Philorth by the Loch

The field adjacent to Philorth Halt is currently so badly flooded that the station appears to be by  the lochside.

Waterlogged fields by the Line at Philorth, looking south towards Rathen Station.

Logierieve: A Dastardly Deed

 Logierieve Station pictured on a sunny  day in June 2011.
The station is built on the site of a former dame's school.

Logierieve is to the west of the station. 

Rev William Temple, writing in The Thanage of Fermartyn, published in 1894, gives an interesting insight into the huge impact of the railway in transforming rural Aberdeenshire and relieving the isolation of many settlements. 

'Logierieve is situated on a rising ground overlooking what in days of old was called the 'Great Moss of Logierieve'. The prospect used to be very somber, but now with the railway trains continually passing and repassing, its solitariness has been much relieved.' 

In the 17th century Logierieve, then known as Logieruiff was the home of William Hay. Hay's brother Francis had been involved in a long drawn out and acrimonious quarrel  with his former friend, Adam Gordon of Gight, twice during the course of the disagreement swords were drawn and twice  Hay was  overcome by Gordon who twice spared him.  However, the quarrel  culminated in Adam Gordon being shot in the back by  the riled Hay.  Gordon of Gight, brother of Adam,  then took matter's into his own hands, rode to Logieruiff  and without obtaining a warrant ,proceeded to seize Francis Hay, took him to Aberdeen  where he was  imprisoned  in his own lodgings in the Gallowgate, 'The Bonnie Wifie's Inn'. After being imprisoned there for forty-eight hours , Hay was brought before the Sheriff Depute of the city, a Gordon clansman. This was a highly irregular trial at which Hay was unrepresented, death threats having been made to an advocate who offered to act for him. At the trial Hay was condemned to be beheaded and next day 'was led to a solitary spot and butchered by the swords of his enemies'.  William Temple,  Thanage of Fermertyn, Aberdeen 1894.

On the south side of the station the Line cuts through Logierieve Wood and is flanked by willows which provided pleasant shade on the day we walked this section..

Strichen Community Park to Viewbank Bridge, McEwans Ale.

A rare day, cold and crisp with a thick hoar frost, perfect for walking the Line, we walked from  from the Lodge at Strichen Community park to Viewbank Bridge returning along Brewery Road. There was very little breeze and beautiful clear light. Almost all deciduous trees are now bare, those coppery golden leaves persisting on beech trees along the Line blazed in the sunlight.Sections of the Line were very wet indeed and we almost paddled through icy water in places. As usual there were many small birds, including long tailed tits in the lineside trees, particularly close to the coniferous wood close to the Lodge and we heard a buzzard over Borrohill Wood.

Morning frost on the field in front of the brewery which gave Brewery Road its name. Latterly the brewery functioned as a bottling plant.

 

Original label from a bottle of McEwan's pale ale bottled at the brewery  in Strichen

Looking back along the Line from the point closet to Strichen House. The White Horse and Hunter's Lodge are just visible on Mormond Hill. The coppery leaves are on beech trees.

White frost on grass and cow parsley 

Fraserburgh (Authentic Dunes Course) Golf Club

After crossing the B9033 the first mile of the Formartine Buchan Way runs alongside the historic Fraserburgh Golf Course. Golf has a long history in Fraserburgh. The Parish Kirk Session is recorded as having disciplined a boy, John Burnett,  for playing golf on the Sabbath in Fraserburgh in 1613.

Fraserburgh Golf Course has the distinction of being the only golf course in the world still existing under its original name. Founded on 14th April 1777 by 'nineteen of the most prominent landed gentry in the north east of Scotland', the club is also the 7th oldest golf club in the world, the 5th oldest in Scotland and the oldest club  north of St Andrews. 

Originally the course was situated on the Fraserburgh Links and consisted of only nine holes. This course became overcrowded and play was frequently interrupted so, following a  gift of land from Lord Salton, the course moved to its present location in 1891. The golf club website describes playing the wildly undulating course being an experience close to how golfing must have been a century ago.

 The present club house was opened in 2006, a fire having destroyed its predecessor in 2004. 

Looking across the course from the Line. Corbie Hill is in the distance on the far side of the road, Rose Hill which gives its name to the 9 hole course in the foreground is under the conifers.

 The course closest to the railway line is the 9 hole Rosehill Course, the 18 hole Corbie Hill course on the far side of the B9033 stretches along Fraserburgh Bay  to the Water of Philorth Local Nature Reserve.

The line south of the Fraserburgh Golf Club clubhouse looking towards  Philorth Halt with Philorth Woods on the right

Ellon Viaduct to Logierieve

The stone viaduct over the Ythan  at Ellon. This bridge which originally had three arches, collapsed following a landslide on 3rd February 1861, delaying the opening of the Line to Maud until it could be rebuilt -this time with four arches. 

This, the last section of our walk, began just beyond the viaduct where the A920 crosses the Line. It was  a beautiful autumnal morning, as can be seen from the photograph of the bridge, many trees are starting to turn and the margins of Line were  bright with scarlet rose hips and russet willow herb leaves, their plumed, feathery seeds drifting gently about. The first part of the walk south took us alongside Gallows Hill of Utlaw from whence, historically, 'pot and gallows law' was dispensed twice yearly.

The ruins of Esslemont Castle beside the A920 to the west of the Line. The original moated castle dated from the 14th century but was destroyed by fire in 1493 during a feud between the Cheynes and the Hays. This tower in the south east angle, dates from 1570-90. Originally built by the Mareschals  the castle passed to the Cheynes then in 1625 to the Errolls but was sold to the Gordons in 1728 and finally abandoned in 1769 in favour of nearby Esslemont House .

Esslemont Station from the north. Both this station and Logierieve are quite isolated. Esslemont was also a single platform station, the station building provided accommodation for the station agent with the bedroom in the roof space.

A geranium, with unusually rounded leaves, probably an escapee from the station garden, growing on the verge by Esslemont Station

Looking west to Bennachie across fields were harvest was going on.

Grey Granite especially liked the look of this ruined cottage close to the Line near  Hillhead of Mosstown,
 imagining  cottar bairnies standing by the house to wave at steam trains on the Line.

Geese filling the sky near the splendidly named Dukes Boots Wood


A highlight not only of this section of the walk, but of the whole journey, was standing on the Line and suddenly being surrounded by thousands of honking, clamorous geese who took to the sky as we approached. The noise was tremendous as they wheeled overhead.

A pheasant, just retreating into the willow herb, one of many on the track opposite Dukes Boots Wood

A late foxglove, these together with bright rosehips, the duller red of haws and the drifting seed plumes of rosebay willowherb characterize long stretches of the Line in autumn.

Rosebay willowherb seed heads

The Prop of Ythsie, a memorial to the forth Earl of Aberdeen, George Hamilton Gordon, Prime Minister 1852-1855 who became involved in the Crimean War.

Logierieve Station, looking north with the clock stopped at 5 to 7. 

The Newburgh to Old Meldrum Road Bridge can be seen on the extreme left. Logierieve was a single platform station with a small goods yard and was originally called Newburgh Road but was renamed about 3 months after opening - the village of Newburgh being about 5 miles to the east.

Passing under the bridge at Logierieve to reach the old platform Rufus and I reached the point on the Line which we had reached walking north from Dyce in 2011 and completed our 108 mile walk along the whole of the Formartine and Buchan Way in both directions. As we turned back to retrace our steps to Ellon the sun came out, bathing the Line north of the bridge in light, this seemed a good omen. 

Rufus

Amicus fedelis protectico fortis

Grey Granite first travelled the railway line from Aberdeen to Fraserburgh by steam train in the summer of 1951 and did so every year until Dr Beeching closed it  to passenger trains in 1965. Associated as this rail journey was with the longed for annual return  home to Buchan the Line has great significance for Grey Granite. Our walk has been a long enjoyable journey of discovery on many levels.

Crosshill Bridge, over the Ellon Viaduct to the A920

Looking south down the Line from Crosshill Bridge, where this walk, probably the penultimate section of our journey, began. The out buildings of Auchterellon Farm and the roofs of the outskirts of Ellon can just be seen on the skyline.

The short section of Line from the bridge to Auchterellon runs through a cutting, the sides of which are thickly covered in vegetation, now 'going over'. There dominant species on the embankments is willow herb,  interspersed with brambles and rasps, marsh thistles and gowans, trefoils and occasionally orpine.

Orpine (Sedum telephinium)

Ragged Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi)

Small Lady's-mantle (Alchemillia glaucescens)

Quite suddenly, after we had passed under a bridge by Auchterellon Farm, we found ourselves walking along the back fences of houses, we could hear that it was playtime at Aucterllon School.

Some houses had artificial flowers in the garden, others, like this were well tended and full of riotously colourful carpet bedding 

The MacDonald Golf Course on the western side of the Line opposite the Auchterellon Estate.

The golf course covers about 40 acres within McDonald Park which was gifted to the town of Ellon  by Sir James Gordon McDonald, KCB, OBE. Born in 1867, McDonald progressed from school in Ellon to Gordon's College in Aberdeen and went on to rise to prominence in  Rhodesia where he supervised mines and cattle ranches for  Cecil Rhodes. This land, which he purchased in 1919, had originally been part of the Ellon Castle estate. Sir James used part of the land to build a retirement home for his parents, laying out woodland,  a park   and the 40 acre golf course in the remainder. The 9 hole golf course was designed by Stewart Burns, a golf professional from Cruden Bay and was officially opened on 1 June 1928 and a year later gifted to the council to be held in trust for the people of Ellon.

The remains of the once busy Ellon Station.

The platform on the left, the up (Aberdeen) platform became an island platform  in 1897 when Ellon became a junction for a branch line to Boddam. The south end of this platform now serves as a garden area for a block of flats built hard against the down line.

This substantial granite structure at the north end of the station is the base of a water tank.

Ellon Station was opened in 1861, the railway passed a little to the west of the town centre, shifting the main focus of the community from the Square to the area close to the station. Not only the hotel but also a tannery, two auction marts and the hospital were soon established in the vicinity of the station. Rather grand dwellings, used as summer residences by wealthy Aberdonians were built on Station Road. The former goods yard to the east of the station is now occupied by an industrial development.

Historically Ellon was regarded as the gateway to Buchan: This was the furthest point downstream that the Ythan could be crossed by ford and ferry. The status of burgh granted the right to hold a thriving market which brought trade from the rich agricultural hinterland. The arrival of the railway opened the countryside up, creating relatively rapid transport links with the ports of Fraserburgh and Peterhead,  the city of Aberdeen and intermediate villages. So Ellon became a dormitory town this continued with the arrival of the oil industry in the NE and is still clearly reflected in the pattern of housing expansion seen as one walks the Line across the town.

The wonderfully baronial Station Hotel , built in 1891, overlooked the station and reflects the confidence with which Ellon expanded to the west following the coming  of the railway.

Following his retirement McDonald divided his time between Rhodesia and the Station Hotel which included a wing constructed and retained for his  exclusive use. During WW2 he joined the Ellon Home Guard but also served as an intelligence officer, perishing on 7th December  1942 when SS Ceramic, on which he was sailing to South Africa, was torpedoed by a German U-boat. McDonald left a bequest of £30,000 to be used to establish an art gallery and museum in Salisbury. This, with additional funding, facilitated the establishment of what was eventually to become the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.

The Ellon viaduct carries the line over the Ythan. The remains of one of the original railway telegraph posts can be seen 

The viaduct originally had three arches over the river, the laying of the keystone of the third and final arch by Charles N Gordon of Esslemount took place with great ceremony on October 2nd 1860. However, the foundations of the abutment on the south bank of the river were built into  soft clay  which proved unstable, causing the the bridge to collapse one Sunday afternoon, fortunately before the Line was open  The opening of the railway was delayed until a four arched replacement viaduct  could be built. By the time a statutory Board of Trade inspection of the line was carried out by Col Yolland on 10th and 11th July 1861 the centering had only been removed for three weeks and there was already some evidence of subsidence. Col Yolland approved the bridge but insisted that it should be carefully monitored and train services began on the line on 18th July 1861.There were no further mishaps.

From the crossing with Craigs Road (B9005) the Line is raised on an embankment from which one looks over the rooftops of newer housing developments, bisected by the Ythan, seen here from the viaduct.

Foresters Terrace seen from the railway viaduct, the grand baronial building in the centre  of the picture is Auchtercrag.

Foresters Terrace is thought to have been built by The Ancient Order of Foresters, a friendly society. The site of the new houses behind the terrace was once occupied by a plant nursery and florists.

Auchtercrag was built set back from Commercial Road  in 1894 for William Smith who had a  boot and shoe factory close by. The house has changed hands many times in the intervening years having been unoccupied for some time before being bought by Gordon District Council in 1987. It has been restored and converted into seven flats known as the Auchtercrag Development. The boot factory was taken over by the McLaren Brothers in 1904 and specialised in producing heavy farm boots marketed as 'The Clan' boot. Clan boots were made of waterproof leather and had tackets on the soles and  iron toe and heel plates and were a huge success for the factory until the arrival of the wellington boot drastically reduced demand. Lighter boots were also made for Kingseat and Cornhill Hospitals. There is now a residential home for the elderly on the site of the boot factory.

South Lodge Arnage to Crosshill

Within a short distance of our  starting point by  the south lodge of Arnage Castle the Ebrie and the Line, which had run side by side for several miles, diverged. Grey Granite headed south towards Gallowhill of Ellon, a farm close to the Line, reached  from the outer world by  a bridge over the Line which runs through a cutting at this point.

The farm takes its grisly name from Gallow Hill which rises  to the east of the farm steading.  Grey Granite was pleased to come upon a young mum and two toddlers picking the brambles in the cutting by the farm. She said that berries from the Line  made far better jam than those from anywhere else.

Looking towards Gallowshill from the south, Kirkhill on the left

 The Great north of Scotland Railway Guide of 1881 states that,  'on the brow of the hill is a clump of trees, marking the spot where the gallows stood in the old days when lairds had the power of 'pit and gallows.' The Ebrie is thought to have been used as 'the pot' for drownings.

Railway Bridge Croft seen through all that remains of the railway bridge from which its name is taken

A storm moves in from the west over Bennachie

Bridge over the Line at Crosshill.

The pale mauve buddleja on the left embankment is one of the very few Grey Granite has seen on the F&B Way although they are dense long railway lines further south. Originally a garden plant' butterfly bushes' were first noted as escapees in South Wales in 1921. This plant was attracting small tortoiseshells and small whites, there were meadow browns amongst the willowherb which flourishes extensively in the cuttings along this section

The remains of the windmill at Hilton of Turnerhall Farm

Grey Granite left the Line at the Cookston Bridge in search of a parking place for the next section of the walk down to Ellon. From the bridge the conspicuous pink granite stump of the ill fated Hilton Windmill can be seen. This windmill was built in 1787 or 1825 in order to drive  a threshing machine. The lower section is octagonal and is 30 feet high, above it is a 20 feet high circular section. The sails were blown off the windmill in January 1879 during the same storm which was responsible for the Tay Bridge disaster. Subsequently the windmill was capped and horses were used to power the mill before being replaced by a stationary engine which set fire to the timber fittings in the windmill.

Savoch to Arnage Bradshaw's Handbook

'Aberdeenshire, which is one of the most extensive counties in Scotland....forms the north-east corner of the island, being the eastern-most part of a large triangle, which juts far out into the German Ocean....The greater part of it may be denominated a level plain, agreeably diversified by irregular depressions, and gently swelling slopes, forming a congeries of little knolls, with vales between, each intersected by its little rill, so as to exhibit the scenery, the general appearance of which is tolerably uniform, though its particular features are varied at every step.'

The description above, from Bradshaw's Descriptive Railway Handbook of Great Britain and Ireland, originally published in 1863, but reissued in facsimile earlier this year, perfectly fits this pleasant section of the Line. There was nothing dramatic, just pleasant, unspoiled rolling farmland basking, when Grey Granite and Rufus walked it in August heat.

 We headed south joining the Line at  Burngrains Bridge walking out of Buchan and into Formartine

The Line gently curves along the valley cut out by the Ebrie, following heavy showers the previous day the burn was running fast and babbled alongside the Line for much of our route. The main  watercourse is joined by several nameless tributaries. Place names in the immediate vicinity and the frequency of  mills along this short stretch of the  Line indicate that the power of the water was put to good use in the past, Milton of Inkhorn, Waulkmill of Savoch, Mill of Towie Miltown of Drumwhindle. Waulkmill, Cardinghill and Lintrigs indicate the importance of grain and textile industries.

Modern wind turbines replace the old watermills throughout  the district

Frog bit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae) in the Ebrie

This frog-bit is the first Grey Granite has ever seen, peered at through binoculars the white flowers are beautiful, reminiscent of Grass of Parnassus, seeing this was  a highlight of the whole Walking the Line project.

A concrete Linesman's hut by a bridge giving passage to fields on either side of the Line near Waulkmill of Auchnagatt

The platform at Arnage Station is now very overgrown and could easily be overlooked.  There were stone station buildings on the downside (west) at Arnage Station, these are now largely hidden by fencing and trees, houses have been built in the station yard.

On the East of the track are the extensive wooded policies of Arnage Castle, the castle itself is hidden by the trees.

A linesman's hut at the southern end of the  platform below doing duty as a garden shed at Arnage

 A loading platform to the west of the main platform at Arnage. A passing loop was added sometime after the station opened in July 1861