Speyside inn is final stop for railway artwork
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A RECENTLY re-opened Speyside inn has become home to the last remaining print of a local artwork celebrating the area's railway heritage.
John Diffey, of the Great North of Scotland Railway Association (GNSRA), last week presented Alison Hunter, new landlady of the Fiddichside Inn in Craigellachie, with a screen-print of a painting at Craigellachie Station set in 1910.
The inn, situated near the old Craigellachie Junction, was a regular haunt for railway workers.
The print depicts an Aberdeen to Elgin Great North of Scotland Railway train calling at the three-platform station and junction at Craigellachie in Edwardian days.
The locomotive (4-4-0 No. 27) was the first to have been constructed at the company’s works in Inverurie in 1909. The carriages are painted in the cream and purple-lake livery used on the Great North from about 1896 until the 1923 grouping.
The image also shows the rear of a train in the opposite direction, and in the background a train serving the Speyside Line, which ran from Craigellachie to Boat of Garten.
The original picture was painted by C. Hamilton Ellis in March 1965 and is held by the GNSRA.
Mr Diffey said: "In 1989 I produced a limited edition of 100 screen-prints of the excellent painting set at Craigellachie junction 1910. These were sold to members of the association and others.
"At the time I unsuccessfully tried to sell one to the Fiddichside Inn. Being just across the bridge from the railway station, the inn had been a traditional watering hole for railwaymen.
"So, after all these years I decided to donate the last remaining print to the inn on behalf of the GNSRA.
"The new landlady, Alison Hunter, was delighted to accept it on condition that it is displayed on the wall of the bar."
Mrs Hunter said: "It was so thoughtful and generous of John to gift the print to the Fiddichside.
"Being so close to the old junction station, there is a lot of interest in the history of the railway and some our visitors come for that reason.
"The print will be a great talking point and remind us that we were built to refresh the workers."
She added: "We will hang it with pride near the history of the replacement railway booklet – the original was known to always hang from a particular hook in the bar."
