IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
ELLON, AB41 8NX

The River Ythan upstream, viewed from the old railway bridge.

Taken from an old rail bridge over the Ythan this is a westerly view with Meiklemill Woods on the left and housing at Esslemont Circle in Auchterellon on the right.

The viaduct at Ellon carried the Great North of Scotland Railway from Aberdeen to the fishing towns of Peterhead and Fraserburgh over the River Ythan. Passenger trains ceased to run in 1965 with closure to all traffic in 1979. Ellon was also the junction for a branch built to serve the railway companies massive luxury hotel at Cruden Bay. The whole of the 38 miles between Dyce and Peterhead and the 16 miles between Maud Junction and Fraserburgh have been converted into a long distance cycle/walkway, the 'Formartine & Buchan Way'

Now converted into a mini industrial site Meiklemill was once an arable farm on the Esslemont Estate,a large part of its farmland was lost to housing development of the east side of the rail embankment.

The southern approach to the viaduct which now carries a footpath /cycle path.

As part of the infamous Beeching cuts the death knell of the Buchan Line, Ellon Station and the bridge went into disuse. Unlike its partner over the Pitmeden road to the south this bridge survived and now provides walkers and cyclists with a safe, dry and elevated crossing of the Ythan.

The telegraph as well as the rail lines have long gone on the old rail bridge over the Ythan at Ellon.

The old rail bridge over the Ythan , once carrying the passenger and goods trains of the Buchan Line now it carries a walkway the telegraph line though is still sadly redundant.

From the Ythan walkway the old railway bridge spans the Ythan. Now itself a walkway part of the Formartine Line Walk which runs from Dyce north to Mintlaw.

Ellon has expanded greatly in the last 20 years and now has its own suburban sprawl.