Keith and Dufftown Railway


The Keith and Dufftown Railway is a heritage railway in Scotland, running for from, Keith to via and Auchindachy.
Originally the former Great North of Scotland Railway's Keith and Dufftown Railway, which was part of the link Aberdeen with Elgin, the line was latterly a freight-only branch for British Rail then truncated at Dufftown and serving the distillery there. Regular passenger services had been withdrawn in May 1968, but in later years it hosted a series of Northern Belle summer Sunday lunch specials from Aberdeen. These ceased in 1991 and after several years disuse, the line passed into the hands of the current operator in 1998; regular heritage trains then began running in 2000.
The line is open, and a regular service runs throughout the railway's operating season from March to September. Special events are also run, including Santa Specials and Scots Nights. These services are run on the Class 108 DMUs.
Dufftown is the main centre of operation of the railway, and has a booking office, a waiting room and a café called the Sidings Café, which is open March to November. There are two headshunts and a loop. Work is being undertaken to install a new loop at Dufftown so that there can be two tracks going into the new engine shed.
At Keith Town station, there is a booking office and a shop which sells railway memorabilia, books, Thomas the Tank Engine items and model railway items which are sold by members of the association. This shop too is also only open during the operating season.
At present there is no connection to the main line: there are two 60 ft sections of track uplifted. However, there are long-term plans to reconnect to the mainline; there were discussions about this between the K&DRA, the local MSP Richard Lochhead and Transport Scotland in the autumn of 2015.

Rolling stock

NumberClassNameYear acquiredPrevious OperatorLiveryStatus
Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 Diesel HydraulicNo.415August 2015ex-Castle Donington Power StationBlue
English Electric 0-6-0 DMSpirit O'Fife15 March 2000ex-Scottish Grain DistillersJ&B Cream
Clayton 0-4-0 DMThe Wee Macex-Royal Navy Dockyard, RosythGreen
51568+52053Class 108Spirit of BanffshireSummer 2001ex-British RailBR Green
53628+54223Class 108Spirit of Speyside7 March 2000ex-British RailBR Green
56224Class 108"Dram Tram"17 March 2010ex-British RailBR GreenBuilt in 1959. - Renovated in 2022 as a Whisky Bar
140001Class 1401994ex-British RailBR Rail Blue and GreyFormed of 55500+55501. Prototype
144022Class 1444 September 2020ex-Northern TrainsNorthern Rail UnbrandedFormed of 55821+55858+55844.
UnknownClass 107September 2023ex-British Rail, Strathspey Railway Strathspey Blue LiveryRecently Purchased for Repair
UnknownClass 107September 2023ex-British Rail, Strathspey Railway Strathspey Blue LiveryRecently Purchased for Repair

The railway also owns two BR Mk1 Coaches No81295 and No975758, and a Mk2f TSO. The Mk2f arrived to replace the two Pullman coaches that were returned south.
The Keith and Dufftown also has 3 Canadian Sprinters which could be used to inspect the line. In addition, there is a variety of permanent way wagons, including 2 "Grampus" wagons, a "Dogfish" ballast wagon, a "Salmon" wagon and a guard's van.