A former north-east station is set to open its doors for an anniversary celebration as plans for a new railway steam ahead.
Maud Railway Station was a vital junction in the old Buchan rail network, and this month the visitor centre is recognising the 150th anniversary of the Maud to Fraserburgh line.
The line, as well as the later link to Strichen and Peterhead, has been credited with creating the north-east village.
Last night Keith Jones, a member of the museum committee and local railway historian, said: “Maud was just a few houses until the line to Peterhead opened.
“Both Peterhead and Fraserburgh were major fishing communities and the railway made it much easier to move the whitefish and herring in those days. If it hadn’t been a railway junction, Maud might not have been more than a few houses today.”
In early May, the volunteers who run the museum at the station will also mark the 50th anniversary of the last passenger train to Peterhead.
Mr Jones added: “I was reading recently that they are looking at reopening the line to Ellon. So at the 50th anniversary of the closure, what goes around comes around in terms of transport.”
The anniversaries come as Aberdeenshire councillors push from the reintroduction of the railway from Dyce to Ellon.
As part of the recently announced £2.9billion City Region Deal, the Press and Journal revealed last month that councillors would propose reinstating the 14-mile track. A similar project between Edinburgh and the Borders is nearing completion.
The railway station opened at Maud in the 1860s and passenger trains ran across Buchan for about a century before they were axed as part of the notorious Beeching cuts. The last Fraserburgh goods train ran until 1979.
Aberdeenshire Council opened Maud Railway Museum at the site of the old station 15 years ago.
The museum open weekend will be held this weekend and the visitor centre will be open from 10.30am to 4pm on both Saturday and Sunday.