Dronley Station- Railway Path

The Walk

This section of the old Dundee and Newtyle Railway has been turned into a superb path, suitable for all users, providing splendid views. In summer you may spot birds like whitethroats and willow warblers. Autumn fruits like brambles and rowans feed thrushes and blackbirds. The track provides a chalky well drained microhabitat for plants like field scabious, knapweed and lady’s bedstraw. Their flowers attract bees and butterflies and nettles feed the caterpillars of the Peacock butterfly. Also look for wall rue, a small fern, on the remains of the station platform and areas covered with ox-eye daisies.Dronley to Rosemill - Leave the car park, cross the road and rejoin the path, passing the platform of Dronley Station, once a busy agricultural produce depot. Further along you will see two bridges, one carrying a road over the path, the other allowing the path to bridge the Dighty Burn.Dronley to North Dronley – Head westwards from the car park through a cutting, where a derailed train was stranded for several days during the 1947 snow storm, to North Dronley where a ramp descends smoothly to a road. Extend your walk to Dronley Wood, see Explore Further, or cross the road to follow Core Path 217 to the site of Auchterhouse Station.

The Story of the Railway:

The Dundee and Newtyle Railway company created the first railway between Dundee and Newtyle (1831) with three sections where trains were drawn up hills by stationary engines, one up the Law in Dundee and hence through a tunnel, one up to Balbeuchley Farm from Rosemill and one up the Hatton incline from Newtyle. These were expensive to run and were abandoned by the 1860s, being bypassed by the railway line as we know it today. The Railway Path occupies the new section of line, created to avoid Balbeuchley incline. The railway was strategically important but never really financially viable. Under British Railways, the Dundee and Newtyle Railway was finally closed in the 1960s, the present path being created in 2008-9.

Further Exploration

A short walk from North Dronley brings you to Dronley Wood. The Forestry Commission Scotland manages this mainly Scots pine wood in association with Auchterhouse Community Woodland Action Group. There are paths in the wood and parking is available. Information is available on www.auchterhouse.com/societies/woodland.htm www.forestry.gov.uk

For led walks along Newtyle Railway Nature Trail contact Angus Council Ranger Service on 01241 860360 (leaflet available).

If you are interested in the Dundee and Newtyle railway in Dundee, there is a leaflet for the Dundee Railway Heritage Trail available from tourist information which describes a 12 mile walk/cycle route along the old lines.