Ride the rails on a photographic journey through the history of Dundee’s train stations.

Explore the history of Dundee’s railway stations, from noteworthy closures to still-standing relics. Graeme Strachan.

These photographs transport us back to the tracks of Dundee’s railway stations, where the click-clack of steam engines formerly filled the atmosphere.

They were taken back when names like Baldovan, Liff, Lochee, Lochee West, and Magdalen Green were part of our daily lives.

The region’s railways, which originated in the Victorian era, thrived until the introduction of the automobile in the early twentieth century, but a greater threat was the Beeching axe in the 1960s.

Some stations have almost vanished from memory, while others remain vital transportation linkages.

How many will you remember?

Baldovan Station

The dilapidated Baldovan Station, which opened in 1831 on the Dundee and Newtyle Railway, was built entirely of wood.

By August 1897, the structure had deteriorated severely, with a “leaky roof”. A Dundee Advertiser reader emphasised the discomfort, describing the station as the “most uncomfortable, cramped and ugly” along that section of the route. The station was renamed Baldovan and Downfield in 1905.

British Rail announced the end of passenger service in January 1955, and the station was decommissioned and dismantled. Since then, housing has altered the location.

Barnhill Station

Barnhill Station, on Guthrie Street, opened in 1874, with the arrival of the Dundee and Forfar Direct Railway. Initially, five daily trains ran from Dundee East to Barnhill, but passenger numbers gradually declined.

In May 1954, British Rail considered ending passenger service. On January 8, 1955, Barnhill staged a funeral procession for the last passenger train from Forfar to Dundee. Following the line’s freight closure in 1967, the rails were pulled up and scrapped, and the property was sold to Bett Brothers for housing.

Broughty Ferry Station

Broughty Ferry is home to Scotland’s oldest operational railway station. The twin-gabled building with elaborate timber bargeboards opened on Grey Street in October 1838 as part of the Dundee and Arbroath Railway.

The coming of the railway converted the town into a popular tourist attraction, prompting its recognition as a police burgh in 1864.

However, by March 1998, the category A-listed station faced a grim future as rail services declined and conditions deteriorated. A demolition plan was developed to replace it with two plastic shelters.

City councillors intervened, rejecting Railtrack’s destruction plan, and a series of projects were launched to protect and modernise the complex.

Crossroads Station

Crossroads Station, which opened in 1831, was situated adjacent to a level crossing on Clepington Road.

Locomotive engines were introduced on the line in 1833 to replace horse-drawn transport, making them among the earliest engines used in Scotland. However, its operating lifetime was brief. It closed in 1861 when a new line opened that skirted the Law.

Following its closure, the land was used as an infectious disease hospital, eventually becoming Kings Cross Hospital. A vestige of the station can be found in an overgrown portion of the hospital grounds.

Dundee East

Dundee East Station, formerly Dock Street Station, opened in December 1857 as the terminal of the Dundee and Arbroath Joint Railway.

It replaced an earlier facility known as Trades Lane Station. The Courier lauded the new facility for giving tourists with “at last” comfortable accommodation and a “handsome building”.

Throughout its active years, Dundee East’s lifeblood was the local route to Arbroath, which drew commuters from Broughty Ferry.

However, dwindling passenger numbers enabled Dundee Tay Bridge Station to take over the remaining trains from Dundee East, and the station closed in January 1959.

The property remained inactive until 1963, when SMT Sales & Service Co Ltd received permission to erect a £60,000 vehicle showroom on it.

Dundee West

Dundee West Station, which architectural historian Charles McKean called as “overly bombastic,” opened in 1889 as the site’s third railway station.

It was built in the Scottish Baronial style of red sandstone and featured a large semi-circular booking office as well as a clock tower that looked down on the region. It faced the current Malmaison hotel.

The station was dismantled to make way for approach roads leading to the Tay Road Bridge. The last train to Glasgow left in May 1965, and author John Minnis described its removal as “perhaps the most tragic loss” of railway design in Scotland.

Liff

The Dundee and Newtyle Railway, which opened in 1831, faced problems such as steep inclines and a tunnel through Dundee Law.

Eventually, the line was shifted away from several of the inclines. Later, stations were established in Lochee and Liff in June 1861. Liff Station on South Road was a brick-built structure with floral displays on the solitary platform and window boxes full of blooms.

The line and its goods yards served Dundee Linoleum Works. The station closed in 1955.

Lochee

Sir James Gowans designed Lochee Station, which opened in 1861. It was constructed in a patchwork quilt form known as “random rubble”. Lochee, known for its fastidious upkeep, frequently received medals for best-kept station.

A siding went to Camperdown Works, which transports 26,000 tonnes of coal each year. However, the station closed for both passengers and goods in January 1955. In 1972, it was repurposed as the Lochee Burns Club’s home.

Lochee West

Lochee West was a single-platform stop on the north side of the line. The Dundee and Newtyle Railway named it Victoria when it opened in 1861, then Camperdown the following year, and finally Lochee West in 1896.

Unfortunately, the station closed in 1916. There was a “Stop, Look, Listen” sign at the Elmwood Road level crossing, but there is no evidence of its presence anymore.

Magdalen Green

Magdalen Green Station opened in June 1878 opposite the Tay Rail Bridge, serving Dundee’s west end on the Aberdeen-Glasgow route.

In August 1904, the station hosted Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, which was transported north to Magdalen Green via three enormous trains.

Despite receiving accolades for being one of the best-kept stations, Magdalen Green saw falling passenger traffic in the 1950s and closed in June 1956.

Following its closure, the station structures were dismantled. The Bridgeview Station Cafe and Restaurant on Riverside Drive was later built using the old station’s designs.

The station was located where the footbridge over the railway still remains.

Tay Bridge Station

Tay Bridge Station opened beside the new bridge in June 1878, having two-story brick buildings with stone exterior. However, the Tay Bridge Disaster in December 1879 cut the route.

The commissioning of the new bridge in July 1887 restored full service to the station, before a major improvement in 1959 replaced the original surface-level structures with a modern facility costing £71,000.

By January 1985, additional improvements of £845,000 were announced, including a covered walkway across the inner ring road.

The station was dismantled in 2014 and later rebuilt by a new station and a three-story, 120-bedroom hotel as part of a £38 million makeover.

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