Ellon railway station was a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

Ellon Ellon may refer to: *Ellon, Aberdeenshire Ellon ( gd, Eilean) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, approximately north of Aberdeen, lying on the River Ythan, which has one of the few undeveloped river estuaries on the eastern coast of Scotla ...

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 ...

, Scotland.British Railways Atlas.1947. p.38

History

Ellon Railway Station (originally Ellon for Cruden) was situated on the

Formartine and Buchan Railway The Formartine and Buchan Railway was a railway company operating in the north-east of Scotland. It was built to link the important fishing ports of Fraserburgh and Peterhead with Aberdeen. It had a junction with the main line of the Great Nort ...

, which ran from Peterhead/Fraserburgh to Dyce (where it connected to the Great North of Scotland Railway to Aberdeen). A few years after opening, Ellon Station became a junction station for the

Boddam branch line The Boddam Branch Line was a 15-mile branch railway line constructed by the Great North of Scotland Railway (GNoSR) from Ellon railway station to Boddam in Aberdeenshire. It opened in 1897. As well as serving the small fishing port of Boddam a ...

line, which ran to Boddam via Cruden Bay. In its heyday the station had three platforms, two for the main line and one for the Boddam Branch. There was also a substantial goods yard. The branch line closed in 1932, and was used to store wagons until the track was lifted in 1950. The station is situated in Auchterellon, about 1 mile from the town centre. Ellon survived until 1965, when passenger services were withdrawn from the Formartine and Buchan Railway due to the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

. The line was closed to freight in 1978, with the tracks being lifted soon afterwards.

The station today

The trackbed of the main line was initially preserved, before becoming the

Formartine and Buchan Way The Formartine and Buchan Way is a long-distance trail in Scotland, extending from Dyce north to Peterhead and Fraserburgh in the Buchan and Formartine districts of Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It follows the track of a former railway line, the ...

, a long-distance cycle path. At the station site itself, no buildings survive, however the platforms and base of the water tower are still extant. A council depot was built on the former Goods Yard. The bridge over station road has been removed to the south, with the abutments being converted to allow graded access to cross the road. As the Boddam Branch closed in 1932, with the track being lifted much earlier, most of the branch line within Ellon has been built on, by housing along Hospital Road, and the A948 Ellon Northern Bypass in 2001. However some of the trackbed is still visible from Golf Road, next to the McDonald Parklands housing estate.

References

Sources

* *

External links

RAILSCOT on Formartine and Buchan Railway
Disused railway stations in Aberdeenshire Beeching closures in Scotland Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1861 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 Former Great North of Scotland Railway stations 1861 establishments in Scotland 1965 disestablishments in Scotland Ellon, Aberdeenshire {{Aberdeenshire-railstation-stub