Birchfield Halt railway station

Birchfield Platform railway station, Birchfield Halt railway station or Birchfield Siding railway station^[2] served the rural area near Glen of Rothes House, Moray, Scotland, from 1871 to 1956 on the Morayshire Railway. 1884 is another suggested opening date; however, it contradicts the map evidence. This was an intermediate station on the Craigellachie-Elgin line of the former Great North of Scotland Railway that had originally been opened by the Morayshire Railway on 1 January 1862.^[3]

Birchfield
General information
Location	Rothes, Moray Scotland
Coordinates	57.5631°N 3.2468°W / 57.5631; -3.2468
Grid reference	NJ255532
Platforms	1
Other information
Status	Disused
History
Original company	Morayshire Railway
Pre-grouping	Great North of Scotland Railway
Post-grouping	LNER
Key dates
Circa 1871[1]	Opened
7 May 1956	Station closed[1]
6 May 1968	Line closed to freight
Location

Close to the site of Birchfield Platform in 1961

History

Elgin's old GNoSR railway station

The station was opened circa 1871 as Birchfield Halt by the Great North of Scotland Railway.^[1] It was situated north of Rothes and south of Longmorn and Coleburn stations that in turn led to the Great North of Scotland Railway station at Elgin East. The name Birchfield Halt was used from 1939.^[4]

Infrastructure

In 1871 the station had a short ill-defined platform and was approached by a long drive that had a junction with the lane that crossed the level crossing. A single siding ran for a short distance south, parallel to the line. A building stood close to the level crossing and a signal was present.^[2] By 1903 a shelter was located at the clearly marked platform, but the short siding had been lifted, a signal is no longer indicated and a small building, not marked as a signal box, stands near the site of the level crossing.^[5]

The site today

The building first recorded in 1871 is still present in a much modified form and the trackbed is in use as a farmland access.