their trains for them. On 30 July 1866, the GNoSR obtained an Act of Parliament authorising it to amalgamate with several associated railways, including the K&DR and the Strathspey Railway; this took place on 1 August 1866. Grouping, nationalisation and closure The railways of Great Britain were grouped into one or other of four new large railway companies, following the Railways Act 1921. The process took place in 1923 and was referred to as the grouping and the GNoSR was a constituent of the new London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). This process was followed in 1948 by nationalisation of the railways, when the LNER and others were taken into British Railways. For some time as Fenwick comments, "this did not bring any immediate change in operations". However mounting losses on the railways, as business transferred to road transport, were not sustainable, and the passenger service on the former Kieth and Dufftown line closed on 6 May 1968. Ordinary goods traffic also declined, but Dufftown continued as a coal depot until 1971. A bulk grain terminal was set up there in 1966, but that traffic ended in the early 1980s. The line was disused for some years, being formally closed to goods traffic at the end of 1984. An organisation called Grampian Railtours started operating charter passenger excursions from Aberdeen to Dufftown, visiting distilleries, from 1984 under the brand Northern Belle. These services ended and the line was formally closed on 1 April 1991. Heritage railway In 1993 a heritage railway group, the Keith & Dufftown Railway Association was launched, and in 1998 most of the route was transferred to it. Some train running took place in 2000 and on 18 August 2001 the first train ran throughout over the K&DRA track, between Keith Town and Dufftown. The system continues to run as a heritage railway. Current status A short section between the National Rail Keith station and the Keith Town station is completely disused. The remainder of the route is used by the heritage operator, the Keith and Dufftown Railway. Locations Keith; GNoSR station on main line, opened 11 October 1856 (GNS); renamed Keith Junction 1952/3; reverted to Keith 12 May 1980; still open; Earlsmill; opened 1 April 1862; renamed Keith Town 1 May 1897; closed 6 May 1968; Botriphnie; opened 21 February 1862; renamed Auchindachy October 1862; closed 6 May 1968; Towiemore; opened for distillery workers 9 June