Cairnbulg railway station was a station on the Fraserburgh and St Combs Light Railway,

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

. It was opened in 1903 as Inverallochy and was renamed Cairnbulg on 1 September 1903.

History

The line from Fraserburgh to

St Combs St Combs is a small fishing village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, immediately southwest of Inverallochy. It has existed since at least the 17th century, and takes its name from a church to St Colm (or Columba) that used to exist in the area and was ...

opened in 1903 and was the last line built by the Great North of Scotland Railway before it became part of the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the " Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At th ...

. The line was closed in 1965 by the

Scottish Region of British Railways The Scottish Region (ScR) was one of the six regions created on British Railways (BR) and consisted of ex-London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) and ex-London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) lines in Scotland. It existed from the creation o ...

as part of the Beeching Cuts. The St Combs line was partly unfenced and it was therefore classified as a light railway with locomotives carrying cow catchers. Inverallochy (Inbhir Aileachaidh in Gaelic) and Cairnbulg villages have no clear physical separation. The 1948 timetable shows that all trains stopped at the station. Due to the lack of crossing gates several serious accidents occurred over the years. RAF Fraserburgh, Cairnbulg Airfield, or Inverallochy Airfield was located near the station from 1941 to 1945 during WWII and was associated with Longside Airfield. Aberdeen Gliding Club used the airfield until some point in the late 1950s. These uses would have provided extra passenger traffic for the station.

Infrastructure

The single-platformed station stood on the seaward side of the line, with an ungated level crossing over the B9107 on the line to

and a railway cottage nearby. There were a name board and a shelter that may have been an old goods van on the low platform, and originally there was a rectangular stone built ticket office with some form of signalling. The station stood 3 5/8 miles (5.8 km) from

Fraserburgh railway station Fraserburgh railway station is a former railway station that once served the town of Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire. History The station was the terminus of the Formartine and Buchan Railway from Aberdeen. The principal traffic was fish, as Fra ...

. It was built of wood with a gravel surface, similar in construction to Kirkton Bridge Halt and Philorth Bridge Halt. The station had a passing loop and two sidings: one running into the platform apparently as a bay, and another running to a loading dock. The passing loop was lifted some years before the line closed.

Services

The line in 1910 had seven return workings on weekdays and an additional late night Saturday train from Fraserburgh that departed at 9.30pm and returned at 10pm. No Sunday services were provided on the railway. The 1964 - 1965 timetable had 11 return workings per day between Fraserburgh and St Combs with an additional service on Saturdays.Unseen Steam
/ref> The full journey to St Combs took around twenty minutes and connections for Aberdeen were available at the

terminus. Cairnbulg was not a request stop.Timetable World - Table 152. Fraserburgh and St Combs.
/ref> The line closed to goods and was unstaffed from 7 November 1960.
/ref>

The site today

The trackbed is visible in places, the loading dock can be seen and the railway cottage remains as a private house.

References

Sources

* * Maxtone, Graham and Cooper, Mike (2018). ''Then and Now on the Great North. V.1.'' GNoSR Association. .

External links

Ghost Stations - Disused Railway Stations in Aberdeenshire, Scotland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cairnbulg Railway Station Disused railway stations in Aberdeenshire Beeching closures in Scotland Former Great North of Scotland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1903 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 1903 establishments in Scotland 1965 disestablishments in Scotland