An intriguing headline that, isn’t it? Well, that was how it appeared in the Aberdeen Evening Express in late 1959 and I fully intend to enlighten you on what happened to cause that to be printed. Firstly, however, I need to show where the event happened.
When I was still at school I was intrigued to learn that one of my cousins was going on holiday to Apple Friday. It later turned out that this was his (four-year-old) interpretation of the name Aberfeldy. Aberfeldy is actually a small town in the northern part of Perthshire, being well known for ‘General Wade’s’ bridge across the River Tay, the river being well known for salmon fishing. The bridge was designed by William Adam as part of the network of military roads created for the Government in London after the 1745 Jacobite uprising. The area is also well known for malt whisky distillers, the watermill, golf and the Birks of Aberfeldy as celebrated by Robert Bums, although some say the poem was written about another place with a similar name.
Advent of the railway
Many and varied were the potential ways of bringing rail facilities to Aberfeldy. As early as 1845 no fewer than 160 residents had signed a petition to the Marquess of Breadalbane seeking his support for a railway and he responded positively by becoming the principal shareholder of the Strathtay & Breadalbane Railway Company. It was intended that this would meet the proposed Perth & Inverness Railway in the vicinity of Ballinluig but all this came to naught because the Perth company’s Bill was rejected by Parliament This was at the height of the ‘Railway Mania’. Nevertheless the next year the Aberfeldy scheme slipped through without close scrutiny but, in the absence of anything to which it could connect, it was rather pointless. According to the Perthshire Courier the Breadalbane company would simply have to press on southwards for another five miles to reach Birnam where it would meet the Scottish Midland Junction’s (SMJR) line which had been authorised in 1845. Support for new railways had dried up by then so the Bill for the extension was withdrawn after its Second Reading. Neither did the SMJR proceed with its line and no more was heard of rails in the area until the Perth & Dunkeld opened in 1856.
A few years later a Parliamentary Notice was issued for a proposed Forres (on the Inverness & Aberdeen Junction Railway) and Dunkeld route although the Prospectus did not make any mention of an Aberfeldy branch. It was to be known as the Perth & Inverness Junction (P&IJ) and at the same time it became known that the Scottish North Eastern had been considering a line into Breadalbane but this was quickly abandoned once the P&IJ published its Notices. Concurrently the latter company’s Surveyor, Joseph Mitchell, corresponded with the Marquess (who was one of the directors) saying he was convinced that an Aberfeldy branch should be built – “the cheapness with which it can be constructed will insure its being a remunerative concern”.
Even so there was a marked reluctance on the part of the directors to actually authorise construction to Aberfeldy in spite of a committee being formed there to raise the necessary funds. There were prolonged discussions over how much should be paid for land being provided by these subscribers and this was “compounded by procrastination and sophistry”. No proper explanation for the delays was ever given although there was a suspicion that the cost of the river crossings was outwith the available budget It seems that in the end Sir Robert
