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The Courier
5 days ago
- The Courier
Rare photos capture the end of a 'landmark' Dundee station and the closing of a Fife rail line
These images document a historic day on the tracks which ended with the closure of Dundee West Railway Station in May 1965. The final train left Dundee West for Glasgow at 8pm. More than 200 railway enthusiasts and wistful locals gathered to wave it off. Another historic rail trip took place on the same day. It has been largely forgotten and overshadowed in the past 60 years. The journey time forgot has been brought to life again by Donald Maxwell. He still remembers the day well. Donald was 16 when he travelled on the Queen's College Railway and Transport Society Rail Tour along the Fife Coast line on May 1 1965. A large number of enthusiasts bought a ticket for the trip. Donald managed to snap away during the journey. He has shared some of his snaps which were gathering dust in a cardboard box. Vanished views were captured as the train traversed soon-to-be-closed lines. Donald travelled from Perth to Dundee West Station. 'I was born and brought up in Perth,' he said. 'The station there was about a 15-minute walk from home. 'There was a great variety of locomotives there and Perth was an open access station so the walk to the centre of the town was always through the station. 'That was how I got started on railways as an interest. 'Queen's College ran a number of excursions. 'I went on three of them when I was still at school.' Dundee West Station stood opposite where the Malmaison hotel is today, virtually sharing the site with Tay Bridge Station, which operated at the same time. Dundee used to be served by three main stations. Falling passenger use led to Dundee East being closed in January 1959. Dundee West was recommended for closure by the Beeching cuts. Tay Bridge was renamed Dundee and is the only one left. 'The May 1965 excursion marked not only the closing of Dundee West Station but also the imminent closure of the Fife Coast line round the East Neuk,' said Donald. 'I took all the black and white photos.' The train was pulled by British Railways Class J37, locomotive number 64602. It left Tay Bridge Station in brilliant sunshine on the Saturday afternoon. The journey was 94 miles. The train travelled through Leuchars, St Andrews, Kingsbarns, Crail, Anstruther, St Monans, Elie, Largo, Leven and Thornton. 'At Thornton there was a change of locomotive,' said Donald. 'Number 64618 took over for the run back. 'The train returned to Dundee, not by Cupar and the Tay Rail Bridge, but by Ladybank and Newburgh, which at that time was a freight only route. 'The excursion was filled with enthusiasts who took photos from every possible angle and swarmed over the tracks at both Elie and Newburgh. 'Health and safety wasn't an issue then!' His father Kenneth followed the train by car on its way back from Ladybank. He took some colour photographs to add to the collection. Newburgh to Bridge of Earn, Hilton Junction and Perth completed the next stage. The final leg journeyed from Perth to Dundee West Station. It gave many passengers the chance of a last goodbye before the doors closed. The train arrived back around 6.30pm. Donald went in search of one final piece of history. 'We went back home to Perth on the last train to leave Dundee West,' said Donald. 'The trains vanished after the 8pm service left for Glasgow. 'By contrast after what went before it was something of an anti-climax.' There were no bands, no flags and no ceremony. As the train moved out of Platform 3, a series of detonators exploded. They were placed on the rails by staff to add something to the final departure. Railway enthusiasts were out in force with their cameras. The first few compartments of the leading coach were packed with members of the Inter-City Railway Enthusiasts' Club in Perth. They even had a tape recorder storing all the noises on the journey. BR standard class 5, number 73145, hauled the last train. George Reid from Bishopbriggs was the driver. West Station staff had a get-together after the doors were shuttered. The line was mourned and celebrated. The Fife Coast line was swept away from September 1965. St Andrews lost its connection to the national network. The final section of the line was closed in 1969. Dundee West Station was rubble by then, anyway. Dundee firm Charles Brand started the demolition in April 1966 and the first task was to remove thousands of panes of glass from the roof over the platforms. They were smashed down onto the ripped up track and platforms. Then the steel roof beams were pulled down. The platforms below ground level were kept and incorporated into Tay Bridge Station. Donald said: 'For me and people of my vintage, it was the demolition of a fine piece of architecture and a landmark. 'Dundee East wasn't perhaps mourned so much when it went, but I always thought that Dundee West had a real bit of style, unlike Tay Bridge Station. 'Did I realise being on the final train was a moment in history? 'If you were interested in railways at that time, there were a number of moments of history as the railway landscape changed. 'The last train to Crieff, last train to St Andrews, last train to Kinross. 'Looking back now one maybe questions some of the decisions, but yes, they were memorable then, and are now important moments of local history. 'That's why I kept my ticket and photos after 60 years.' Donald is almost as well-travelled as the trains he used to take. 'I certainly kept an interest in railways as I studied geography and then taught geography in Perth in the early 1970s,' he said. 'However, since then I have been an opera singer. 'I started with Tayside Opera in the 1970s as Donald MacAlpine. 'I changed my name to Donald Maxwell when I joined Scottish Opera in 1976.' Now 76, Donald, who lives in Wales, has enjoyed a long international career. 'I have been a professional singer since then and continue to work – nowadays at the Metropolitan Opera in New York,' he said. 'La Bohème, fortunately, has two roles for an elderly baritone!'
Sunday Post
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sunday Post
Family get-together at Malmaison Aberdeen hits the suite spot
Get a weekly round-up of stories from The Sunday Post: Thank you for signing up to our Sunday Post newsletter. Something went wrong - please try again later. Sign Up We are in Aberdeen for a family get-together and staying at the city's Malmaison Hotel. The hotel is in a former granite mansion in Queen Street, one of Aberdeen's most-elegant addresses, an easy walk into the city centre and close to a stop for the new hop-on-hop-off bus. Our room is one of their Signature Suites – the biggest and best of this hotel's rooms – and it is perfect for the occasion. For a start, there's a balcony. A proper south-facing balcony (a terrace, really) with an outdoor couch and armchairs. There is just enough warmth left in the late-afternoon April sun to sit out and catch up with our son, a student at Aberdeen University, who is joining my wife and I, and our daughter, for dinner. © Malmaison Our suite is divided into two by a slatted wooden partition. On one side is the sleeping area, with a super king size sleigh bed, five-door wardrobe, minibar, free WiFi and a wall-mounted television. On the other is the lounge area, with a large C-shaped sofa (featuring longer cushions at either end for stretching your legs out on) facing another TV, along with a writing desk, Nespresso machine and illuminated vanity mirror. This was a great area for relaxing in after our evening meal, and really demonstrated the benefits of a suite over a traditional hotel room. The bathroom had his-and-hers sinks and – a first for us – his-and-hers 'Monsoon' showers, at either end of the same long cubicle. Then there was the bath – a beautiful free-standing one with a copper outer finish, situated not in the bathroom, but in a corner of the lounge area. It's a fun touch if there's just the two you there – but not something you can take a soak in if you are using the suite for entertaining! Our daughter is in a standard room next door, which has a king-size bed, bath and monsoon shower, and is similarly equipped with free WiFi and a wall-mounted TV. © Malmaison After getting ready for dinner, we make our way down to the bar, which offers a range of beers, wines and cocktails, and plenty of intimate booths and other nooks and crannies in which to drink them, and then on to the Chez Mal Brasserie. The à la carte menu is modern British, with a subtle French twist. There are also brunch, afternoon tea, bar food, and Sunday lunch menus. After fried calamari, with chilli, lime and charcoal aioli, I had an excellent ribeye steak, served on the bone, from grass-fed Scottish beef. My wife had the New York strip steak, my daughter the risotto primavera with spring vegetables and my son the mal burger, with bacon, gruyère and relish. We accompanied it all with a bottle of prosecco. Other highlights we didn't try included a 1.1kg T-bone steak, chalk stream trout, harissa-grilled aubergine and a lamb rump navarin, with baby turnips, haricot beans, carrots and marjoram. Prices for starters ranged from £5 to £11.50, and mains from £18.50 to £135 for that T-bone – though most were at the lower end of the scale. The desserts included a salted caramel popcorn sundae, a chocolate molten soufflé and the evening's special, cranachan cheese cake. Breakfast the following morning was a continental buffet and choice of freshly made hot courses including eggs benedict, a full cooked breakfast, kippers, and breakfast muffins, all at £23 and £12 for children. © Malmaison The hotel offers a range of rooms and suites in different sizes and prices, all individually decorated. The recently refurbished Signature Suite starts from £250 per night. At that price, it represents remarkably good value. You could easily pay that much for a night in a one-bedroomed flat of similar size, and you are unlikely get the same quality of fittings, extras such as access to a gym (there was one in the basement – small, but everything was there) or light refreshment facilities. And perhaps most importantly, you know exactly what you are going to get. As veterans of many holiday-let booking horrors (the building covered in scaffolding and graffiti; the one with the busybody neighbour; the one with the cooker that gave electric shocks) we know all too well the benefit of there being no nasty surprises! A taste of what Aberdeen offers Seal beach, Newburgh: 20 minutes north of the city you'll find sand dunes and a 400-strong colony of seals New Slains Castle: Ruined 16th-Century tower house, used as Queen Mother's Scottish residence in The Crown. Fittie: Quaint fishing village near Aberdeen beach, crisscrossed with narrow backstreets and yards. Factfile To book, go to
