Enzie railway station

Enzie
The site of Enzie station
Location
Place	Enzie
Area	Moray
Coordinates	57°38′08″N 2°59′20″W / 57.6355°N 2.9889°WCoordinates: 57°38′08″N 2°59′20″W / 57.6355°N 2.9889°W
Grid reference	NJ 410 610
Operations
Original company	Highland Railway
Pre-grouping	Highland Railway
Platforms	1
History
1 August 1884[1]	Station opens as 'Enzie'
9 August 1915[1]	Station closes to passengers
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Enzie railway station was a station which served the hamlet of Enzie, in the Scottish county of Moray. It was served by trains on the Buckie and Portessie Branch north of Keith. The latter station is now the nearest to Enzie.

History

The station was opened by the Highland Railway in 1884 and had a short life with services being suspended during WWI on 9 August 1915^[1] and the rails south of Buckie removed, although it was hoped to restart services. The line remained closed in 1923,^[2] when the Highland Railway was absorbed by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). After this the track was relaid, but services were not restarted and the track removed again^[3] in 1937.^[4] The nearby Aultmore became the terminus of a goods spur from Keith and continued in use until 1966.

Work had begun on the Keith to Portessie line of the Highland Railway on 7 November 1882. Wartime economies led to closure of the line on 9 August 1915 and in 1917 the track between Aultmore (towards Keith) and Portessie was requisitioned by the Admiralty.^[5] The Great North of Scotland Railway (GNoSR) re-opened the north and south sections of line by 1919, but the Aultmore to Portessie section passing through Enzie, Drybridge and Rathven was never re-opened and the track was again removed in 1937.^[5]

Infrastructure

The station had a single platform, a signal box and a goods shed with a stationmaster's house nearby. A set of sidings ran towards Aultmore with a weigh machine located to one side.^[6] A second signal box was located nearby on the line towards Drybridge Platform.^[7] Murdoch Paterson was the architect responsible for the station buildings.^[8]

Buckie and Portessie Branch (Highland Railway)
Locale Scotland Dates of operation 1 August 1884 – 31 December 1922 Successor London Midland and Scottish Railway Track gauge 4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Legend
Portessie Junction Moray Coast Railway Portessie Buckie Rathven Drybridge Platform Enzie Aultmore 1: Keith West Junction 2: Keith East Junction Inverness & Aberdeen Junction Railway Keith Junction  Keith and Dufftown Railway

The site today

The station site is now occupied by a house.

References

Footnotes

1. Butt 1995, p. 92.
2. Vallance & Clinker 1971, p. 39.
3. Vallance & Clinker 1971, pp. 174–175.
4. Geograph
5. Historic Scotland site record
6. Elginshire Sheet XIV.NE. Publication date: 1905. Date revised: 1903.
7. Banffshire Sheet VIII.NW. Publication date: 1905. Date revised: 1902.
8. Scottish Architects

Sources

• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 1-85260-508-1.
• Vallance, H.A.; Clinker, C.R. (1971). The Highland Railway. Pan Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-330-02720-5.
• Wilkinson, Brian (1988). The Heilan Line. The Portessie Branch of the Highland Railway. Dornoch Press. ISBN 0-9513358-2-0.
• RAILSCOT on Buckie and Portessie Branch