In 1962, Henry Joiner, M.A. ex-Headmaster of both Glamis and NewtyIe Primary Schools, published the following short history of Newtyle, Past and Present*. (I've reproduced it here in text form because it is easier to copy and paste from this format than it is on the original web-site.)
About the time of the long-drawn-out war with France, that ended with (the defeat of Napoleon's armies at Waterloo in 1815, the Auld Toon inhabitants had begun to dwindle in numbers. Tired of their sombre living in houses badly in need of repair and with poverty dogging their efforts to make ends meet, quite a few sought homes in neighbouring towns and in Dundee, with much brighter prospects in view for themselves and their families. To sum it up briefly, they felt they had come to the end of their tether, and a modicum of gloom began to settle on the parish. Yet, the truth of the oft repeated adage, "Every dark cloud has a silver lining" soon made itself apparent in the case of Newtyle, for the benefit of all concerned, and this is how it happened.
The idea of constructing a railway track linking Dundee and Newtyle for the conveyance of goods and passengers actually came into being in December l831, with its terminus in a small field at the foot of the steep Hatton incline, 1000 yards long and a one-in-thirteen gradient. That field was part of a level piece of land approx. 20 acre in area, divided up into other small fields, with sheds, huts. etc., for housing cows, pigs and poultry and, as one old "buddy" remarked - "there wis jist ae hoose wi' a reckin' lum", her quaint way of singling out a human habitation, actually a cottage, said to be "Croftness" in Belmont Street today, though now heightened and modernised to meet present day requirements. While the preliminary difficulties of the railway project were being overcome, the bold idea of building a new village near the Newtyle railway terminus, caught the imagination of parishioners, and, in due course, the older portion of the present village with its modern wide streets, flanked by tenement houses, built of local durable stone from Pitnappie and Kinpurnie quarries, came into being between I830 and l833. Weavers from the old village and others from the "village of Lochee" soon found more comfort in their new abodes and set up their looms to suit their requirements. In fact, there was a veritable boom in the building trade. In addition to the railway station and the extensive wagon repair shop and ticket office near at hand, the local hotel with its three storeys and huge granary above for grain to be transported by rail, showed the wisdom of the railway promoters in their idea of linking Dundee as a seaport with the rich agricultural Valley of Strathmore and the adjoining Glen Valleys, for the disposal of their farm produce.
* link no longer working
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June 2019