Deeside Line Typical Station (Crathes)

The Deeside Railway carried passengers and goods from Aberdeen to Ballater. It also served Braemar and was renowned for transporting the British Royal Family to their summer holiday residence in Braemar castle.

The line was opened between 1853 and 1866 but was closed in 1966.

Several stations along the line were based on a typical design. The kit is based on Crathes but similar buildings were found at Lumphanan, Glassel, and Park.

This bespoke 2 x A4 3mm plywood sheet (1 x 0.8m ply sheets) model has been designed in 1/76 scale to represent these lovely small buildings.

With thanks to Graeme Maxtone for drawings and photos

The base size for the station is 132 x214,  ( to help with layout designs)

The building requires glue. Choose a glue that allows at least a minute before setting to allow adjustments to be made during the build. Always test the build before using glue.

For finishing, we recommend first priming the surface, then painting with any acrylic or model paint of your choice. The material is etched, so any engraved detail such as brickwork or roof tiles will be visible after painting.

Important information about railway scaling: 

All kits are designed in OO Gauge on 3mm plywood, so there are a few considerations to be made when scaling the digital files to other Gauges. The instructions provided will be the OO version as the build order is the same at different scales.

O Gauge Orders: When scaling to O gauge, there are manual modifications that may need to be made when assembling the kit. This is due to the thickness of the plywood when scaling the kit from the OO gauge material of 3mm to the O gauge 5.25mm material that would be needed. As this thickness of ply does not exist, we undersize the material to the closest thickness we have of 4mm plywood and recommend dry fitting the build first so that any joints that need to be sanded for a flush finish can be noted.

N Gauge Orders: Scaling to N gauge works well and has no extra modifications needed due to material thickness. Some parts will be very fine, so take care when removing them from the frame. If some window pieces are particularly fine, they can be reinforced by soaking them in glue before assembly.

TT Gauge Orders: Scaling to TT requires slightly more modifications of the designs before cutting, so please contact us if you’re interested in a kit, and we can provide you a quote at info@popupdesigns.co.uk.

Any other questions, tips or enquiries please don’t hesitate to contact us via our email address or contact form. 

This kit is designed by Iain Ross and sold by PopUp Designs with his permission.