Incorporated on 19 May 1836 to link the two towns, there was also a branch to Almericloss, making 15.25 miles in all. The 5 ft 6 in gauge line, single with passing places, was engineered by Grainger and Miller; it opened from Arbroath to Leysmill on 24 November 1838, and thoughout on 3 January 1839. Locomotives came from the Dundee Foundry Company, owned by James Stirling, uncle of the Patrick who became well known later. The line was leased in perpetuity to the Aberdeen Railway from 1848, but the company was absorbed by neither than concern nor its successor the CR, surviving independently until Grouping.