Old Photograph Post Office Alford Scotland

Old photograph of postmen outside the Post Office in Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Situated just south of the River Don. It lies within the Howe of Alford, also called the Vale of Alford. Charles Murray was born on 27 September 1864 in Alford. He was a poet who wrote in the Doric dialect of Scots. He was one of three rural poets from the north east of Scotland, the others being Flora Garry and John C. Milne, who did much to validate the literary use of Scots. In 1924 he settled in Banchory, not far from where he was brought up. There he died in 1941. The narrow gauge railway, built from salvaged equipment from the New Pitsligo peat moss railway, was proposed in 1979 and opened in 1980. Originally it ran for 1.9 miles from Haughton Park station through Murray Park Woods. Then in 1984 another line was run from Alford station, alongside Alford Golf Course, to Haughton Park where there is a platform. However, the original Murray Woods line was then closed. The current station building is on the site of the original granite structure which was demolished after British Rail closed the line. The passenger platform is the original. A small railway museum is housed in the railway station building. The original locomotive shed was situated to the east of the station but this has also now been demolished. To the west of the station the granite carriage shed of the previous railway is now used by the Alford Valley Railway. The Grampian Transport Museum and Alford Heritage Centre are nearby. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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