The Glenfarg route

['CHARD]

I was too late to the Fife and Kinross scene to remember seeing traffic on the line.  I do cherish vivid memories of the scarred ballast with a thin growth of encroaching grass, before the motorway began to manifest itself.  I even walked the stretch through the Farg defile as a child when the remainder of the solum was intact, but never thought to check out the remains of the station, or Milnathort, Kinross or Mawcarse - less still the stretch at the Cowdenbeath end.

 

Do any contributors have any memories of travelling over the route or linesiding?  Where were you, what was it like, what era were you active, how was the line significant to you?

 

It's a wasted asset to me, like the WR.  I am trying to get a vicarious glimpse, a peepshow into the time when it was an unremarkable piece of the scenery, going about its unglamorous business.

[sulzer27jd]

 it was an unremarkable piece of the scenery, going about its unglamorous business.

 

Nice turn of phrase. This is what makes it interesting to me. Folk are welcome to their West Highland Line models and the twee scenery, this is what railways were about.

 

J

[Corrour]

Gents,

 

Some more signalling info for your interest

Newburgh-Model-rot.pdf

[Ian Kirk]

Hi,

 

Many thanks Corrour for the diagram of Ladybank South which confirms the all too distant memory of a small boy travelling from Kirkcaldy to visit some obscure relative in Strathmiglo.

 

best wishes,

 

Ian

[Corrour]

Hi Ian,

 

Glad to bring back happy memories! 

 

kind regards,

 

Robert

[Joe MCMLXI]

Having been reading this thread, I've found it very fascinating, especially as I've used the motorway with work when travelling across Fife and not knowing it ever existed.

 

I was travelling back from the Highlands down to Kirkcaldy, so had a small amount of spare time to take the A roads,so I could look for more traces of this route. I could see the embankment going across the fields, near Dron, from the A912

 

Travelling up the B996 towards Glenfarg, I passed under a viaduct. There was a lay-by just passed it and I was able to park up and walk back over it, towards a tunnel....

 

 

 

The tunnel looks in reasonable condition and curves to the left as you look in. I didn't have suitable foot ware, so stopped at the tunnel mouth.

 

 

you can just make out the 'light' at the other end of the tunnel!

 

so a big thank you to those of you who have contributed to this thread and made my journey much more interesting !

 

cheers

 

joe

[sulzer27jd]

I have just posted a couple of questions about the Highlands Car Sleeper if anyone is interested.

 

Did you ever get a response to your questions?

[sulzer27jd]

Yes and no!

 

 

Another piece to the puzzle however.

['CHARD]

Been mugging up on my second team again, here are some photos that we may not have linked previously, apologies if there are any duplications or repeats:

 

B1 at Loch Leven from Kidderminster Railway Museum collection: http://www.krm.org.uk/myster8.gif

 

A2 thought to be at Kelty, from same source: http://www.krm.org.uk/myster20.gif

 

D30 at Cowdenbeath - wonderfully evocative lineside house gable-ends: http://www.krm.org.uk/myster7.gif

 

Blairadam station after closure but with the main line, correctly, open as a trunk route: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1828403

 

And an incidental shot of the main line in Glenfarg itself, from a very quiet A90 http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4215703

Edited February 9, 2017 by 'CHARD

[Craig Watson]

 

And an incidental shot of the main line in Glenfarg itself, from a very quiet A90 http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4215703

The location of the last pic hasn't changed much, the lay by is where myself and donny4472 accessed the tunnels when we walked them a few years ago.

 

Here it is on google maps.

 

 

Cheers

 

Craig

['CHARD]

Has anyone had any joy in ordering prints from the Kidderminster Railway Museum collection?  The reason I ask is that I ordered some prints a number of years back and had excellent service with a very helpful and quite speedy response.  

 

Although I don't claim sole responsibility, I subsequently identified the first three "mystery" photographs (Loch Leven, Kelty & Cowdenbeath North Junction) and attempted to obtain copies but, although the mystery photographs had the locations updated on their website, no response was ever given to my request for copies.  

 

They also hold the Signalling Record Society's photographic archive which has views of the boxes at Inverkeithing South, Dunfermline Lower, Touch South Junction, Touch North Junction, Glenfarg and Bridge of Earn.  I tried to obtain copies of these quoting the SRS references but all to no avail.  

 

Excluding the first order, I have made two electronic requests for prints and two snail mail requests using their own form downloaded from their website but received absolutely no response to any of these requests.  I am at a loss as to understand why as I had such an excellent response first time round. 

 

Also, given the existence of no less than three "mystery photographs" relevant to this line, one wonders what else they might have that has not yet been identified.  In spite of the investment that went into Kelty in the 1950s, it must rank as one of the least photographed main line locations in the UK.

 

I voted 'Friendly/ Supportive' although I want to strongly agree with your observations about Kelty.  

 

I find the lack of photos of the Perth Direct by turns infuriating and bewildering, and of certain locations completely baffling.  I've visited practically all of the line between Loch Leven and Bridge of Earn, including the indecent motorway stretches before they were obliterated, and despite the existence of numerous photogenic sites, the significant majority are not captured at all. 

[Douglas G]

Has anyone had any joy in ordering prints from the Kidderminster Railway Museum collection?  The reason I ask is that I ordered some prints a number of years back and had excellent service with a very helpful and quite speedy response.  

 

Although I don't claim sole responsibility, I subsequently identified the first three "mystery" photographs (Loch Leven, Kelty & Cowdenbeath North Junction) and attempted to obtain copies but, although the mystery photographs had the locations updated on their website, no response was ever given to my request for copies.  

 

They also hold the Signalling Record Society's photographic archive which has views of the boxes at Inverkeithing South, Dunfermline Lower, Touch South Junction, Touch North Junction, Glenfarg and Bridge of Earn.  I tried to obtain copies of these quoting the SRS references but all to no avail.  

 

Excluding the first order, I have made two electronic requests for prints and two snail mail requests using their own form downloaded from their website but received absolutely no response to any of these requests.  I am at a loss as to understand why as I had such an excellent response first time round. 

 

Also, given the existence of no less than three "mystery photographs" relevant to this line, one wonders what else they might have that has not yet been identified.  In spite of the investment that went into Kelty in the 1950s, it must rank as one of the least photographed main line locations in the UK.

 

Hi, I have just spotted this post and have had the same experience. Audie Baker, who used to run the Kidderminster photographic library, was fantastic at developing their database and was very pro-active in contacting people about new photographs they might be interested in. But he sadly died a few years back, and since then my e-mails via the website have never been answered. I don't know who is in charge now.

['CHARD]

Exquisite shot of Kinross c/o the Transition DMU thread....

 

http://topticl.zenfolio.com/p409194668/h9bd9ad0#h9bd9ad0

[scottystitch]

Roughly two thirds/thre fifths of the way down thi spage, is a stunning image of Glenfarg station which I, for one, have never seen before:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4767676/Fascinating-photos-UK-railway-stations-100-years-ago.html

[sulzer27jd]

Roughly two thirds/thre fifths of the way down thi spage, is a stunning image of Glenfarg station which I, for one, have never seen before:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4767676/Fascinating-photos-UK-railway-stations-100-years-ago.html

 

What an excellent find. Almost worth having to go to the Daily Mail website for - still I have washed thoroughly since and think I have gotten away with it. 

 

There are lots of little details in that picture that I haven't seen before, so it's a real bonus.

[scottystitch]

 Almost worth having to go to the Daily Mail website for - still I have washed thoroughly since and think I have gotten away with it. 

 

 

Indeed, one feels 'dirty'.....

[Steamysandy]

InJune 1962,East Lothian County Council chartered the Television train for 5 days. It was used for a day by each of the 5 secondary schools in the then County.I was at North Berwick High School and our day out was to St Andrews.Two B1s from North Berwick to Waverley where A3 (60068?)took over and we travelled via the Glenfarg line to Dundee.Two B1s round the Fife Coast to Thornton where the A3 came on again back to Edinburgh and 2 B1s again back to North Berwick

In September 1970 40164 failed at Aviemore on a Scottish Region Grand Tour.A Haymarket sister loco was summoned from Inverness and arrived piloting the Royal Highlander which we followed to Hilton Junction.We then ran via Glenfarg to cross the Forth Bridge at Midnight!! Engineering work at Saughton delayed us further and we finally reached Waverley after 1am as opposed to the scheduled 10pm.

I was not popular when I got home at 2-40am!!

[Steamysandy]

I stand corrected but I remember it being one of my early exploits with colour slide film hence my suggesting it was 1970 and we ran via Glenfarg.I also remember it running from Stirling to Dunfermline and the long sections south of Aviemore because Signal boxes were switched out!

Incidentally I have somewhere an operating notice issued when the sidings at Kelty were resignalled and realigned(?) in the 1950s which came to me via some time Haymarket driver I knew

[dunwurken]

Hi, I have just spotted this post and have had the same experience. Audie Baker, who used to run the Kidderminster photographic library, was fantastic at developing their database and was very pro-active in contacting people about new photographs they might be interested in. But he sadly died a few years back, and since then my e-mails via the website have never been answered. I don't know who is in charge now.

Steam Days magazine makes frequent use of photographs from the Kidderminster collection. Perhaps the editorial team could put you in direct touch with whoever is custodian of the collection these days e-mail red.gauntlett@btconnect.com

Malcolm

[sulzer27jd]

I have been doing a little work regarding the operation of the Glenfarg line in the early BR days. I have attached a list of the weekday passenger services over the line, according to the summer 1948 timetable. 

 

From the corresponding carriage working book, I have identified the carriage sets that were used. These consisted primarily of 4 sets of 4 coaches that worked the Waverley to Perth section, supplemented by sets of through coaches for Inverness, split between those via Carr Bridge and those via Forres. The other sets were two, six coach sets, used to form Edinburgh to Leeds trains and some 4 coach non-corridor sets used for Perth to Glasgow via Kinross Jcn.

 

I have set these out in the attached file. The above stock 'sets' were supplemented by other vehicles through the day.

 

As always, I hope this is of interest and any information about this early BR era will be most gratefully received.

 

All the best

 

John

 

 

Glenfarg Passenger services 1948 Sheet1.pdf

Coaching Stock 1948.pdf

[sulzer27jd]

I presume you are already aware of the stock provided by the LNER in 1939 / 41 specifically for the Edinburgh – Inverness service.  Most LNER main line stock was fitted with Buckeye couplings and Pullman Gangways.  However, the LMS stock used north of Perth was not so equipped and it was necessary to fold down the buckeye to expose the conventional draw hook, draw out the buffers and fit gangway adaptors every time LNER stock was coupled to LMS stock at Perth, repeating the process in reverse when uncoupling.  The LNER sought to address this by providing vehicles with British Standard gangways.  The vehicles were as follows:

 

Diagram 296 CK            32368, 32430/1/4/44       (5 Vehicles, 1939)

Diagram 297 BTK          3856, 31135, 31221-3     (5 Vehicles, 1939)

Diagram 298 TK            31154/62/75, 31200/2     (5 Vehicles, 1939)

Diagram 314 BCK          32447/8/50                    (3 Vehicles, 1941)

 

My guess is that most would still be in use in 1948.  If I have understood the tables in Michael Harris’s LNER Coaches correctly, the following (renumbered) vehicles from these deliveries were withdrawn from the Scottish Region between 1962 and 1965, although their original workings would have been taken over by BR standard stock in the late 1950s.

 

CK Sc18404E - Sc18408E

BSK (ex BTK) Sc16733E, Sc16735E and Sc16737E

SK (ex TK) Sc13695E and Sc13697E - Sc13699E

BCK Sc10146E – Sc10148E

 

 

 

Thanks, Brian. Re the vestibules, the carriage working book is very specific in that those vehicles for the Inverness run are specified as CKLA or BTKLA, with the A identifying these as vehicles with a British Standard vestibule and Pullman Adaptor.

 

 I would think that the vehicles you highlight - CK Sc18404E - Sc18408E and BSK (ex BTK) Sc16733E, Sc16735E and Sc16737E would be the likely candidates.

 

Also, thanks for spotting the Glasgow services. The carriage workings only refer to 'Glasgow' and give no more detail and as is the way with technology, I re-used a previous spreadsheet to populate most of the entries and have of course not replaced the Buchannan Street labels. You are of course correct that these should be Queen Street.

 

John

Glenfarg Passenger services 1948 Sheet1.pdf

Coaching Stock.pdf

Edited January 3, 2018 by sulzer27jd

[sulzer27jd]

Always Brian - thanks.

 

In Michael Harris' "LNER Standard Gresley Carriages", he lists, at the end of each type, a number of vehicles that were allocated to the Scottish Region in 1949, prefixed by SC. He also talks about the introduction of BR Standard Stock and the allocation of those vehicles requiring the addition of the "E" suffix to indicate any former LNER vehicles.

 

From that, I conclude that for any given Scottish carriage it could have been numbered;

 

LNER  - 4567   [1943-48]

E4567               [1948-49]

SC4567            [1949-51]

SC4567E          [1951 +]

 

Of course, the overlap between them would have been significant and given the length of time that 'teak' remained visible, there is quite a bit of scope for the modeller.

 

John

[sulzer27jd]

The research into the Glenfarg route was always going to be dangerous territory for me.  Below is the first element of a potential future project, which hopefully will be recognisable to the followers of this thread.

 

 

This actually represents a huge step forward for me, as previously my layouts avoided structures as much as possible. A) because I'm not very good at building them and B) I'd rather be building another LNER Pacific.

 

I am therefore taking some tentative steps by starting with my weakest discipline. I will move the construction to a new thread so as to keep this thread for those who are researching the line and of course encourage further participation.

 

John

[sulzer27jd]

Additionally, because there are no drawings for the station buildings, I have scaled from the available photographs - as best I can - to come up with these elevations;

 

The Platform side

 

The public entrance side

 

I have noticed a couple of drawing errors (the end dormer is missing from the platform view), but if there is anything else that is noticeable, give me a DM.

 

Thanks

 

John

[Corrour]

Additionally, because there are no drawings for the station buildings, I have scaled from the available photographs - as best I can - to come up with these elevations;

 

The Platform side

 

The public entrance side

 

I have noticed a couple of drawing errors (the end dormer is missing from the platform view), but if there is anything else that is noticeable, give me a DM.

 

Thanks

 

John

Hi 65288 62C, I have had similar experience....ordered picures two years ago.....never arrived :-( The Bluebell Railway on other hand had very swift and helpful service. Re your query about photos of various Fife/Perthshire boxes I have photos of some of these, and signalling diagrams. If you send me a PE with your email I'll send on. Robert