Cruden Bay Hotel Tramway

Owner Great North of Scotland Railway Company
Opened June 1899 (electric)
Operator Great North of Scotland Railway Company
Ownership transferred 1st January 1923 (to the London, North Eastern Railway Company, following its creation at the 1923 railway 'grouping' out of several constituent railway companies, one of them being the GNoSR)
Closed 31st October 1932 (passengers); 1941 (goods)
Length 0.66 miles
Gauge 3ft 6ins


Button description Title (‘Great North of Scotland Railway Company’) in garter, surrounding arms (shield divided into four, containing the three turrets of Aberdeen and the Scottish lions, surmounted by a lion(?) holding a sword and cross
Materials known Brass

Button Line reference [None]


Comment In the absence of specifically marked tramway buttons, it would seem highly likely that the GNoSR simply issued tramway staff with its standard 'coat of arms' company button; however, confirmatory evidence remains elusive. It would also seem likely that the GNoSR's successor - the LNER - issued staff with its standard railway employee pattern buttons, of which there were several designs.

The line connected the GNoSR-owned Cruden Bay Hotel with the eponymously named railway station, only a third of a mile distant. The well-to-do passengers were ferried to and from the hotel in what were perhaps the most sumptuously fitted out tramcars ever to grace the British Isles, both of which are preserved. Additionally, as the hotel acted as the GNoSR's company laundry, there was a significant goods traffic which outlasted the passenger service by some 9 years.