page_title: Deeside Railway
section_title: Royal services
hierarchical_section_title: Deeside Railway / Royal services
caption_attribution_description: English: Ballater Station - reproduction of a Victorian railway saloon carriage The visitor centre in the converted station houses a reproduction of a Victorian saloon carriage, as used by Her Majesty Queen Victoria to journey between Windsor and Ballater in 1869. Costing £450,000, the carriage is a reproduction of the original carriage at the National Railway Museum in York.
context_page_description: 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 extension to Ballater and this opened in 1866. By 1855 there were five services a day over the 43 ¹⁄₄-mile long line, taking between 1 hour 50 minutes and ​2 ¹⁄₂ hours. The line was used by the Royal Train for travel to and from Balmoral Castle from 1853 and a special 'Messenger Train' ran daily when the Royal Family was in residence.
  The railways were absorbed by the Great North of Scotland Railway on 1 August 1875 for the Deeside Railway and 31 January 1876 for the Aboyne & Braemar. The line became part of the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923, and part of British Railways when nationalised in 1948. Passenger services were withdrawn on 28 February 1966 and the line was closed completely to Ballater on 18 July 1966 and to Culter on 2 January 1967.
context_section_description: On 10 October 1853, the Duchess of Kent, Queen Victoria's mother, caught a special train from Banchory to Ferryhill. This left just after 1 pm and took 16 minutes to reach Ferryhill. The Queen and Albert followed three days later. As the line was extended up Deeside, closer to Balmoral, the terminus became the royal station. On 20 and 24 September 1866 the Prince and Princess of Wales, used Ballater station nearly a month before public services reached the station.
  The royal trains, which did not enter Aberdeen station but reversed at Ferryhill, took about 75 minutes to travel the 42 ¹⁄₂ miles (68.4 km) to Ballater; the Queen disliked high speed. The line was cleared fifteen minutes before the train was due, the facing points and level crossing gates were locked and stations closed. At first Victoria visited once a year, this becoming twice a year after  Albert died in 1861. The number of visits returned to one a year after Edward VII became King in 1901 and the train became faster, although and a slower schedule was later used for George V.
  From 8 October 1865 a daily special 'Messenger Train' ran when the Royal Family was at Balmoral. This left Aberdeen at 4 am, connecting with a service from London that had left the previous morning, and returned at 2:15 pm to connect with the night train travelling south. First class accommodation was available on these trains; accompanying servants were charged third class fares. The last Messenger Train ran in 1938, subsequently couriers used a motor car from Perth.
caption: Reproduction of a royal carriage used by Queen Victoria at Ballater railway station
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