The station was originally owned by the Highland Railway and was known as Keith Junction,the line from the west having opened by the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway in 1858 and becoming part of the Highland Railway in 1865.[4] It was the point where the line from Inverness made an end-on junction with the Great North of Scotland Railway from Aberdeen (which opened in 1856)[5] to enable exchange of goods and passengers. As built,it was located in the vee of the routes to Inverness and to Dufftown (which diverges to the southwest here) and had four platforms - one through one for each route,plus two east facing bays for GNSR services.[6] It was taken over by the London,Midland and Scottish Railway at the 1923 Grouping and then became part of the Scottish Region of British Railways upon nationalisation in 1948.
Today only a single platform remains in full-time use,though the Dufftown branch platform (numbered 1) is available if required for turning back trains from the Aberdeen direction (though no trains are scheduled to do so in the current timetable).[7] The bays have been filled in,having been abandoned and tracks lifted in the early 1970s after the closure of the Moray Coast Line (for which the station was a terminus). A signal box (which retains the name Keith Junction) remains at the eastern end to control a passing loop on the single track main line beyond the station,the now little-used goods yard (formerly used by trains accessing the nearby Chivas Regal whisky plant) and the stub of the Dufftown branch.
The Dufftown and Craigellachie line was closed to passengers by British Railways in May 1968 as a result of the Beeching Axe. The line has since been preserved as the Keith and Dufftown Railway (reopening in 2000/01),but the link between it and the national network was severed by Railtrack in 1998 - two 60-foot track panels having been removed as a condition of the transfer of the branch to the K&DR.[8] The preservation society hopes to reinstate the connection and the still-extant but disused section beyond to Keith Town at some point in the future and run through trains from here to Dufftown,which would see platform 1 return to regular use. Discussions with regard to this were held between the K&DRA,the local MSP Richard Lochhead and Transport Scotland in the autumn of 2015.[9]
The old station buildings were replaced by new ones in 1988 in a rebuilding programme costing £200,000[10] (equivalent to £680,000in 2023).[11]
Facilities
The station has good facilities for its rural location,with a part-time-staffed ticket office,accessible toilet,ticket machine,two car parks,bench,bike racks and help point. The station has four methods of step-free access.[12]
The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.
Services
As of May 2022,There is a basic two-hourly frequency in each directions (with peak extras),to Inverness northbound and Aberdeen southbound,giving a total of 11 trains each way. The first departure to Aberdeen each weekday and Saturday continues south to Edinburgh Waverley,and another continues to Stonehaven in the evening. On Sundays there are five trains each way.[7]
In addition to the potential reinstatement of the Dufftown branch, Transport Scotland have published proposals to improve the facilities here. This could see the existing passing loop extended through the station and a second platform built north of the current one.[14] Other upgrades planned for the station include a bus interchange, taxi drop-off point and car park extension.[15]
References
↑ Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. "Gaelic/English Station Index". Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6thed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN978-0-9549866-9-8.
↑ Deaves, Phil. "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
↑ Bridge, Mike, ed. (2017). TRACKatlas of Mainland Britain: A Comprehensive Geographic Atlas Showing the Rail Network of Great Britain (3rded.). Sheffield: Platform 5 Publishing Ltd. p.101. ISBN978-1909431-26-3.
↑ Awdry, Christopher (1990). Encyclopaedia of British railway companies. Wellingborough: Stephens. p.80. ISBN1-85260-049-7.
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