Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Village built around
The Angus community created by its railway
THE village of Monikie grew up around the railway station before the trains vanished and the old lines fell silent.
During its heyday the station was the stop-off point for “picnic specials” to what is now called Monikie Country Park.
The station entrance was practically opposite the park.
Before the arrival of the railway very few people lived there, and it is hard to overstate the impact the burgeoning new industry had on the parish.
Trains came to Monikie with the opening of the Dundee and Forfar Direct Railway. Planning and building of the branch line proved an immense task and scores of labourers were needed.
The first official goods train came up the newly completed line in August 1870.
Journeys on the 17-mile stretch took one hour and five minutes and included three stations – Kingennie, Kirkbuddo and Kingsmuir.
The Caledonian Railway wanted to build a station between Kingennie and Kirkbuddo at Monikie, which was “absolutely refused” by the Dundee Water Company over fears of potential contamination of the drinking water supply.
The provision of passenger services relied on a positive verdict from Captain Henry Tyler of the Board of Trade, who visited in October 1870. He was unhappy on a number of counts, particularly with the signalling arrangements and two bridges which needed to be strengthened.
His recommendations were followed and passenger services started on November 14.
In March 1871, after a petition by the residents of Monikie and a settlement being reached with the water company, work started on a station. Built at a cost of £1,191, it was finished later the same year.
The late Rev Douglas Chisholm was minister of Monikie Parish Church until 1983 and researched the history of the parish.
In his 1982 book The Monikie Story he described how the coming of the railway led to the rise of the village. He wrote: “It had three consequences.
“It opened up the parish in a new way, it allowed people much more freedom of movement and – at the same time – enabled the farming industry and trade in general to develop and compete in a growing industrial Scotland.
“Secondly, it gave rise to the village of Monikie.
“Thirdly, it meant the working of the Broomwell Quarry from which the stone for the railway was taken. It also made possible the siting and building of the mill which, with the railway on its doorstep, had easy access to the markets.”
He went on: “Until the railway came, there were no houses around except for Broomwell Farm, its 60 acres being farmed by John McKay who died in 1877.
“Thus, in all by 1881, there were 18 houses in Monikie village and by 1891, this figure had risen to 22.
“In less than 20 years, the village had come into being round the railway, a visible reminder of the Victorian Age.”
The station was the scene of many family welcomes and partings, including a great many Monikie men leaving to serve in the armed forces during the First World War.
The July 1922 edition of Bradshaw’s Railway Guide shows eight trains calling at Monikie between 7.20am and 9.17pm. Eight trains left in the opposite direction for Dundee, from 6.58am to 8.24pm.
Mr Chisholm said Monikie seemed to prosper, writing: “In its heyday it was a busy one with a good number of passenger trains daily, some of them filled with commuters and schoolchildren to and from Dundee.
“Excursion trains regularly brought crowds to the waterworks for picnics.”
The sleepy station was awakened in August 1926 when a serious fire was averted after a wooden carriage caught fire.
Four Forfar youths on their way to Dundee had a narrow escape when the roof of the wooden carriage they were in was struck by a flying spark.
Half-suffocated by the smoke and alarmed by the flames, the