page_title: Montrose and Bervie Railway
section_title: A local line after all
hierarchical_section_title: Montrose and Bervie Railway / History / A local line after all
caption_attribution_description: English: The Montrose and Bervie Railway in 1869
context_page_description: The Montrose and Bervie Railway was a Scottish railway. When the Aberdeen Railway opened in 1850, the coastal settlements north of Montrose were not linked in, and local interests promoted a branch line from Montrose to Bervie. They found it impossible to raise capital at first, but from 1861 the larger railways were promoting new connections around Aberdeen, and the Great North of Scotland Railway decided that the Bervie line would give it a route to the south.
  That scheme did not proceed, but the GNoSR had put money in, and the simple branch line opened, in 1865.
  It was absorbed by the North British Railway in 1881, who also thought it might give them a springboard towards Aberdeen; that scheme too failed to materialise, and the line remained a quiet backwater.
  Road transport spelt doom for the sparsely trafficked line, and it closed for passengers in 1951 and completely in 1966.
context_section_description: Naturally the GNoSR lost interest in the little backwater railway so far from its own network; but now the line had some share capital and the original Act of Parliament, and it set about constructing the line as originally intended. By the summer of 1865 the line was nearing completion, and enquiries were made of R and W Hawthorn, who had purchased the Leith Engine Works, for a locomotive for their line, but the price must have been discouraging. The Company asked the GNoSR to work the line, but this was refused, and finally the SNER worked the line. It opened on 1 November 1865. The trains used the SNER station at Montrose, joining the SNER at Broomfield Junction. (The Caledonian Railway absorbed the SNER in 1866 and took over the working.)
  In the first nine months of operation an operating surplus of £152 was achieved, but this was without allowing for the toll charge for the use of the Montrose station and approach railway. At over £330 for six months alone, this turned the figures into a major loss. The Company asked the Caledonian to reduce the charge, but when this was declined, the Bervie Company established a station at Broomfield Road, just on its side of the junction, and terminated its trains there. It arranged road cartage to and from Montrose.
  This seems to have motivated compromise in the Caledonian, and a reduced toll charge of £150 annually was agreed; trains resumed running to Montrose (Caledonian Railway) from 8 August 1866. The Bervie directors undertook to close the Broomfield station permanently, which they did from 1 February 1867.
caption: The Montrose and Bervie Railway as built