of rolling stock was considered to be unsuitable for conversion and was sold or scrapped. The locomotives Victoria and Caledonia were converted, but three other engines and much rolling stock was sold at auction on 28 December 1848. Britannia and Princess were purchased by a Canadian company, the Montreal and Lachine Railroad, working there and on the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad until 1859. On 7 July 1847 the first standard gauge trains ran on the A&FR, and work started on converting the gauge of the remaining broad gauge track. The link at Arbroath with the D&AR had been in use for goods trains since 23 December 1847, and passenger trains used the link from 1 February 1848, using a temporary joint station structure at first, and the A&FR station became a goods depot. The Ladyloan D&AR station and the lien approaching it closed immediately. The new permanent joint station opened fully much later, on 14 December 1858. The Aberdeen Railway opens The Aberdeen Railway started operation on 1 February 1848; the Arbroath and Forfar line, leased in perpetuity, was simply a branch of the larger concern, which itself was just one link in a chain of railways. For a period the Aberdeen Railway, itself gripped by shortage of capital, was only open as far north as Bridge of Dun. (The A&FR Company continued in existence, receiving and distributing the lease charge, until 1923.) There was a triangular junction with the A&FR main line; the north apex was at Glasterlaw, with the south (Arbroath) apex at Friockheim; the west apex was at Guthrie. However the Guthrie fork was not properly connected and was not open at first. Friockheim station was not at the apex junction, but a little on the Guthrie side; Aberdeen to Forfar trains therefore passed the junction and reversed to the station to make the call, then continuing on their journey; this practice had been specifically prohibited by the Board of Trade. In fact the majority of the Aberdeen Railway traffic took the Guthrie curve and ran to Perth via Forfar and the SMJR. Much Dundee traffic travelled via Forfar and the Dundee and Newtyle Railway; until October 1849 this still had its own track gauge of 4 ft 6.5in (1,384 mm), so transshipment and change of train were necessary for a few years. The SNER and after The numerous small railway companies in the area would