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THE GREAT NORTH OF SCOTLAND RAILWAY
 
In 1894 Lady Erroll from Slains Castle cut the first turf of the railway line from Ellon Station to Cruden Bay.
Then on 2nd August 1896 the Cruden railroad was officially opened and in March 1899 the fabulous Cruden Bay Hotel was opened to the public. For 40 more years, the Victorians, Edwardians and the Georgians stepped off the train at Cruden Bay's glass-topped Station and boarded the electric tramcar which took them the remaining third of a mile to the front door of the Hotel.
This tramcar has undergone restoration and refurbishment and now takes pride of place at the Grampian Transport Museum at Alford.

 

The grand hotel, in the Scottish baronial style of architecture, was conspicuous by its massive battlement tower which was flanked at each side by turrets.

During the summer the hotel was patronised by Prime Minister Asquith, Sir William Cory, the Marquis of Headfort, Sir Lycett Green, the Earl of Caithness, Sir William Burrell, Sir Jeremiah Colman(mustard), the Gilbeys(port and gin), the Wills(cigarettes), and the Crawfords(biscuits).

Visitors also were theWalkers(whisky), the McEwans (beer), the Coats(thread mills), the Cadburys(chocolate), the Bovrils, the Horlicks, Stewart Roberts(OBE, DL, JP), Dorothy Round(ex Wimbledon Champion) and, it is said, "even the odd Rothschild".
The hotel promoted itself as a health resort and the beach would be lined with bathing machines. But the biggest attraction was the golf course.
A large laundry was built behind the hotel and served the Cruden Bay Hotel and also Aberdeen's Palace Hotel and Station Hotel which were also owned by the Great North of Scotland Railway.
The Depression in the 1930's marked a rapid decline in the hotel's fortunes, and it was forced to close in 1932. This was pre-empted in part when fire destroyed the main building on the up platform of the Cruden Bay railway station in April 1931. With both the railway line and the hotel's profits in decline, the building was not rebuilt, and passenger services were stopped in 1932. A Rolls Royce was then used to transfer guests from Aberdeen Station, but then came the Second World War and with it the hotel's final demise. The Gordon Highlanders were billeted to the hotel in 1940 and when it was returned to the LNER in 1945 it was offered for sale. In 1947 it was sold to a demolition contractor, Glasgow firm John R Adam & Sons.
The one major item left was the golf course. The initial intention was to turn the course into a sheep farm. However in 1950 a group of local businessmen succeeded in purchasing the course.
In 1953 the remaining part of the hotel, the castellated tower, was blown up and the site levelled, leaving just the golf course and golf club, and the fading memories of those halcyon days.
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