Carsbreck | |
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![]() Carsbreck Loch with the railway line embankment | |
General information | |
Location | Blackford, Perth and Kinross Scotland |
Coordinates | 56°15′36″N3°49′37″W / 56.260°N 3.827°W Coordinates: 56°15′36″N3°49′37″W / 56.260°N 3.827°W |
Grid reference | NN 86942 09004 |
Platforms | 2 |
Other information | |
Status | Disused |
History | |
Original company | Scottish Central Railway |
Pre-grouping | Caledonian Railway |
Post-grouping | London, Midland and Scottish Railway |
Key dates | |
Circa 1853 [1] | Station opened |
1935[2] | .Station closed |
Carsbreck railway station [2] was a private station opened on the Scottish Central Railway near Carsebreck Loch, the Royal Caledonian Curling pond, between Stirling and Perth for the use of the curlers belonging to the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. It was first named by the Scottish Central Railway as 'Royal Curling Club Station, [3] a host of later names being Caledonian Curling Society's Platform, [4] Curling Pond Halt, [5] Royal Curling Club Platform, [6] Royal Curling Club Station, Netherton Halt and finally as Carsbreck Station. [7] It is unclear how many of these were official names. The site lay in the parish of Ardoch, Perth and Kinross with the villages of Braco, Greenloaning and Blackford nearby. The Scottish Central Railway line had been opened in 1848.
The existence of the railway at the site had been a major consideration in the selection of this site for the construction of a curling pond together with the geography of the site and its retentive clay bottom, [1] peat having been extracted. The station had been opened by February 1853 and in addition to those named above 'Nethertown' and 'Carsebreck' are on record. [1] Between 1853 and 1935 twenty-five bonspiels or 'Grand Matches' were held at Carsebreck Loch. [1]
Changes in the climate created uncertainty of suitable ice being present and the curling pond ceased to be used with 1935 [2] given as the closure date by one author and 1951 by another authority however the last Grand Match to be played at Carsebreck was in 1935. [8]
An 1853 map of the site shows the double track line with two 'platform' areas demarcated and a building on the southern side. The word 'siding' is annotated however no siding as such is shown. The 'Brick House' is not marked. [3] A roughcast two storey building, 'Brick House', thought to have been a surfaceman and crossing keeper's dwellings dating from Scottish Central Railway days, unoccupied but still standing, lies to the south next to a level crossing and a single fairly substantial building, possibly the curling house was at that time located on the southbound 'platform' area [9] together with small shelters on each platform. [10]
The Royal Caledonian Curling Club as stated had a club house and possibly a curling house and the existence of a siding is recorded in 1853. [1] A path ran from the station across a drainage ditch and the Allan Water to the curling loch and to Carsebreck Farm. [9] No access to the station from the nearby road or from Netherton Farm originally existed. [9] The 'platform' area was originally quite short and it is said that for many years, up until 1906, curlers disembarked directly onto the ballast. [11] No name board appears to have been present.
A major upgrade took place and in 1935 a track layout diagram and film seems to shows only a single very long platform on the northern side of a wooden construction with three sets of steps. A signal box, opened on 23 May 1905, [12] stood on the southern side and several signals were present. Two tracks lay either side of the double track line with several sets of points creating two passing loops and four head shunts. Level crossings were located either side of the platform. [11] The layout was designed for the frequent arrival, temporary storage and rapid departure of trains.
The sidings were lifted during WWII as part of the war effort and the curling pond received no maintenance. [13]
Apart from advertised events such as bonspiels the stations use would not have been listed and it did not appear on the public timetables, the station being private and the sport had a very seasonal and unpredictable requirement for train services. The Royal Caledonian Curling Club negotiated a special ticket at half the normal price for the thousands of curlers who used the station. [1] In 1935 it is recorded that 2576 curlers and 5000 people in total attended the bonspiel that had started at 11.25 and finished at 2.30pm and the queuing of passengers had to be carefully organised with only four carriages able to use the station platform at one time. [11] [13]
In 1853 trains with more than twenty carriages were provided, the locomotives being unequal to the task and the bulk of curlers arrived around an hour late. [14] No matches were held from 1856 to 1859 with reduced attendance in 1860 however 1861 was a year of perfect conditions. [15]
The line remains open and the loch is still present, however nothing substantial remains of the platforms or the building other than the raised area at the southern platform.
Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called rocks, across the ice curling sheet toward the house, a circular target marked on the ice. Each team has eight stones, with each player throwing two. The purpose is to accumulate the highest score for a game; points are scored for the stones resting closest to the centre of the house at the conclusion of each end, which is completed when both teams have thrown all of their stones once. A game usually consists of eight or ten ends.
A bonspiel is a curling tournament, consisting of several games, often held on a weekend. Until the 20th century most bonspiels were held outdoors, on a frozen freshwater loch. Today almost all bonspiels are held indoors on specially prepared artificial ice.
Perth railway station is a railway station located in the city of Perth, Scotland. The station, designed by Sir William Tite, won an architecture prize. It has seven platforms, five of which are "through" platforms.
Ardlui railway station is a rural railway station, serving Ardlui at the north end of Loch Lomond, in Scotland. The station is 51 miles (82 km) north of Glasgow Queen Street on the West Highland Line.
The Grand Match, also called The Bonspiel, is an outdoor curling tournament, or bonspiel, held most recently on the Lake of Menteith in Stirling, Scotland, when the weather is cold enough. Traditionally it is a match between the north and south of Scotland.
The Royal Caledonian Curling Club (RCCC), branded as Scottish Curling is a curling club in Edinburgh, Scotland. It developed the first official rules for the sport, and is the governing body of curling in Scotland. The RCCC was founded on 25 July 1838 in Edinburgh, and granted its royal charter by Queen Victoria in 1843, after she had witnessed a demonstration of the sport played on the polished ballroom floor of Scone Palace the previous year.
Garelochhead railway station is a railway station serving the village of Garelochhead, on the Gare Loch, in Scotland. This station is on the West Highland Line and is a boundary station for SPT.
The Scottish Central Railway was formed in 1845 to link Perth and Stirling to Central Scotland, by building a railway line to join the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway near Castlecary.
Dess railway station was opened on 2 December 1859 on the Deeside Extension Railway and served the rural area around Dess House and estate from 1859 to 1966 as an intermediate station on the Deeside Railway that ran from Aberdeen (Joint) to Ballater.
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Balerno railway station was opened in 1874 and served the area of the village of Balerno that now forms part of the city of Edinburgh. Although primarily built as a goods line, with a dedicated goods station at Balerno, serving the many mills on the Water of Leith, a passenger service was provided by the Caledonian Railway using the Balerno Loop and after grouping by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, seeing formal closure to passenger traffic shortly after nationalisation. The station was the only one with a separately served goods station on the 'loop' line and lay in rural surroundings that had been popular with families having a day out in the country.
Gree Goods station or Gree Depot as it was listed in the Caledonian Railway Working Timetable was a relatively short lived railway freight facility located approximately one miles south of Lugton on the A736 Lochlibo Road, North Ayrshire, Scotland. Gree Goods served the industrial and agricultural requirements for transportation in the vicinity, with the village of Burnhouse not far away, sitting on the crossroads to Barrmill, Dunlop and Irvine. Over Gree, High Gree, Nether Gree, Gree and Brownhills Farms were located nearby. Gree Goods was close to the Lugton East Junction, just south of the 11 arch Gree Viaduct. The nearest passenger station on the line north was Lugton High and to the south was Giffen.
Netherton Goods station or Netherton Depot was a railway public freight facility located between Neilston railway station and Patterton railway station just west of the proposed site of Lyoncross railway station, East Renfrewshire, Scotland. Netherton Goods served the industrial and agricultural requirements for transportation in the vicinity, with the town of Arthurlie not far away, sitting on and near to country lanes to Neilston, Arthurlie and Barrhead. Netherton, Glanderston, Balgraystone and Dyke Farms were located nearby. Netherton Goods was close to Lyoncross Junction between the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway and the Paisley and Barrhead District Railway near Balgray Reservoir.
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Glen Douglas Halt railway station was known as Craggan in the line's construction reports, also Glen Douglas Siding, Glen Douglas Platform (Private), Glen Douglas (Private) and finally Glen Douglas Halt. Opened by the North British Railway in 1894 or 1895 its status has changed several times along with its official name. The form Glendouglas was also sometimes used, such as on the platform name board.
Inveruglas was a remote temporary private railway station near the hamlet of Inveruglas, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. Opened in 1945 by the LNER, it was built in connection with the construction of the Sloy Hydro-Electric facility and was located on the Ardlui side of the Inveruglas Viaduct and recorded to be out of use by around 1948.
Dalchonzie Halt railway station, Dalchonzie Platform railway station or Dalchonzie Siding in the Parish of Comrie, Perth and Kinross, Scotland was an intermediate stop on what became the Caledonian Railway's Crieff - Lochearnhead - Balquhidder branch line. It served the rural Strathearn area near Dunira, Dalchonzie House and Drumlochlan Wood from 1903 to 1951.
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Drummuir Curlers' Platform railway station was a private station opened on the Keith and Dufftown Railway for the use of the curlers belonging to the Drummuir Curling Club who played on the nearby Loch Park in the parish of Botriphnie. The GNoSR line ran from Keith to Dufftown.
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Preceding station | Historical railways | Following station | ||
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Blackford Line open, station closed | Scottish Central Railway | Greenloaning Line open, station closed |