Udny Station ( sco, Widnie Station) is a small village in

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. It is 8 miles east of

Oldmeldrum Oldmeldrum (commonly known as Meldrum) is a village and parish in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, not far from Inverurie in North East Scotland. With a population of around 2,187, Oldmeldrum falls within Scotland's top 300 centres of popu ...

and 5 miles south west of

Ellon Ellon may refer to: *Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland *Ellon, Calvados Ellon () is a commune in the Calvados department and Normandy region of north-western France. Population See also *Communes of the Calvados department The following is ...

. It is part of the parish of

Foveran Foveran ( gd, Fobharan) is the name of both a parish and village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The village is located north of Aberdeen and southeast of Ellon; the main group of houses and the village school are located adjacent to the main A90 ...

. Udny Station was a station on the Formartine and Buchan line to

Fraserburgh Fraserburgh (; sco, The Broch or ; gd, A' Bhruaich) is a town in Aberdeenshire (unitary), Aberdeenshire, Scotland with a population recorded in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census at 13,100. It lies at the far northeast corner of Aber ...

. The tracks were removed in the early 1980s, just as the oil boom was getting into full swing. There was a goods yard with railway sidings at the station. The sidings were in the area where a number of newer houses have been built. Walking along the track of the old platform, one of the original lighting units (minus the glass) is still visible mounted on a concrete post. About a mile south of the station, on the old track, walkers pass old

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

gates which are still fitted showing the orange round plate. On the eastern edge of the village, whilst heading for Cultercullen, just as you leave the village is a field with a fenced-off area showing air vents. This was a

Royal Observer Corps The Royal Observer Corps (ROC) was a civil defence organisation intended for the visual detection, identification, tracking and reporting of aircraft over Great Britain. It operated in the United Kingdom between 29 October 1925 and 31 December ...

station. Through an access hatch, there are rooms under here used during the Cold War by the ROC. There are a number of these stations spread across the country, most were taken out of service in 2001. The rooms house some communications equipment, however the Udny Station one has been almost stripped of everything inside. Prior to this, during WWII, a wooden hut existed there for the ROC. The bunker was removed and filled in by the current landowner, and no longer visible Near Tillycorthie house, just beside the railway line, about 200 yards south from the Railway bridge are a clump of trees. Between those trees and Corthiemuir Farm, 15 HE bombs were dropped straddling the railway line. One of the 15 failed to explode. In addition to this, 20 incendiary bombs were dropped setting fire to the grain store at the farm. A number of the farms in the area used

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...

as labour, these were supplied from the POW camp in

Pitmedden Pitmedden is a rural village in the parish of Udny, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, situated midway between Ellon and Oldmeldrum, and approximately distant from Aberdeen. In addition to local shops, primary school, church, village hall and parks, the ...

. The camp entrance is a bridge now leading to a housing estate on the south side of Pitmedden, about 100 yards from the Aberdeen/Tarves road junction beside the church.

Footnotes

Villages in Aberdeenshire {{Aberdeenshire-geo-stub