The stations were The Inverness & Nairn Railway was authorised in 1854 to build a railway from Inverness to Nairn.

In the aftermath of the railway mania railway companies became an unpopular investment and the necessary finance could not be raised.

The railway was officially opened on 19 September, and two locomotives hauling twenty-five carriages carrying 400 passengers left Kittybrewster at 11 am.

The number of passengers had grown to about 650 by the time the train arrived to a celebration at Huntly at pm. The railway was single track with passing loops at the termini and at Kintore, Inverurie and Insch; the loop at Kittybrewster was clear of the platform to allow the locomotive to run round the carriages and push them into the station.

By 1867 it owned route miles (364.1 km) of line and operated over a further 61 miles (98 km).

The early expansion was followed by a period of forced economy, but in the 1880s the railway was refurbished, express services began to run and by the end of that decade there was a suburban service in Aberdeen.