Official Opening of the Formartine Buchan Way

It seems quite extraordinary that yesterday a pseudo celebration - the official opening of the Formartine Buchan Way - was held at Maud Station almost a year after the last section of the footpath, Maud to Brucklay, was completed. According to a report in today's Press and Journal, the Provost of Aberdeenshire, Jill Webster, visited the station yesterday to officially open the walkway. There appears to have been no obvious advance publicity of the event and at the station today no commemorative plaque was apparent. Such  a low key and tardy ceremony seems quite pointless and appears to beg the question of the Council's embarrassment and ambivalent position given their support for a feasibility study to consider reinstating the railway on the line.

 There was nothing to indicate that the Formartine Buchan Way is officially open beyond this attractive information  board, one of several placed strategically along the Line in recent months.

Maud Station today, the WW2 air raid shelter and beyond it  the Railway Museum which is housed in the station buildings on the island platform. 

GNSR glass at Knockando

An excellent talk, A Virtual Trip Along the Buchan Line', given in St Drostan's Church, Old Deer recently by the GNSRA archivist, Mike Cooper mentioned that the beautiful stained glass, which was a standard feature of waiting rooms on GNSR lines including the Buchan Line, can still be seen at Knockando Station on the Speyside Line. A recent rip to Nethy Bridge provided opportunity to visit Knockando.

The station is now owned by the nearby Tamdhu distillery and has been restored and renamed. The buildings are well preserved and display the beautiful glass.When we visited the sun was shinning through the building illuminating the window glass. The waiting room is now just an empty shell having been used as a community shop for a time. 

There are spectacular views of the Spey from the platform

 The jewel like colours of the textured glass are stunning when seen in bright sunlight

 They are reminiscent of  Charles Rennie Mackintosh and put modern station design to shame.

 The signal box, we liked the detail of the brickwork on the chimney and the entrance porch on stilts.

Maud change for Fraserburgh

Maud Railway Museum, opened in 1995 and housed in part of the station buildings on the central platform at Maud, regularly  holds a series of weekend open afternoons over the summer months. A visit to this busy little museum is always worthwhile for anyone who remembers the days of the Buchan Line.

 Maud was the junction of lines running to Aberdeen, Fraserburgh and Peterhead.

This sign would have been on the Peterhead platform.

Model of the layout of Maud Station on display in the museum.
Peterhead trains used the nearest side platforms, those on the far side were for Fraserburgh. Carriages bound for Fraserburgh on trains running through from Aberdeen to Peterhead were uncoupled just south of the station to be taken on to the Fraserburgh Line. The goods yard behind the station largely catered for cattle serving the mart.

Poster commemorating 150 years of the Formartine and Buchan Railway. 

The line reached Maud from Dyce in 1861 and was extended to Peterhead by July 1862. The Fraserburgh branch opened in March 1865

GNSR curved brass pillar plate, probably from a main office 

The Uncommon Herd: William Presslie of Arnage

Looking across the valley of the Ebrie from close to the present South Lodge of Arnage Castle

William Presslie was born in 1832 at the porter Lodge of House of Arnage 5 miles north  of Ellon. This had  a small croft attached and was close to the woods of Arnage about a mile away from the present South Lodge  by Arnage Station. Until the age of about 10, William received a very basic education of varying quality at  a variety of country schools. His education was frequently   interrupted by the need to work seasonally as a herd loon, looking after 'free range' cattle at local farms .

At the age of 24  William wrote an autobiography which has been edited by his great grandson Ian William Platt and was published as  'The Uncommon Herd' in 2012. In this William gives  a fascinating picture of life in the area lamenting the  effect the  enclosure of land had on poor families: 'When I was a boy every farmer required one or two persons to keep his cattle: now wire and wooden palings, hawthorn and holly hedges, and stone and earthen fences perform the work formerly assigned to the herd boy. This was a serious loss to many poor people with large families especially in the country. Although they got but little wages for herding still their meat (food) even was considered  a great deal...it was an excellent thing for boys intended for farm servants...it  seasoned them to endure cold and rainy weather.'

The view along the Line from Burngrains Bridge.

During William's own childhood there was, in the vicinity of his grandmother's house at Burngrains, a shop where,  on Tuesdays,  a merchant from Clochcan traded in an astonishingly wide range of   commodities. At the shop he bought farm produce -'butter, cheese, eggs, calves, swine, grain, honey etc' for 'a miscellaneous assortment of goods, besides groceries  ropes, tar, sweeties, oil, candles, lamps, lanterns, dishes of all sorts, combs, needles, thread, worsted, all sorts of cloth worn in the country, mittens, pots marbles, pigs, mousetraps, cutlery, bones of manure, guano, coats etc...as his trade was extensive and his profits extraordinary he was at this time very rich.'

William's autobiography is well written and provides a fascinating account of the daily life of rural working class life in 19th century Aberdeenshire. The daily hardships which were endured before the days of waterproof clothing, electric light, easy transport  and instant heating are salutary.

The Uncommon Herd may be purchased from Amazon as a print or ebook or directly from Ian Platt via his website   http://scottishsocialhistory-autobiography.blogspot.co.uk/