In Aberdeen there was a private section of track on the Sea Beach route that was never picked up. By private I mean that the final quarter to half mile or so was separate from the road and ran into a terminal stub with a run-round loop at the beach front.
This remained as a reminder of the tramways for many years but was shortened quite a bit when a new hotel was built across the town end of the private section.
A 1990's view when the length was till complete. The building in the immediate background is the Ex Beach Tram Depot, which still remains today and is part of a Stratosphere Children's exhibition.
The view as it is today with the new hotel sitting across the old trackbed
A wider view showing the amount of track that remains. From the town center at Castlegate the beach route ran down Justice Street, Park Street then down Constitution Street where it entered the private section to the terminus.
The private section of track became the funeral pyre for the trams in 1958, which were lined up along the concreted section and set on fire. Not one Aberdeen tram was saved, even purchasing items such as seats etc were refused. The 30 odd fleet of Super Streamliners that were built in 1949 were destroyed after no more than ten years of service. The burning took place at night and was not published before hand.
Reverse view from above. The line turned sharp left up to the terminal stub.
At the terminus site a section of track is showing through the tarmac, which is the points of the terminal run-round. I wonder how long these will show before they are eventually recovered with tarmac!
Another place where track is still showing is at the site of the Bankhead tram terminus at Bucksburn. Bankhead was the terminus of the Aberdeen Suburban Tramway that extended from the No. 7 route at Scatterburn (Woodside) from Great Northern Road, through Auchmill Road to Bucksburn. The surburban route closed around 1928 along with the western suburban route along the Deeside to Beildiside that followed Great Western Road.
The terminus was on Bankhead Road but the Tram depot was just inside Bankhead Avenue, across from Bankhead Church. The track seen above was inside the Depot and can be seen behind what was at the time of these photos, a Chinese Take-Away shop.
