railway - The Beyonder

Crumbling remnants of the branch line to Banff

Posted on April 19, 2026May 3, 2026 by andrew in Beyonder Blog

IT’S August 1975 and I’m standing on the platform of the dilapidated Banff station on the Moray coast surveying the remains of a once proud little terminus.

I’m 17 and if I do take any pictures with my very unreliable camera, they have been long lost.

But unbeknown to me, a fellow enthusiast arrived at the same spot three years later, and his pictures reveal that the site had changed little in the intervening period.

**DILAPIDATED:** the terminus at Banff station *PICTURE: Alan Young*

For me, it’s part of a summertime foray to walk as much as I can of the old Moray Coast line which ran from Cairnie Junction near Keith up to Portsoy and then along the cliffs towards Buckie and Elgin.

Alan Young, from Newcastle upon Tyne, was fascinated as a child by the disused Byker station not far from his home in Heaton, and continued to seek out closed stations and look into why and when they closed.

**END OF THE LINE:** Banff Harbour opened in 1859 *PICTURE: Alan Young*

By the early 1970s he had resolved to photograph all the country’s stations if he could, and his travels took him to the north-east of Scotland in Autumn 1978.

My notes from my 1975 visit reveal that the station buildings still remained, with their distinctive green and white colouring, although much vandalised and in very poor condition, including the adjoining disused station master’s house.

**DERELICT:** the station master’s house *PICTURE: Alan Young*

Under the awning were the remains of the ticket office, waiting room and offices, along with a double-siding platform and a small loading bay nearby which still housed the base of an old water pump.

The remnants of an old wooden sign proclaimed Banff Goods Station, erected after its closure to passengers on July 6, 1964, along with the other stations on the branch.

In its heyday, it must have looked like the sort of perfect little coastal terminus that railway modellers would love to replicate. By the time I returned in 1980, the buildings had been completely demolished, the sign was gone and the bay platform was filled with rubble.

**NETWORK:** the GNoSR routes *MAP: Alan Young*

The Great North of Scotland Railway was formed in 1845 with the ambition of building a double-track main line from Aberdeen to Inverness. In the end, the railway only got as far as Keith, with a separate line – later part of the Highland Railway – being built to form what was to become the main line to Inverness.

Meanwhile the line from Cairnie Junction to Banff Harbour was originally the main line of the Banff, Portsoy and Strathisla Railway, authorised in 1857 and opened to Banff Harbour on July 30, 1859, with a short branch to Portsoy, although an early derailment meant full services did not begin until August 2.

The GNoSR agreed to work the line in 1863 and the railway was renamed the Banffshire Railway later the same year, amalgamating with the GNoSR in 1867.

**RENAMED:** Banff Harbour became Banff in 1928 *PICTURE: Alan Young*

Originally Banff Harbour station, Banff was renamed in June 1928, the single-track line to Tillynaught passing through a couple of halts which had opened in 1914 at Golf Club House and Bridgefoot before reaching Ladysbridge station, which had been known as Lady’s Bridge until 1886.

Here, when I visited in 1976 and again in 1980, the platforms remained along with the lights in the station yard, the loading bay and level crossing gates.

On the other side of Ladysbridge was another mysterious little farming halt dating from the opening of the line but which had disappeared from the timetables by 1864.

**RURAL:** Ordens Platform in 1978 *PICTURE: Alan Young*

Ordens Platform reappeared in Bradshaw between 1/17 and 9/20, but may have remained as a conditional and unadvertised stop before this time. It featured in the LNER timetables from 14/7/24 and was also known as Ordens Halt, serving such a rural area that its flimsy looking wooden shelter remained intact for years.

None of the three halts had any goods facilities, so they closed completely when the line shut to passengers in 1964. But if Ordens felt remote, the junction station at Tillynaught was hardly any less rural.

**OVERGROWN:** the junction station at Tillynaught *PICTURE: Alan Young*

Named after a local farm and heavily overgrown by the time I visited, it was hard to believe that this was ever a station with much local business – though my uncle did say he remembered the station master yelling out the name “Tillynaught, Tillynaught…change here for Banff” when the Moray Coast line trains passed through.

The station master’s house and another private dwelling were both in poor condition when I arrived there one August day in 1975, walking on foot along the old main line from Cornhill to Portsoy. The stone island platform was much overgrown, particularly on the Banff branch line side, but although all the station buildings had gone, a stone loading bay remained on the Portsoy side.

But then Tillynaught, along with many smaller stations on the Moray Coast line, had already lost its goods services in April 1964, three months before the Banff branch had its passenger services withdrawn.

Trains still ran on the main line round through Buckie until May 6, 1968, but that was the dreaded day when all trains stopped running into the little station at Banff after more than a century.

BANFF, PORTSOY & STRATHISLA RAILWAY

Authorised: 27/7/1857
RN Banffshire Railway: 21/7/1863
Merged with the GNoSR: 12/8/1867

Opened: Tillynaught – Banff Harbour: 30/7/1859

Closed: Tillynaught – Banff
6/7/64 (passengers)
6/5/68 (goods/completely)

Stations
ORDENS PLATFORM (P/CC 6/7/64) no goods
LADYSBRIDGE (P 6/7/64 G/CC 6/5/68)
BRIDGEFOOT HALT (P/CC 6/7/64) no goods
GOLF CLUB HOUSE HALT (P/CC 6/7/64) no goods
BANFF [BANFF HARBOUR] (P 6/7/64 G/CC 6/5/68)

Tracking down Wooburn’s lost railway

Posted on July 23, 2024May 3, 2026 by andrew in History and Heritage

IT’S MORE than half a century since the last train ran through Wooburn Green.

But in truth closing the line can’t have been one of the harder decisions of the Beeching era.

Although the Wycombe Railway linked High Wycombe to the Great Western main line at Maidenhead, it was only ever a single line taking a rather circuitous loop north through Bourne End, Wooburn Green and Loudwater.

**CIRCUITOUS LOOP:** the Wycombe Railway line

Standing on the old trackbed in the dappled sunshine of a glorious July afternoon, it’s easy to understand what a pleasant journey it might have been to meander your way from Maidenhead to Oxford by steam train along this route 150 years ago, but it was never going to be exactly fast.

Originally built to the same broad gauge as the GWR, it opened to passengers in 1854 and extended on through Princes Risborough and Thame to link up with the GWR line from Didcot to Oxford in 1864.

It was converted to standard gauge in 1870 three years after it was subsumed into the Great Western network and the little branch from Bourne End to Marlow opened in 1873.

But by the end of the 19th century new lines were already making life harder for some of the routes promoted during the railway mania of the 1840s, and when the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway opened between High Wycombe and Northolt Junction in 1899, it gave the GWR a shorter route between High Wycombe and Paddington that robbed the Wycombe Railway of much of its traffic.

**BROAD GAUGE:** the line opened in 1854

Nonetheless passenger trains would still run over the route for another 70 years.

Freight services were withdrawn between Bourne End and High Wycombe on 18 July 1966, but British Railways did not close the line to passenger traffic until 4 May 1970.

Almost nothing remains of the original railway infrastructure today, although two sections of the track are open to ramblers and sharper-eyed observers can still spot other traces of the route.

**BACK TO NATURE:** few traces of the old line remain

Richard Gower explores the whole length of the route in his blog and there are some videos tracing the route too, both on foot and by bike.

Wooburn Green’s substantial brick-built station near the bottom of Whitepit Lane became a halt in 1968 because of the decreased service on the route and closed with the line in 1970.

It remained as a private dwelling until the late 1980s, being eventually demolished to make way for the Old Station Way development.

**BOARDED UP:** Loudwater station in 1973 *PICTURE: Alan Young*

Loudwater’s station at the bottom of Treadaway Hill also became a halt in 1968 and was demolished in the mid-1970s to make way for an industrial park, though a railway conservation path towards High Wycombe follows the route of the former railway.

**DEMOLISHED:** the old station at Loudwater

Back in Wooburn Green, dog walkers, joggers and cyclists make good use of the section of trackbed running towards Bourne End, some of it a parish council nature walk.

Visitors can park for free at Wooburn Park and slip across the footbridge over the Wye onto Town Lane, picking up the railway at the bottom of a footpath up the steep incline irreverently known locally as “Cardiac Hill”, which leads to Flackwell Heath.

**STEEP INCLINE:** the climb towards Flackwell Heath

From here, the trackbed is wide and offers a relaxed stroll behind industrial units and houses towards Bourne End.

On a drowsy July afternoon, the air is full of the soothing cooing of pigeons and the going is easy.

**LEVEL WALK:** the railway trackbed at Wooburn Park

Open fields rise on the other side of the line, providing a welcome vista over ripening crops before the path gets a little narrower and the woods a little more dense.

**OPEN FIELDS:** the view towards Flackwell

Those heading to Bourne End emerge from the nature path a short distance from the station, which is still in use, taking passengers on to Marlow or Maidenhead.

On a still evening, the distance clatter of a small local train clattering over the Thames at Bourne End can sound very reassuring, much as perhaps the hoot of a whistle sounded back in the 1950s when a steam train chugged up the valley towards High Wycombe.

Those happy to have a level ramble can just turn round and head back to Wooburn Green, but for those with a bit more energy, a right turn before you get to Bourne End takes you up through the trees on a circular route back to your start point.

The climb isn’t quite as steep as Cardiac Hill, but the views out towards the Thames are far reaching.

Up here, the surroundings can feel idyllic on a summer’s day, with a light breeze rustling the crops and plenty of life bustling in the hedgerows.

It’s easy to feel you have completely escaped from the rat race, with few other walkers to disturb your serenity: and as your circle round to head back to base camp, it’s a whole lot more relaxed going down Cardiac Hill than coming up!

**FIELD OF DREAMS:** circling back to Wooburn Green

Postcard from . . . Bo’ness

Posted on August 20, 2018July 8, 2023 by andrew in Beyonder Blog

IT’S HARD to think of a less likely tourist attraction that the UK’s second oldest oil refinery, at Grangemouth.

But if you drive past the gas flares and cooling towers for a few minutes, the detour off the busy M9 motorway from Edinburgh to Stirling will take you to a quite extraordinary reminder of a golden age of steam.

For this is the home of the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway, a five-mile working heritage railway and home to Scotland’s largest railway museum.

The view from the station platform – the main station at Bo’ness was actually relocated from Wormit, at the south end of the Tay Bridge – could hardly be more authentic, although the 0-6-0 tank engine decked out in British Railways black is also “in disguise”.

Despite the BR livery, this is not the former LNER Class J94 engine which once bore that number, but a lookalike – an engine once owned by the National Coal Board which was built by W G Bagnall in 1945 and acquired from the NCB’s Comrie Colliery in Fife.

In its gleaming BR livery it certainly looks the part, though, and it’s only one of a large selection of steam and diesel engines to be found here.

Another surprise is the surprisingly rural atmosphere of the route. Despite the proximity of heavy industry, the line takes passengers to a local nature reserve, and you can always walk back along the coast or disembark at another rural station that has been a favourite with film-makers.

The museum across the footbridge at Bo’ness is open seven days a week until October 28 from 11am-4.30pm and boasts three large buildings full of memorabilia – from full size locomotives to old-fashioned railway signs which once adorned the walls of busy railway stations across the country.

For full details of the railway, see the link above – and more information about the Scottish Railway Preservation Society can be found here.