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LONGHAVEN TO BODDAM

This walk continues from my walk from Hatton via Cruden Bay back in 2002. The walk was completely along the main road and into Boddam, due to not being able to get onto the trackbed around the Longhaven station area. However, there are some nice views of the trackbed as it drops down to the top of the road by Stirling Hill, with sea and cliff background then drops quite steeply to the outskirts of Boddam before levelling out for the final mile or so to Boddam station site.

The walk from Station Road (30) to Longhaven is two miles (28), mostly uphill. It is an interesting walk, passing Boddam
Castle ruins with nice views over to Buchaness Lighthouse. There are nice rocky coastal views where the trackbed hugs the
clifftop from Dundonnie to the Cave Of Meakie. When it is dry you can walk much of the trackbed. However, there are
fenced off areas that force you back onto the road for long stretches. There are a couple of dangerous spots when you
get right up to the cliff edge and care should be taken, especially in the wet.

The Loop bridge is in shadow on the far right. The back-filled trackbed can just be seen, following the sandy-coloured
grassy stretch, which is the top of the cutting. I had to take the main road into Johnshaven and Boddam from here.

Twin garages built close to the site of Longhaven station

Longhaven Station House

To the south of Longhaven station. The platforms, buildings and goods yard  would have been seen from here

The Highland Cow is standing on the trackbed to the north end of Longhaven station.
The Station House is to the right

An Ex GNSR Boundry Post marks the edge of the trackbed, which runs behind the cows
and up to Longhaven station, which was level with the station house

Reaching the sumit of the line from Boddam as it approaches Longhaven station

The shallow cutting to the north of Longhaven Station

The start of the steep gradient as it runs down to Boddam. North of Longhaven station

The pleasant view continues until the line drops down to Boddam

This old building may or may not have been part of the railway. I need more information on this

At the top of the gradient this gives an excellent view of the curve and shallow cutting to the north of Longhaven station

 

The trackbed can clearly be seen passing the ruined building, which was may possibly have been a trackman's
hut. Longhaven Station site is in the background

The trackbed starts to drop through a shallow cutting .

As the trackbed runs close to the cliff edge it's path has been reduced by the built up ground of a walled garden

The track is on a low embankment but is close to the cliff edge

The scene on a finer day in Sept 2007. This section of the line had been very attractive with fine sea and cliff
views from the carriages

Ditto

From the clifftop by the walled garden you can see how close the trackbed was to the cliff edge on ther far right
and heads towards Longhaven station

This is a short telephoto view looking over the cliff edge. Looking south

A wideangle view while standing on the trackbed. Very much as the passengers would have seen it.
The Cave of Miekie is there somewhere.

The trackbed runs to the left of the hillside, formed by building up the ground to build a house and walled garden

A deep cutting is reached as the line ran down past Strling Hill and the quarries,
which are on the lft, on the opposite side of the main road

Looking down into the cutting proves that the trackbed has been backfilled from here and that this cutting
ran a lot further towards Longhaven before reaching the cliff edge

Unbelievable. This is the opposite view from the same spot as the picture above. The trackbed ran straight
ahead. Looking southwards. You can make out the top of the walled garden.

The long steady gradient as it drops down to Boddam. The fireman must have had
a difficult  job keeping the steam pressure high on this long drag

The long drop past  Stirling Village and down into Boddam. The railway drainage appears to be still doing
its job! This photo was taken in 1975 on Ferrania CR50 film.

Another deep rocky gully. It appears to have been partly filled in to stop coastal corrosion. The trackbed is
quite close at this point. An interesting place to have got all that stone to. How did they get it there?

The bottom of the gradiant as it starts to level out before the final mile into Boddam

Buchan pink granite steps from the road down to track level, which had been used by gangers.
It's still quite safe to use with a little care on bottom stones

Remains of a bridge by Stirling Village at the bottom of the gradient. It's difficult to work out what this bridge was
built for and where it went as there is little or nothing on the coastal side. The area is known as Dundonnie.

It's difficult to believe that there had been a road/path to somewhere over the railway. That is an intertesting
lean-to built on the side of the bridge. Perhaps someone kept some sheep here for a time!
The pink granite really shows up in this lighting.

Still looks as if the bridge went to knowhere, although it is obvious that some sort of granite work went on here

View from the road bridge in 1975

Driver's eye view from the old bridge and the final mile into Boddam in the 90's

The old building was probably  in excellent condition when the railway was in operation. Both appear to have deteriorated together

The trackbed has been cut a number of times between here and Boddam

The embankment is just made out

The embankment is erroding quite steadily

This is an interesting break. The farmer has strengthened the embankment to his own use

The farmer has removed the embankment to gain access to the east side of his farm

There would have ben a grand view of a train running along here, either criusing down the bank or working
hard in the opposite direction

The sheep appear to enjoy the embankment, which is probably drier than at field level

A backward view of the embankment. From here it looks as if the bank had been continuous at the far end and
has been removed for convenience

It still has the feel of a railway after 60 years of closure. This would have been another nice spot to watch
or photograph the trains

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end of the trackbed. Fenced off from the embankment to the station site. Buchaness lighthouse and keeper's houses. The lighthouse is now automatic and the houses are partly a ruin.

On the outskirts of Boddam the trackbed comes to and once again. The road bridge has been removed and the
ground filled in to form the new roadbed

Looking south from the site of the old bridge, which has been demolished and the gap filled in to keep
the road in use

The opposite view is quite different. The trackbed has been completely built over with new housing

The trackbed comes to a halt where there was a road bridge and the embankment on the opposite side has been
demolished to build a number of houses. In the background is the ruin of Boddam Castle. On the right,
background the old Lighthouse Keeper's houses lie's half demolished. Seems a waste of good housing.

Boddam Castle ruin seen over the old trackbed level and some new houses

The trackbed just outside the station is brought to another halt having been demoilished to the south for new housing

The first (or last bridge), at Boddam. On the southern peremeter of Boddam village

Back on the main road with a very modern looking Boddam than I remember in the 40's and 50's. The railway ran in
on the right and terminated at the Station Road end of the Ex RAF Camp up ahead.

End of the line. All that remains of Boddam Station. The RAF Camp took over the site but this too has now closed and the land has been sold and earmarked for a new housing sceme. Noone's interested in the possibility of the station ever reopening again, obvioulsy! It may prove short term thinking.

You can just make out the trackbed as it leads up to the station and the goods siding

Looking from the main road into the old station site. The granite quarries have been reduced to mere 'Flint Quarries.
Note the two-faced building and the tretch limo. The granite qurries have been reduced to mere 'Flint' quarries.
This is the spot to start looking over the remains of Stirling Quarrie and what's left of the old Prison Railway.

The road junction at Stirling Village bus stop, with Station Road, on the right,  running past the old station site
and up to the harbour

The entrance to Boddam Station and Goods Yard on Station Road (Sept. 2010)

Ex Boddam Station masters' House. Sept 2010.

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A quarry railway, worked by prisoner under armed guard lay on the opposite side of the road at Stirling Hill  and had  an extensive layout, which ran from the quarry to the military pier at Peterhead. It was an isolated railway built to high standards with it's own fleet of locomotives, coaches and wagons. This trackbed can also be followed along the main road and there was a very pleasant ping-granite viaduct as you entered Peterhead. This railway is a story on it's own.

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Would the Boddam branch have existed had GNSR built through to Peterhead. Just three miles away! With modern traction, staffing, signalling and speed increases Peterhead could have been within 50 minutes of Aberdeen and the extensive growth of Boddam, Cruden Bay and Ellon over the years could create substantial patronage. While much of the trackbed is in reasonable condition and quite easily rebuilt many bridges have gone or would need replacing. Sadly housing has been allowed to encroach over the trackbed in places and local house/farm owners have used the trackbed as their own property in other places.

 Building stations and platforms are redicuously expensive these days, albeit probably only one platform would suffice in most cases unless some double tracking was necessary to run a reasonable service. There would be little need for other than Ellon, Cruden Bay and Boddam for stations, with Hatton a possible addition.

While it is unlikely, it's certainly not an impossiblity as road traffic becomes more unbearable and expensive. Stranger things have happened and with modern building machinery and materials it wouldn't be such a massive task as it may seem.

27th October 2008: 
There has been report from a Peterhead Capacity Study for the future expansion of the Buchan area in which they have suggested that the Cruden Bay trackbed be protected for possible future use. This project also includes Fraserburgh to Dyce. It is nice to hear the Boddam line being mentioned as I never imagined that it would every be considered again.

While this could be way into the future, if ever, the fact that this is being considered is an excellent move to have the trackbed safeguarded, which means that it shouldn't get any worse than it is at present and if sections are converted into cycle and walkways then that really would preserve the line. So who knows, the line may eventually come alive again, one day.

Boddam Old Station Photos

A visit to Boddam Castle on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xq2AKaFFDDA&feature=related

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Email: reidcrcwdr@aol.com.

Web sites with reference to Cruden Bay, the raliway, Slain's Castle and the Bullar's. (Updated Oct. 2008)

Cruden Bay Trams
http://www.crudenbaygolfclub.co.uk/newrailway.htm

Slain's Castle
http://www.crudenbaygolfclub.co.uk/newplaces.htm

Cruden Bay
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruden_Bay

Cruden Bay Historical Notes
http://www.danielsd.demon.co.uk/cruden/cruden.htm

Cruden Bay (Gazzateer)
http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/towns/townfirst5008.html

Ellon to Boddam Branch
http://www.railscot.co.uk/Boddam_Branch/body.htm

Focus On Aberdeenshire (Cruden bay)
http://www.londongolftours.com/docs/tours/focus_on_aberdeenshire.htm

Buchaness Lighthouse
http://www.nlb.org.uk/ourlights/history/buchanness.htm

Buchan RAF (Former Rotar Radar station)
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/b/buchan/

The Crann Tarra (Cultural History) web site
http://www.cranntara.org.uk/peter.htm