THROUGH THE BEER DESERT

The area to the north of Aberdeen is not known for pubs that serve real ale, though there's plenty in the Granite City itself. We'll get there in the next post, but in the meantime, we'll trundle through Aberdeenshire. We hit the coast agan at Buckie, with the station here in 1961 (Ben Brooksbank).

Further along, eastwards,is Portsoy, which also had a railway station - long gone now.

Continuing along the coast, we come to Banff, the station here being photographed by Ben Brooksbank in 1961.

The beach at Banff.

Banff harbour in 1976.

Just over the River Deveron is Macduff, at the end of another branch line. Here's a view in LNER days.

The first station southwards on the Macduff branch was Banff Bridge (Ben Brooksbank).

Further along the line, the station at King Edward.

Back to the north coast and our next stop is Fraserburgh. Here's an old postcard of the yawls in the harbour.

The busy harbour in 1976.

Fraserburgh station, GNoSR.

After closure, the remnants of Fraserburgh station and loco shed were photographed by Richard Huggins.

There was once a branch line to St Combs. It had long gone by 1976.

Peterhead is the principal town of the area and is today the largest fishing port in the UK. Here's the South Bay and breakwater.

A fascinating scene on the Peterhead Prison Railway, an isolated line from the south pier, operated by guarded inmates.

Peterhead harbour looks busy in 1976.

We head, temporarily, inland to the remains of Deer Abbey near Mintlaw.

Back to the coast and the Cruden Bay Tramway, operated by the LNER to serve a hotel.

That's the last we see of the sea in this post, as we head for our first real ale outpost, the Redgarth Inn at Oldmeldrum.

Not far away, on the Inverness to Aberdeen railway line is Inverurie, where LNER 6901 was photographed in 1933.

Inverurie retained its signal box in 2008.

Scotrail 158712 calls, again in 2008.

Here's a local independent, Bain's, running a service in Inverurie.

Finally, there's time for a pint in Edward's, in the town centre.

Next stop, Aberdeen, but you'' have to await the next post. Here's the route so far.