Ballater Station
The royal station for Balmoral Castle built in 1886 and now a visitor centre, listed Grade B.
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Station Square, Ballater AB35 5PB
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Visit website
When the Deeside line was built as far as Ballater in 1866 it had been intended to continue as far as Braemar. However Queen Victoria did not wish the railway to pass through the royal estate and so the extension beyond Ballater was terminated. Ballater became a terminus. A road bridge at the terminal end of the platform is evidence of the further mile of line constructed before the project was aborted.
In 1886 it was felt that the queen deserved rather better accomodation at the station and so the drawings for Wolferton Station near Sandringham in Norfolk were sent for. However the Great North of Scotland Railway considered these to be too lavish and accordingly built the present rather modest and ramshackle building. The only concession to royalty was a porte cochere over the doorway.
It stands today intact but no longer connected to the railway system and is in use as a visitor centre.
Photo credits: Ben Brooksbank, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons; GORDON LYON/ABERDEENSHIRE COUNCIL
By road: Near the corner of Bridge Street on Station Square in the centre of Ballater.
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