The area served was a good agricultural district, and farm produce supplemented the buoyant fish traffic, which included fishing boats' crews travelling home; there was some leisure business, especially connected with a golf course and hotel sponsored by the GNoSR at Cruden Bay.

Notwithstanding the development of the offshore oil industry, freight train operation was discontinued to Peterhead in 1970 and to Fraserburgh in 1979.

The region was one of the most fertile and prosperous parts of Aberdeenshire, and the important fishing ports of Peterhead and Fraserburgh lay in the area.

[note 1][2] It was to run from the main Aberdeen to Keith line at Dyce to Fraserburgh and Peterhead, forking at Mintlaw, with a branch to Ellon.

[7] During the Parliamentary process, Lord Saltoun succeeded in inserting a condition in the authorising Act, requiring a station to be constructed and operated where the line was to cross the avenue leading from Cairnbulg Road to the mansion house.

The station at Philorth was stipulated to be for the sole use of his lordship, his heirs and successors, who would have the right to have all passenger and goods trains stopped on request.

[5][3] Subscription to the share issue was very slow in coming; although the Company hoped to open its line to Peterhead in the autumn of 1860, severe weather delayed the work.

The bridge over the River Ythan collapsed while under construction on 3 February 1861, and the Company decided to complete the line as far as a temporary terminus at Old Deer first.

[9] An extension three-quarters of a mile long, was opened on 9 August 1865, to enable goods trains to reach Peterhead harbour.

[2][4][5][3][10] Lack of subscription funds had prevented progress on the construction of the Fraserburgh branch, and in fact the company had considered abandoning it.

However it decided to alter the route, branching from the Peterhead line at Brucklay (later named Maud) passing through Strichen, and keeping to the east side of Mormond Hill.

Stops were made at all stations, and the journey time varied from 2+1⁄2 to 2+3⁄4 hours; Peterhead and Fraserburgh portions of the trains at joined and separated at Maud.

[3] In 1865 the GNoSR operated a network of lines, but more than 75% were owned by small subsidiary companies; this arrangement was increasingly considered unsatisfactory.

As of 30 November 1865 the Formartine and Buchan directors reported gross revenue of £25,915, expenses of £13,960, and interest charges of £7,009.

[14] Fish traffic to London was especially profitable, and when the 1879 fishery reports showed that Fraserburgh and Peterhead were exporting large amounts of fish to Baltic ports, the GNoSR made arrangements to charter a steamer at Aberdeen and quote the fish-sellers a through rate by rail from the Buchan ports to Aberdeen and thence to Stettin (as it was then called), undercutting the smaller vessels.

The convicts are occupied in constructing a harbour of refuge, a mile or so south of the town, a job that, from what I saw of the obstinacy of Peterhead granite, is likely to last them for some time to come.

Matters were, how­ ever, soon put right· the fish train and the passenger tram were amalgamated and we ended in reaching Aberdeen only about 20 minutes late.

There was a protest from certain members of the community when the railway company started offering cheap Sunday fares to golfers who were attracted to the new course which had opened at Cruden Bay.

The hotel never achieved its commercial objective, and the traditional branch line business also failed to develop as hoped.

The passenger service on the line was discontinued in 1932, and the hotel was requisitioned by the military early in World War II, and never reopened.

[24] Its purpose was to serve the small ports of Inverallochy and St Combs, but more particularly the luxury resort hotel and golf course planned by the GNoSR at Cruden Bay.

[note 2] The branch line carried a total of 31,913 tons of war material, chiefly coal, for the gas works on the site.

Passenger traffic comprised drafts of naval ratings who were sometimes accommodated in through carriages off south trains at Aberdeen or changed into the 'Lenabo Special' (usually a single coach), which often had attached vans and trucks containing supplies.

[17] The track was subsequently lifted and much of the route now forms the Formartine and Buchan Way, a long-distance footpath and cycle path.