The Railways of Strathearn
The Railways of Strathearn
Kildrummie Station near Methven
NB The following is extracted from The Scottish Central Railway Perth to
Stirling by Peter Marshall published by
The Oakwood Press , 1998 ( Ref ISBN 0 85361 522 )
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
A survey for a possible line south from the Fair
City had been commissioned as early as 1841
but with the economy then in recession it was not until the pivotal year
of 1844 that a positive move to establish the railway took place. That year
Parliament had 66 railway bills before them of which 44 were passed.
On the 23rd of February 1844 a formal meeting of
the “ Committee for the Railway from Perth by Stirling to the Edinburgh and
Glasgow Railway “ met under the chairmanship of Charles Graham Sidey , Lord Provost of Perth . Foremost among the land owners named in the
minute were Laurence Oliphant of Condie who was a former MP for Perth City , HL
Colquhoun, Esq of Clathie and Archibald Turnbull of Bellwood plus Robert Allan
and James L Hill both of Edinburgh and many other gentlemen from the district .
A letter was read to the meeting from John Campbell , the second Marquis of
Breadalbane , one of Scotland Taymouth
Castle Perth Falkirk .
The assembled gentlemen unanimously agreed to his Lordship’s proposal and
prepared a draft of the Prospectus was formally read out. The secretaries were asked to apply to the “different
country gentlemen to act as members of the committee of management until a meeting of subscribers to the new railway
can be called “ . A formal Prospectus followed soon afterwards on 15th of
March.
Railways were considered to be statutory companies
and as such had to obtain an Act of Parliament before they could raise capital
either through a share issue or loans ,
or be authorised to build their line. Interest could be paid on long and short
term loans during the period of construction and also on the shareholders’ paid
up portion of calls . This latter activity became illegal in 1847 when it was
identified that these payments were usually made out of capital since they
often exceeded earnings. With a guaranteed income from the very onset , an
investment in railway promotion was seen as secure in the mid - 1840s.
It was customary when floating a railway company
to publish a Prospectus and invite applications from likely proprietors to
purchase shares. Those who were successful in their applications were sent a
letter of acceptance allotting them shares.
A deposit was then paid on the shares which were taken up acknowledged
by the issue of a scrip certificate giving the holder title to the share once
the company had been incorporated.
There had been little share dealing on the two
stock exchanges in Scotland Great
Britain
A few weeks after the February meeting the focus of
promotional effort transferred to Princess
Street Edinburgh Tuesday 12th March
1844 , a meeting of interested parties was held at 2pm in Gibbs Royal Hotel . This time
the Marquis of Breadalbane himself
attended along with Lord Kinnaird , who was also a promoter of the adjoining
Dundee and Perth Railway ( D& PR ) , and his co- director and neighbour in
the Carse of Gowrie , Sir Patrick Murray Threipland .Included amongst the 39
gentlemen who attended the meeting were the Provosts of Falkirk and St Andrews
and John Stirling of Kippendavie and Kippenross near Dunblane , later to be
powerful force in the creation and management of Scottish railways especially
the North British Railway.
The Marquis referred to the survey and report
originally obtained in 1841 showing the practicality of a line from Falkirk to
Perth and suggested that “ the low price of materials and labour with the
superabundance of unemployed capital presented such a fortunate combination of
propitious circumstances “ . He believed the line could therefore be
constructed for a much smaller expense than might have been the case three
years previously . Lord Kinnaird moved that it
would be “ highly advantageous
that a connection by railway be established “
and a fellow sponsor James Johnson , a landowner from Auchterarder ,
added his support being encouraged by
the “ traffic ascertained in 1841 , the great increase of communication since
that period and the immediate prospect of the opening of an unbroken chain of
railway communication to Scotland from the south “ . The importance of this last remark was to
remain at the forefront of the creation and expansion of the proposed railway .
A provisional committee with the power
to sub- commit was appointed , comprising the Marquis of Breadalbane as
chairman , the earl of Dunmore , Viscount Strathallan , Lord Kinnaird , Lord
Ruthven , Lord Abercrombie , Fox Maule MP and Sir Patrick Murray Threipland .
Most of the 71 members appointed to the provisional committee were from
Strathearn to the west of Perth
ENGINEERING SURVEY
An engineering survey of the proposed route was
desired by the subscribers. An offer was made by the brothers Joseph and
Alexander M Mitchell of Inverness who on 14th March 1844 undertook
to provide such a survey and estimate. The Mitchell’s father John had served as
an assistant to Thomas Telford when he was constructing the Caledonian
Canal and roads in the Highlands
. Their third brother Thomas Telford Mitchell was resident engineer on the
Newtyle and Couper Angus railway for two years and went on to the same position
on the Slammanan Railway in 1836 only relinquishing the post in 1844 to join
the contractors on the Scottish Central
.
The Mitchell’s offer was accepted by the
subscribers who also agreed to appoint
Alexander MacKenzie and Archibald Reid as Secretaries . They were the joint Town Clerks to Perth
Town Council and were appointed on the same terms as the Mitchells . James L
Hill , the lawyer who had attended the original meeting in February was appointed as agent in Edinburgh
The Scottish Central had two possible routes under
consideration for its line between Stirling
and Perth Stirling rising through Strathallan to Bridge
of Allan Perth Perth Perth Perth Perth
By the autumn they were ready to respond to the
promoters and on Friday
18th October 1844 , Errington reported to the committee on what he
believed were the merits of the two options . Having established levels for the
two lines , he was satisfied that the virtues of both had been tested . Borings
had been taken through Moncrieffe Hill , revealing that there would be no
difficulty in forming a tunnel . Locke stated that this narrowed the choice of
route , confirming that in engineering g terms at least the 1841 report to
support the course along Strathearn . This meant forgoing the northern route and
so any further attempt to place Crieff on a main line route along the Pow . In
addition , the likelihood of an extension of the railway northwards along the
forthcoming Strathmore line of the Scottish Midland Junction Company would mean
that Perth could find itself at the end of a branch some two miles south of the
main line if the Pow route was a adopted. This line also had the disadvantage
of being longer and costing fifty thousand pounds more to construct ( although
the cost per mile would be no greater ) and of not providing the same level of
traffic as the Strathearn route. Errington considered that there would still be
time to introduce a Bill and open both the main line and a branch to Crieff
simultaneously . The meeting had little difficulty in accepting Errington’s
report.
The plans and sections of the proposed route
through Strathearn were deposited with the House of Commons before the
beginning of the 1844- 45 session of Parliament . The route would seem familiar
to today’s traveller between Perth Glasgow Perth Perth Kincardine Castle Perth Stirling turnpike crossed the Gleneagles road at Loanhead
.
From Strathearn , the line then descended into
Strathallan on easier gradients of 1 in
342 until it reached the main turnpike once more at Blackford , where several roads
at the north of the village would have to be diverted . Blackford was 18 miles
from Perth
and the first settlement to be found directly on
the line since leaving there. Even the rails would divide the from their church
which lay just to the north . Much of the land here was owned by yet another of
the line’s promoters , Major William Moray Stirling , who lived further west at
Ardoch House near Braco .Three miles on, falling more gently at 1 in 792 , the
line passed over the Crieff turnpike ( and former Roman road ) at the Braco
starch works , keeping very close to the course of the Allan Water over most of
the distance .
Crieff had been the destination of one of the
proposed branch lines from the Central in 1846 . In mid 1847 J Stewart Hepburn
of Coquhasie (sic ) ( Colquhazie ? ) expressed the concerns of the people of
Crieff over a rumour that a new survey was being undertaken to take a branch
for the town from the main line at Dunning . He pointed out that all were
opposed to the idea . The Central Board allowed the letter to remain unanswered
leaving the possibility that such a move was contemplated . Although Crieff had
strong ties with Perth Stirling and Glasgow
A separate company to create the nine miles long
line was formed on 15th
August 1853 when the Crieff Junction Railway Bill received Royal
Assent . Thomas Bouch was appointed as the engineer of the line with his reputation for building cheap railways in Scotland
NB Sir Thomas Bouch was the engineer who designed the notorious Tay Railway
Bridge Forth
Bridge Tay
Bridge
The contractor was James Gowans who offered an optimistic opening date for
the summer of 1854 , but this was never likely to be achieved . Bouch had taken on too many projects and
neglected the short branch in rural Perthshire , missing meetings and omitting
to inform the Central of his plans for the junction with its line . Although a
later date of September 1855 was promised delays occurred again and again . The
Crieff Junction Railway ( CJR ) was to be operated by the Scottish Central at
cost and the Directors pressed Bouch to negotiate with the main line company .
The Central provided the necessary locomotives and carriages and allowed one third
of the revenue generated on the Central by the CJR . Staff were employed by the
little company to meet the earlier dates and had to be released when it was
clear the line was not ready .
As many had come from the Central , the CJR asked that the SCR take them back
on its payroll , but new staff had been recruited and the posts filled . The Crieff company
made ready for the opening by ordering the materials of daily operation , but further delays resulted from the
dispute between the Engineer and the
contractor who claimed that he had not been paid and would obstruct the Board of Trade
inspection in January 1856 .
On the opening day , the 13th of March 1856 the Central refused to
permit its locomotive to pass over the track work at Crieff Junction
station , to the east of Greenloaning (
later renamed Gleneagles ) as it was claimed that it was not satisfactory A hurried journey was made by Gowans to Perth
The Junction was remote from the nearest
settlement at Auchterarder and served only as a transfer point , there being no
tickets issued on the instruction of
Latham the SCR General Manager . This brought about a dispute with the CJR who
wanted to allow the people of Crieff to undertake return trips on “ their “ railway . These were eventually allowed with the
undertaking that inspectors from the Central could stop any passengers from
travelling onward without a through ticket . The operating of the line was not
without incident and on at least one occasion
the Central had to complain to the CJR that its carriages were not being
cleaned at Crieff . However , as part of the final amalgamations prior to
absorption into the Caley , the Crieff Junction Railway was
given over to the Scottish Central on the 29th of June 1865 . A
line was opened to Perth
In 1864 , the Crieff and Methven Junction Railway
was established . Support for the 12 miles long new line , which would occupy
the Pow valley to the east of Crieff , was not universal and hinted at old
rivalries between the Central and the Midland Perth Almond Valley Perth
At the end of February 1865 , a special meeting
was held at the Drummond Arms Hotel Crieff to consider the offers for the works
. The tender of twenty six thousand for hundred and seventy seven pounds from J
& A Granger of Perth was accepted , enabling the first turf to be cut on
the 23rd of March . A procession left Crieff Town Hall 1 pm on that day and
walked to a field behind the Crieff junction Station . The wife of the
Chairman, Lady Lucy Dunbar was unfortunately ill and the turf was cut by Mrs
Maxtone Graham . In attendance was the ubiquitous John Stirling of Kippendavie
representing the SNER and officers of the new company including the Secretary ,
Ironside . The Central was represented
by Malcolm , the goods manager , and the Crieff Junction Railway by Veitch ,
its Secretary.
The line was promised to be open quickly even
suggesting the summer of that year , so easy were the works deemed to be .
However at the end of October , it was reported that only eight miles of rail
had been laid . The following spring , a more realistic date of 2nd April was
given . There had been a run over the
full line to Methven on 9th March . In the event , a full inspection of the
line was undertaken on 21st
May , 1866 and the line opened for traffic on the same day . The
Caledonian Railway , ever the expansionist at the time , paid the line a visit
on the 10th of October ,
1865 to inspect the junction with the Crieff line at the station .
With its purchase of the sympathetic SNER the following year , the Caley
offered in , in September 1866 , to buy the Crieff and Methven Junction Railway
at the face value of the shares and 5 %
on capital . The line was eventually transferred to the Caledonian in July 1869
.
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