Bricks and Golfers - the Strathbathie Light Railway and Murcar Buggy

In 1899 Scotland's second public narrow gauge railway opened and ran 3.5 miles up the east coast north of Aberdeen to the very large Strathbathies Brick & Tile Co's works and was 3' gauge in the hopes that it might get running rights over Aberdeen's tramway system. Motive power was a single Hudswell-Clarke 0-4-0 tank locomotive.

Halfwat along its route, the line passed the Murcar Golf Club which wanted easier access from Aberdeen than it had, and eventually persuaded the Brick Company to alow it to run its own railcar over the southern section of the line, and this was built by a local builder and proved very succesful. In 1931 a second railcar was built, but this time on a Wickham chassis.

The brickworks closed in 1924, and thw golf club took over the southern section over which regular services continued until 1950.

This really is a strange and entertaining story, at times getting close to Titfield Thunderbolt level, and surely the Murcar Golf Club must have been the only one to have 'transit committee' which ran a railway!

128 page paperback, well illustrated with B&W illustrations, maps and drawings.