built, together with a wooden pedestrian overbridge and a signal box with a small wooden shelter located on the westbound platform. No points were present on this curved section of track.Aberdeenshire LXXXV.8 (Maryculter; Peterculter) Publication date: 1900 Revised: 1899
/ref> In 1963 the station, closed since 1937, was now on a single track section of line with the station house still standing however the old station building and signal box had been demolished by this date. The westbound side of the track was the first to be lifted. NJ8802-NJ8902 - AA - Surveyed/Revised: 1961, Published:1963
/ref>

Services

In 1928 the suburban railway, locally called the 'subbies' started additionally operating Sunday services to Culter however due to competition with the buses it was announced on 28 January 1937 that the service would cease altogether in April 1937, Sunday services having ceased in 1936.

The site today

Both platforms of Aberdeenshire granite remaining in situ however the station buildings apart from the stationmaster's have been demolished. The

Royal Deeside Railway The Royal Deeside Railway is a Scottish heritage railway located at Milton of Crathes railway station on a part of the original Deeside Railway. Original railway Originally constructed between 1853 and 1866, the Deeside Railway ran between ...

is located at

Milton of Crathes Milton of Crathes is a complex of restored 17th-century stone buildings,United Kingdom Ordnance Survey Map Landranger 45, Stonehaven and Banchory, 1:50,000 scale, 2004 associated with, and previously an outlier of, Crathes Castle in Aberdeenshir ...

some distance down the line towards

References

Sources

* * Maxtone, Graham and Cooper, Mike (2018). ''Then and Now on the Great North. V.1.'' GNoSR Association. .

External links

Film of the station and the Deeside line.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bieldside railway station Disused railway stations in Aberdeenshire Former Great North of Scotland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1897 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1937