Linesmen's Huts

For maintenance purposes the permanent way was divided into sections between 1 and 4 miles long, each the responsibility of an Inspector of Way who had to check the condition of his section daily. Sections were subdivided into lengths, each the responsibility of a foreman who had a squad of two to four linesmen (also known as waymen) working under his supervision. The duties of the foreman linesman were to walk his length of track daily monitoring the condition of the track, bridges, culverts, fences etc and feeding back information to the Inspector. The waymen worked ten hour days in summer, nine in winter and spent their time working systematically along their allotted length of track carrying out maintenance and repairs. The huts in which waymen stored their tools  remain as  attractive features of the line. Earlier huts had wooden walls with a brick chimney stack in one gable and a corrugated iron roof. Later examples are built of reinforced concrete. Apart from one or two examples close to stations which are now doing duty as garden sheds, the huts  are quietly decaying, succumbing to the weather and vandalism. 

Hut between Strichen and Brucklay

The brick fireplace complete with iron grate and  a few rotten floor boards are all that remains of a wooden hut near Rathen Station

Wooden hut near Carnichal

Concrete hut near Greenbrae