Description

Highland Railway Company, 1863. Range of single storey, timber and stone station buildings on down platform. STATION BUILDING: (rebuilt 1904) long, rectangular-plan in three sections; horizontal timber weatherboarding with entrances to platform and rear elevations. Tripartite glazing above timber doors; multi-pane glazing to timber framed windows. Slate roof (piended to S with ventilator at apex); coped ridge stacks with ashlar skews.

FORMER STATION MASTER'S HOUSE: later 19th century, single storey and attic. Tooled rubble with contrasting tooled ashlar dressings. Centre door to N masked by projecting gabled porch with side entrance (facing railway line to E). Pair canted dormers in outer bays; 4-pane glazing. Slate roof with projecting eaves; coped end stacks.

SIGNAL BOX TO N (Map Ref: NH 94384 19035): Mackenzie and Holland/Highland, rectangular-plan, gabled and weatherboarded signal box. 1st floor accessed by forestair; half-gabled entrance porch outshot to signal cabin; multi-pane glazing to E (trackside) elevation, returning to N and S gable ends.

SIGNAL BOX TO S (Map Ref: NH 94321 18691): Highland Railway, 1922. Rectangular-plan 2-storey signal box. Red-brick with weather-boarding and multi-pane glazing to cabin (operating room) reached by. W elevation: 2 windows to locking room, each with raised ashlar cill and ashlar lintel. N elevation: timber forestair to half-gabled entrance porch outshot at upper level; small windows to E elevation: brick with small window to upper right; tall, wallhead chimney stack to centre, set behind eaves. INTERIOR: McKenzie and Holland, 30 lever 'Cam and Tappet' locking frame.

FOOTBRIDGE: cast-iron lattice girder footbridge by Highland Railway. Cast-iron lamp standards.

Statement of Interest

Boat of Garten Station is a fine example of a restored railway station in the Scottish Highlands, now a midway station for the preserved Strathspey Railway. The timber clad and stone buildings form a fine group with the interest of the setting increased by the adjoining rolling yard and various salvaged railway components on the site including a water tower and semaphore signals. The station opened in August 1863 and soon after became a junction between the Highland Railway's main line from Perth to Forres and the Great North of Scotland Railway's branch line to Craigellachie in 1866. It was closed in 1965 during the Beeching cuts. The line was reopened by the Strathspey Railway Company and began running steam trains in 1978 between Aviemore and Boat of Garten and later on to Broomhill with plans to extend the line further.

Signal boxes are a distinctive and now rare building type that make a significant contribution to Scotland's diverse industrial heritage. Of more than 2000 signal boxes built across Scotland by 1948, around 150 currently survive (2013). Boat of Garten has two preserved and fully operational signal boxes. The south box is an excellent example by the Highland Railway Company. Built of brick and timber-weatherboarding with panelled base, raised cills and tall brick stack. Its characteristic Highland Railway Company half-gabled porch entrance and original 30 lever McKenzie and Holland locking frame add further to its interest. The box to the north, a 'Type 3' by renowned signalling manufacturers McKenzie and Holland, is an excellent suvival of this particular type once widespread across the Highland region. Its lever frame (salvaged from nearby Carrbridge South signal box) was installed in 1993. Its original 40 lever frame is understood to also survive in storage. Together, the boxes function to allow two trains to pass each other at this single line station and they add considerable interest to the wider group of preserved railway buildings and rolling yard at Boat of Garten.

Statutory address and list description revised as part of Scottish Signal Box Review (2012-13).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Boat of Garten railway station at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q17827684

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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