[3] In 1881 the Great North of Scotland Railway (GNoSR) put forward a bill to parliament to extend its Portsoy line along the Moray Firth as far as Buckie.

The GNoSR station opened as Port Gordon on 1 May 1886[1] with the central section of the coast line, served by through Aberdeen to Elgin trains.

In September 1940, three German spies named Werner Walti, Vera Eriksen and Karl Drucke were landed by seaplane.

After coming ashore in a dinghy, Eriksen and Drucke walked to Portgordon railway station, arriving at about 7.30 am and intending to catch the train.

[12] The third spy, Werner Walti, had gone to Buckpool railway station and was eventually arrested in Edinburgh after making several equally suspicious errors.

[12] The trio had intended to spy on the military facilities in the area, especially the airfields, in preparation for the German invasion of the United Kingdom, code named 'Operation Sea Lion'.