Brechin railway station

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 a train from Montrose. Passenger services on the Forfar-Brechin and Brechin-Bridge of Dun-Montrose line were withdrawn to save £11,000 per annum (equivalent to £280,000 in 2025). Freight traffic stopped in 1981. Modern day The station is now the headquarters of the Caledonian Railway (Brechin) Ltd, a private limited company formed by a group of steam railway enthusiasts, the Brechin Railway Preservation Society, with the object of operating a railway service on the former Caledonian Railway line between Brechin and Montrose. In 2023, a footbridge manufactured in 1877 and formerly located near the former Strathbungo railway station in Glasgow will be reconstructed at the station. Stationmasters References 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 ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M. 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