The GNoSR agreed to take over the running of the network as soon as the Morayshire constructed a viaduct across the Spey connecting with the GNoSR's Dufftown line. The direct link between Elgin and Rothes opened to passengers on 1 January 1862 (freight traffic had opened a day earlier) while the viaduct over the River Spey—constructed at a cost of £12,199 1s 4d—was completed on 1 June 1863 joining the GNoSR controlled track at Craigellachie on 1 July. The original station was now renamed "Dandaleith" and the new one assumed the "Craigellachie" name. In 1866 the GNoSR took over the track and without consultation with the Morayshire, closed the Rothes to Orton line to passenger traffic—much to the Morayshire's annoyance. By a series of small Speyside railways, nominally independent but controlled by the GNoSR, it joined track with the Morayshire Railway at Craigellachie and finally got its independent route to Elgin. On 30 July 1866, the GNoSR was granted consent to consolidate its series of small Speyside companies and to take the Morayshire Railway under its full ownership when terms and the debt issues had been resolved.