The Banff, Portsoy and Strathisla Railway opened on 30 July 1859, with a line from Banff to Grange, on the Great North of Scotland Railway main line, with a branch from Tillynaught to Portsoy. On 1 February 1863 the GNoSR took over services and the railway renamed the Banffshire Railway.
Moray Coast Line
A new station was built at Portsoy for the through line, which opened, together with a extension to Tochieneal, on 1 April 1884. The Countess of Seafield had not allowed a direct route to be built through Cullen House policies and to avoid the estate lands several bridges were and an impressive viaduct at Cullen had to be built. The Moray Coast Line opened on 1 May 1886, through Aberdeen to Elgin services called at Tillynaught. In 1923 the Great North of Scotland Railway was absorbed by the London and North Eastern Railway and railway nationalisation followed in 1948, services then being delivered by British Railways. The station and the line via Buckie was recommended for closure by Dr Beeching's in The Reshaping of British Railways, closed on 6 May 1968.
The station infrastructure
In 1866-7 the station apparently had no sidings, possessing an island platform and only two buildings indicated. By 1902 the junction had two signal boxes, a pedestrian footbridge, a weighing machine and a complex arrangement of sidings and points. The Tillnaught Junction signalling diagram for 1934 shows a single wooden signal box, two sidings on the Banff side and the sign stated Change for Ladysbridge and Banff. The island platform once had an impressive overall canopy that had been removed by 1960. After closure the station buildings were demolished and the platforms infilled. The nearby station master's house and ancillary houses have been converted into a private dwelling.
Services
Tillynaught had six trains a day to Portsoy after being taken over by the GNoSR, three of these reversed and continued to Banff. Tochieneal had services from when the line reached there in 1886. The Moray Coast Line was served by four through trains a day between Aberdeen to Elgin and these trains called at Tillynaught. Portsoy was served by four Aberdeen to Inverness trains in the summer of 1948, with a mid-day Keith Town to Inverness service and an evening service from Aberdeen that terminated at Elgin. There were three through services from Inverness to Aberdeen, a service from Lossiemouth and Elgin to Aberdeen and a Saturday service from Inverness to Keith that after 19 June was accelerated and extended to Aberdeen. There were no Sunday services.
Micro-history
The station was located in a very rural area and was named after a local farm and water mill.
