| THE SIGNAL BOX |
PHOTO GALLERY |
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Caledonian Railway |
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Opened: 1905 |
Closed: 1981 |
Location code: Sc62/01 |
This grand-looking box just
south of Aberdeen opened in 1905 when additional running lines opened between
here and the station. Ferryhill Junction was the point where the Great North of
Scotland's branch to Ballater left the Caledonian main line via
Craiginches to Dundee and Glasgow.
Unusually for Caledonian Railway Northern Division practice, the box is of all-timber construction although the paint scheme disguises this. The design of the box defies categorisation. The large number of sliding windows along the front are unusual, although the three-pane-high windows are not unlike those in Caledonian boxes built before 1902 and after 1908. The timbered area between the top of the windows and the roof is also unusual for the Caledonian company. The only box of this era known that looks in any way similar was Camperdown Junction. In both instances they were erected on sections of line where other railway companies also operated, but why a plainer design than their standard of the period (see Grangemouth No3) should be erected is not clear.
Although the Ballater line had closed many years previously, Ferryhill Junction remained in use right up to the commissioning of the new Aberdeen power box in 1981.
All photographs copyright © John Hinson unless otherwise stated