The rail thing

Scotland's disused Victorian railways have reinvented themselves as venues for shopping, eating, sleeping and guarding our cultural heritage. Kate Patrick knows her station.

There are railway stations with bland ticket machines, draughty, grey platforms and empty cardboard coffee cups - they're the ones still in working order. Then there are those which are restored, attractive buildings, decorated with hanging baskets of flowers, and which have atmospheric tearooms and museum shops crammed with memorabilia, and crafts and souvenirs for sale.

These are the ones which were put out of active service in the 1960s or earlier, but which have reinvented themselves.

Today they have not only become popular and welcoming venues for shopping, eating, staying or days out, but they also provide a valuable insight into our cultural heritage – how life was once lived, based on the movement of people, food and goods around the country by rail.

The Deeside Railway reached Aboyne from Banchory in 1859, and Aboyne station was rebuilt on a grand scale in 1888.

The line ceased to be used, with so many others, in 1966; but the station survives, and has recently been sympathetically converted to an attractive collection of shops.

In the former waiting room you will now find Aboyne Flowers, which sells fruit, fresh flowers and healthy foods; and there is also a boutique, gift shop, shoe shop, art gallery, grocery and butcher.

Up the line from Aboyne, and just eight miles from Balmoral Castle, Ballater became the railway stop for Queen Victoria and other distinguished visitors for 100 years, between the 1860s and 1960s (the Czar of Russia passed through in 1896)...

To read the rest of this article you can do any of the following.

• By : Kate Patrick
• In : Contemporary Scotland
• Issue : 14
• Page : 42
• Words : 1,183