The Glenfarg route

['CHARD]

Undoubtedly the most controversial of all the railway closures in Fife.

 

The North British's Cowdenbeath to Kinross route was a double-track main line engineered to express standards forming the shortest connection to Perth from Edinburgh, a journey which today requires a circuitous loop via Stirling or Kirkcaldy. It was constructed by the NB to make maximum advantage of the shorter journey times afforded once the Forth Bridge was opened.

 

The line escaped the Beeching Axe of the 60s and was in fact listed for strategic development in one of the Doctor's reports, but this remaining backbone of the Kinross-shire railway system bit the dust in January 1970 for reasons which still remain something of a mystery. However, the emergence of the M90 upon significant stretches of trackbed between Perth and Kinross a few years after the rails had been lifted gives an insight into transport strategies back in the day.

 

The line has proved notoriously camera-shy during its period of operation, with only a few good record shots recently surfacing. However, bearing testament to the navvies who laboured to span the River Farg and tunnel through the eastern foothills of the Ochils, I'm launching this long overdue tribute to my 'other team.'

 

 

Some resources:

 

http://www.railbrit.co.uk/Glenfarg_Line/frame.htm

 

http://www.geographicadventures.co.uk/guides/scotland/glenfarg.html

 

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php/70561-Glenfarg-Railway-Tunnels-Perthshire-April-2012

 

http://www.abandonedscotland.com/blog/glenfarg-railway-tunnels-video-july-2011/

 

http://www.forgottenrelics.co.uk/

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54962750@N05/5911430841

[Guest Max Stafford]

WJV Anderson was 'the man' round here. He's got quite a few shots taken on the route including some classics with the Lomonds in the background.

 

Dave.

['CHARD]

"Handy" Andy Carr scored five cars of BFYE Met-Camm Class 101 splendour passing the closed station from which the line took its name:

 

http://andycarr.net/NF291-07.jpg

 

 

In fact, the best B+W gallery I've found so far of the diesel transition era, is Andy's, here:

http://andycarr.net/page40.htm

Edited December 10, 2012 by 'CHARD

['CHARD]

Looking back at the end of the line at Bridge of Earn in '71:

 

http://www.railbrit....te.php?id=36179

 

Enjoy this before it's gone, an obscure view of Kinross Jct selling for big bucks on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/...cvip=true&rt=nc

 

Milnathort 'box from kingfisher24, in the short freight period post-closure to through traffic:

http://www.flickr.co...r24/4926115014/

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

http://www.flickr.co...in/photostream/

 

And signage at Kinross post closure:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kingfisher24/4925510223/in/photostream/

 

One of the nicest I've seen:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kingfisher24/4924331945/in/photostream/

Edited December 10, 2012 by 'CHARD

[SwissRailPassion]

Railways of Scotland DVD 'Perth to Kinnaber Junction' has an excellent section on this line with some good footage from DMU's and the odd express.

[keefer]

The line escaped the Beeching Axe of the 60s and was in fact listed for strategic development in one of the Doctor's reports, but this remaining backbone of the Kinross-shire railway system bit the dust in January 1970 for reasons which still remain something of a mystery. However, the emergence of the M90 upon significant stretches of trackbed between Perth and Kinross a few years after the rails had been lifted gives an insight into transport strategies back in the day.

 

how long was ernest marples in charge of the roads for? (beeching's brother-in-law i believe)

i suppose logistically, if it came down to a choice of keeping a 'duplicate' rail line (albeit faster, but with less 'important' stations) or saving £millions on the new motorway by using the available route (i.e. without having to completely engineer a new path for it) the road would win.

 

i don't know if it all came under some other 'unofficial' rationalisation, but there were a hellofalot of closures in the late 60s of lines which had survived beeching - whether it was a case of wait-and-see or wait-until-some-alternative comes along, i don't know - but i think it's accepted that the govt. bias in favour of roads was not an irrational 'conspiracy'

[Guest Belgian]

I've often driven south from Perth on the M90 and wondered at what the gradient profile for this line must have looked like: the climb up from Bridge of Earn to Glenfarg must have been extremely severe. Were trains banked up here or were the expresses really short?

 

JE

[keefer]

from the 1969 ScR sectional appendix, the steepest grades on the line are:

 

dunfermline lower-touch sth. 1 in 75

touch sth. - townhill jn. 1 in 72

kelty nth. - bridge of earn generally 1 in 73 or 1 in 75

[Guest Max Stafford]

Essentially that's the kind of ruling gradient found on the Waverley Route but lacking the tortuous curvature of the latter so probably less of an issue on the Glenfarg Route.

 

Dave.

[pH]

WJV Anderson was 'the man' round here. He's got quite a few shots taken on the route including some classics with the Lomonds in the background.

 

Dave.

 

I'd agree. And some of the subjects are a bit of a surprise - 'Clan' anyone? TG Hepburn also recorded the area over several decades, but AFAIK there are only a couple of published collections of his photographs - they do turn up in many magazines, though.

['CHARD]

I've often driven south from Perth on the M90 and wondered at what the gradient profile for this line must have looked like: the climb up from Bridge of Earn to Glenfarg must have been extremely severe. Were trains banked up here or were the expresses really short?

 

JE

 

The trains were certainly not short. Not consulted the Marshalling Instructions yet for services working over the route, but at least one photo I've seen is of the typical Highland Main line consist of a pair of BRCWs with approx 11 bogies on the back.

 

I never knew the village was known as Damhead (sounds like a punk-metal supergroup) until the railway boosted its appeal as a hotel lodging/ country 'sports' destination.

http://www.glenfarg.org/PandP/railway.shtml

Edited December 12, 2012 by 'CHARD

['CHARD]

J38 65907 climbing southbound to the summit.

 

http://www.flickr.co...N03/6395961141/

 

...and 60006 in the vicinty

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dwbphotos/4102105557/in/set-72157622501178283

Edited December 12, 2012 by 'CHARD

[Lochty no more]

Touch North Junction

[Guest Max Stafford]

Love the Scottish WDs with their unique clack and firebox arrangement.

What a great place name too.

 

D.

[Lochinvar]

I'd agree. And some of the subjects are a bit of a surprise - 'Clan' anyone? TG Hepburn also recorded the area over several decades, but AFAIK there are only a couple of published collections of his photographs - they do turn up in many magazines, though.

 

The "Clans" - the 68A/12A examples,that is - put in reasonably frequent appearances on the Glenfarg route,being used on filling-in turns by Perth shed. Indeed,my first ever sighting of a "Clan" -72009 - was at Dalmeny on a S-bound morning passenger working which originated at Perth. This would have been in the mid 50s. It returned N pm on a Perth-bound train of vans.

 

DR

[Guest Max Stafford]

Not only that but the Polmadie locos would be borrowed by Haymarket during the beet and seed potato seasons and probably put in appearances too.

 

D

[keefer]

i've already quoted from it, so i thought i'd scan the relevant pages from the 1969 ScR sectional appendix for your enjoyment!

(mods - if i'm breaching copyright, i'll remove the images immediately)

 

table 'A' p.133 - 136 and 'local instructions' p.293 of B.R. 30006 dated 18th. January 1969

 

 

i'll have a look through the other sections in the book to see if there's anything relevant to the line, or if there's anything specific anyone wants to know.

[keefer]

link to 1955 OS map at nls maps

 

just been looking at this as i must admit, although i knew of the route generally etc., i hadn't paid too much attention to where it actually went.

of course if you have a modern OS map to hand, it makes it easy to compare the line with the M90 which partly took its place

 

(both maps start at dunfermline)

Edited December 13, 2012 by keefer

[Wizard of the Moor]

Love the Scottish WDs with their unique clack and firebox arrangement.

 

Dave,

 

I know about the clacks, but what's with the firebox?

 

Still researching the options for one of Bradwell's Beauties

 

[Guest Max Stafford]

There's a slightly different arrangement of the washout plugs and hand rails, James.

 

Dave.

[26power]

Hopefully this works - if you go to this link you can see the old mapping overlayed on the current mapping:

 

http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=14&lat=56.29338&lon=-3.38321&layers=0000000B00FFFFFFFFFFTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

 

There's a slider at the top to vary the transparency of the overlay.

 

Meant to try this for ages for the M90, but it'll be with a fresh eye i look at this route next time I drive it!

 

Cheers,

 

26power

 

link to 1955 OS map at nls maps

 

just been looking at this as i must admit, although i knew of the route generally etc., i hadn't paid too much attention to where it actually went.

of course if you have a modern OS map to hand, it makes it easy to compare the line with the M90 which partly took its place

 

(both maps start at dunfermline)

[Wizard of the Moor]

There's a slightly different arrangement of the washout plugs and hand rails, James.

 

Thanks, Dave. It's back to the reference books then.

[keefer]

Hopefully this works - if you go to this link you can see the old mapping overlayed on the current mapping:

......

Meant to try this for ages for the M90, but it'll be with a fresh eye i look at this route next time I drive it!

 

Cheers,

 

26power

 

thanks for that, that's excellent! i must admit i've only looked at the 'old' maps on nls - obviously need to start digging a bit more into what's there.

 

incedentally more about the motorway and pics at Pathetic Motorways

[gridwatcher]

Mr Bill Anderson's son Keith is a member on RMWeb and a mate of mine....PM him, he isn't difficult to find!

[beast66606]

Now I've noticed this I'll scan the opening hours page for you

 

I've also got the 1937 Sectional Appendix, all it's 6 supplements and the 1960 Sectional Appendix too.