page_title: Dundee and Newtyle Railway
section_title: By-passing the inclines
hierarchical_section_title: Dundee and Newtyle Railway / History / By-passing the inclines
caption_attribution_description: English: System map of Dundee and Newtyle Railway and associated lines in 1868
context_page_description: The Dundee and Newtyle Railway opened in 1831 and was the first railway in the north of Scotland. It was built to carry goods between Dundee and the fertile area known as Strathmore; this involved crossing the Sidlaw Hills, and was accomplished with three rope-worked inclined planes. Newtyle was simply a remote railhead, and the anticipated traffic volumes were not achieved, the inclines incurred heavy operating costs, and the railway never made money.
  Responding to the criticism of the remote Newtyle station, two further railways were built; these were nominally independent but for practical purposes were branches of the Dundee line. The lines were the Newtyle and Coupar Angus Railway and the Newtyle and Glammiss Railway; they opened in 1837 - 1838. The extension lines did not transform the finances of the main railway, but when the Scottish Midland Junction Railway wanted to build a main line between Perth and Forfar, it adopted the lines and upgrading them, incorporating them in to the route of the new main line.
context_section_description: Returning to the Dundee and Newtyle line, an Act was obtained on 21 July 1859 to build by-pass lines. The Balbeuchly incline was avoided by the construction of a line from Rosemill to Auchterhouse; it had a new station at Dronley and Auchterhouse station was relocated. It opened on 1 November 1860. The Lochee deviation ran from Ninewells Junction to Fairmuir Junction, opening on 10 June 1861. This long westward sweep avoided the Law tunnel and incline, and gave better access to the harbour through the Dundee and Perth station in Union Street. Crossroads and Ward stations were closed, and new stations were opened on the deviation at Lochee, Lochee West and Liff.
  For the time being the Newtyle incline continued in use, until the Scottish Central Railway took over the Dundee and Perth line in 1863. The new owner obtained powers in 1864 to build a new line past Hatton to a new Newtyle station. In fact the Caledonian Railway absorbed the SCR in 1865, and the work was not completed until 31 August 1868. The original Newtyle station was retained as a goods depot.
caption: The Newtyle lines in 1868