Parkhill Station and Gavin Greig

Parkhill Station has all but disappeared. It is marked by the remains of the single platform on the upside of the track and two tall stately yew trees growing close to the line on the downside where once there was a small goods yard. The station was built to serve the surrounding countryside rather than a particular community and closed to passengers in 1950, the goods yard survived until 1961.From Parkhill the only section of double track on the Formartine and Buchan Line ran for about 1.5 miles to Elrick signal box. This short section was probably put in place to prevent all important fish being delayed by pasenger trains. The downhill section of track from New Machar to Parkhill, where speeds of almost 70 m.ph. could be reached, was one of the fastest stretches of track on the whole of the Buchan Line.

The remains of the large signal gantry at Elrick.The short section of double track ended at Elrick. Here on the downside of the track, a huge concrete plinth and two iron sockets set into the embankment are all that remains of a signal gantry. This signal had 6 arms and in the 1950s was used for eyesight testing.

Gavin Greig, was  born 10th Feb 1856, the son of a forester on the Parkhill Estate, he could claim to be a distant relative of Robert Burns on his mother's side and of Evard Grieg on his father's side. A typical 'lad o' pairts' he attended Aberdeen University before becoming school master at Whitehill near New Deer teaching there until his death in 1914. Greig became the  foremost collector of NE folk songs collecting over 3,000 folk songs and tunes, many of which were eventually published in a monumental  8 volume collection. His Doric play, 'Mains Wooin' was very popular before World War 2 and is still occasionally performed.