Esslemont in the 1930s

Esslemont Station was one of the few two storey station buildings on the Line. Because of its isolated position accommodation for the agent was incorporated in the building. Between 1926 and 1946 James Watson was the Porter in Charge at Esslemont, his daughter Annie still lives in Ellon and brought these photographs along to an event held in Ellon Library to launch 'Walking the Line: A curious Walker's Guide to the Formartine Buchan Way'.

Porter in Charge James Watson standing in the doorway of the waiting room at Esslemont, probably in the 1920s. Note the station name  above the doorway.

Annie's parents and dog Flossie on the station platform in the 1930s.

Photograph taken during the 1930s showing James Watson Porter in charge from 1926-1946 standing in the doorway of the station house with his wife and daughter Annie. The house was so close to the line that it shook when trains passed through the station. The station closed completely on 15th September 1952.

Walking the Line at Maud

Last night Fraserburgh Library hosted a talk introducing Walking the Line  followed by a signing session. This event was very well attended and very well received thanks to the library staff who went to enormous lengths to ensure that it was a success.   

The next book event is a signing at Maud Railway Museum on Saturday and Sunday 11 & 12 July from 1.00 - 3.30 pm. 

Copies of 'Walking the Line. A Curious Walkers Guide to the Formartine Buchan Way' are now available from Better Read in Ellon, Dyga's Newsagent and Stephen's Newsagent and the Heritage Centre and Museum of Scottish Lighthouses in Fraserburgh, the shop at Aden Park, Happy Plant Garden Centre, Mintlaw and Bookends in Grantown on Spey or by post from the GNSRA.

Walking the Line: Book launch

I am looking forward to giving a series of talks about the book in libraries along the route of the Formartine and Buchan Way.

Copies on sale shortly.

These have been arranged by Aberdeenshire Libraries and will take place as follows

Fraserburgh Library  Tuesday 7th July at  6.30 pm.

Peterhead Library  18th August at 2.00 pm.

Ellon  Library 19th August at 10.00 am.

Newmachar Library 19th August at 2.00 pm.

Mintlaw Library 14th September at 6 pm.

There will be opportunity to purchase the book and to have it signed.

There will also be signings at

Maud Railway Museum on July 11th and 12th from 1.00 - 3.30 pm

Better Read Bookshop, Ellon on Saturday 18th July from 1.00 - 3.00pm.

and Fraserburgh Heritage Centre on Saturday 22nd August from 12noon - 3pm.

Please come along and introduce yourself!

Walking The Line - The book

The Formartine and Buchan Way, a long distance footpath following the route of a disused railway, links the fishing ports of Fraserburgh and Peterhead with Aberdeen. It traverses the heartlands of rural Aberdeenshire, a land of prehistoric monuments, medieval castles, ruined churches and abbeys, scenes of ferocious religious conflicts, Jacobite strongholds, abandoned mills, the planned villages and elegant mansions of the improving lairds and the only hill carvings in Scotland. A valuable wild life corridor, the Formartine and Buchan Way is now a rich habitat for wild flowers, birds and mammals, many of which are endangered by modern farming methods used elsewhere.

Landmarks and curiosities along the route of the Formatine & Buchan Railway, now a popular long distance footpath and invaluable wildlife corridor, include the first lighthouse to be built on the Scottish mainland, a forgotten university,  an airship station, World War 2 airfields- both real and decoy, the hidden hideouts of Churchill’s secret British Resistance,  poor-houses and great estates.

Walking the Line: A Curious Walker’s Guide to the Formartine and Buchan Way, describes the wildlife landmarks seen along route of the Formartine Buchan Railway. The book will be of interest to those who recall the days before closure of the line as well as to those who enjoy the recreational facilities it now offers.

Grey Granite's book based on this blog will be published by GNSRA in early July 2015, price £9.90.

For more information and details of availability watch this space!

To register interest in purchasing a copy leave your details including email address as a comment to this post.

Peterhead's Proclamation Pend

A piece of public art above a pend next to Boots Chemists now celebrates what was arguably one of the most significant events in Peterhead's history.

On 21 August 1715 George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal and his younger brother James, loyal and ardent Jacobites, proclaimed James Francis Stuart, the Old Pretender, as James V111, rightful king of Scotland at the Tolbooth, then situated near what is now the site of the Townhouse close to the statue of Field Marshall Keith in Broad Street. Nearby Proclamation Pend commemorates this historic event, one of several proclamations in the North-east which along with the raising of the Standard of James V111 at Braemar by the Earl of Mar on 6 September was effectively the start of the 1715 Jacobite campaign. Four months later, on the night of 22 December 1715, too late to offer leadership in the campaign Stuart himself landed at Peterhead. The Jacobite campaign was short lived and so disastrous that on 4 February 1716  Prince James Francis Stewart, left Scotland from Montrose, two days before the Jacobite troops were disbanded.

The Howe O Buchan to Peterhead

From the Howe O’ Buchan crossing towards Peterhead the Line suddenly deteriorates to become an urban footpath overshadowed Peterhead’s westward expansion. Although pleasantly landscaped, bright with springtime daffodils and planted with alders, sycamores and the occasional horse chestnut there is little to see beyond the surrounding buildings.

 The present mansion of Howe O’ Buchan was built around 1840-5 but has the date stone of the earlier house behind it, inscribed A S W J S 1711, above the front door. The house contains a sculptured panel and bannisters which originated in Brucklay Castle.

By 1853 Howe o Buchan was the home of Thomas Walker, one of four brothers whose family had originated at Waulkmill and Bankhead in New Aberdour who between them owned the neighbouring  estates of Richmond, Balmore, Grange, and Howe O’ Buchan. When the railway station opened in Peterhead the water needed for the engines was pumped from Howe O’ Buchan.

Snowdrops at the Howe O' Buchan

 The Howe O Buchan crossing

Daffodils making a brave effort towards relieving the urban dullness

Meethill Reform Tower, seen from Station Road

The Reform Tower was built in 1832, on the site of a prehistoric burial cist, by the local Whig (now Liberal) Party to celebrate the introduction of the Parliamentary Reform Act of 1832. The Reform Act made Peterhead a Parliamentary Burgh and gave all male householders whose property had an annual value of £10 or more the right to vote.  The 5 storey granite tower, in plan a Greek cross, was originally intended to be an observatory, according to local tradition a child met his death by falling from the tower which once provided a hiding place for an escaped prisoner.

The Peterhead Tories also constructed a monument to commemorate the Reform Bill, situated in Broad Street, this is a single column on a granite base surmounted by four square panels bearing Latin inscriptions, the plant badges of Scotland, Ireland nations, and the arms of the Earl Marischal - removed from Inverugie Castle by Captain Ferguson of Pitfour, in turn topped by a Lion Rampant, in gold rather than red, so that it   symbolises a united Great Britain.

 The path ends ignominiously on a large carpark behind Peterhead Academy and Community Centre, the one concession to its former status as a railway line being the bollards at the crossing with York Street which resemble sleepers.

The former station site

Victorian confidence and style and 21st century utilitarianism on the Links

The east end of the Fraserburgh Links, the engine shed which is all that remains of Fraserburgh railway station is just below the South Church, the edge of the Links was truncated and the ground levelled to allow for the building of the railway.

Victorian confidence and prosperity are expressed in the South Church with its elegant steeple, the splendidly baronial Dalrymple Hall and in the distance to the right the stubby point of the Old Parish Church steeple and the Town House rotunda. All in stark contrast with the modern Walking Way sculpture and alas, the rubbish bins on the Leisure Centre carpark

The railway is now celebrated by ‘The Walking Way’, prominent sculpture of steel girders and oak beams which attracts attention to a white concrete pathway on the seaward side of the Links .The shapes of the sculpture and pathway, which leads from the Leisure Centre car park to the crossing with South Harbour Road, were inspired by the railway which ran directly below the installation. This is the work of sculptural artist Jane Kelly and was put in place in the summer of 2007.

Vast crowds of excited people from Fraserburgh and the surrounding villages congregated on the Links on 22nd April 1865 when the first train steamed in to Fraserburgh Station. For almost everyone in the crowd this was the first time they had seen a steam locomotive and many were too apprehensive about the possibility of  'the train taking it into its head to try some gymnastics on the Links' (Cranna) to stand too close to the railway line. Evidently it was a common misconception that railway accidents occurred so frequently that it would be foolhardy to approach too closely.  Monday 24th August was a public holiday in Fraserburgh and hundreds of people overcame their fears enough to buy cheap tickets for the special excursion trains to Aberdeen and intermediate stations.

The Links were the scene of an extraordinary spectacle in August 1904 when Buffalo Bill (Colonel Wild Bill Codey) and his Indian Braves brought an extraordinary extravaganza involving 500 horses and over 800 people, including  Annie Oakley and an  enormous staging  like a wild west film set, to the North-east. It is estimated that over 19,000 spectators watched the spectacle in Fraserburgh alone. The company was transported to Fraserburgh in 3 special trains consisting of 49 wagons specially adapted to carry the livestock, which included elephants, the set and circus performers.