Leven and East of Fife Railways

[keefer]

through visits to the area, have become interested in the leven and east of fife railways.

there are some pics of the stations on RCHAMS and RAILSCOT sites and books/info on the anstruther - st. andrews railway, but there doesn't seem to be the same amount of info available on the stretch from thornton jn. - anstruther.

 

anyone know any better?

 

have enclosed a 'now' pic to compare to a 'then' RCHAMS pic of largo station - ref point is where the stone wall on the left goes from sloping to almost level - in fact the wall actually goes outwards to the left, creating a 'recessed' area of wall - seems that this was where the largo station signalbox was, there are still a few courses of brickwork in amongst the trees/grass banking? the black metal gates centre right are the start of the viaduct.

 

http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/images/l/664344/

[pH]

Have you tried the 'usual suspects' - the 'Last Days of Steam' and 'Lost Railways' series? There's "Fife's Last Days of Steam" by WAC Smith and "Fife's Lost Railways" by G Stanfield. I don't have my own copies, but I seem to remember that there are photos of the stretch of line you're interested in.

 

Incidentally, if you're visiting the area, I'd recommend the 'Station Buffet' bar at the corner of High Street and Chapman Place in Elie. Apart from being a good pub, it has a small 'library' of books of local interest, including the two mentioned above!

[keefer]

thanks for that pH - i've seen some of these books and similar about, lovely photos, no doubt about that, but just looking for something a bit more involved.

e.g. Oakwood press has 2 books about the st. andrews or anstruther/st. andrews railways with lots of text, photos, track plans etc.

just wondered if there was anything out there about the less glamourous end of the line?

 

cheers anyway :-)

[Stuart]

I think the third book in the trilogy from Oakwood is going to be The Leven & East Fife Railway and will cover the area you're interested in.

No indication of a publication date yet, though..........

Stuart

[keefer]

thanks for that, i'd looked at the oakwood site for the area and only had links to the 2 books already available.

there's a few sites in the area i've noticed still have remnants of the railway, unfortuneately didn't have my camera at the time. i can get shots of what's there, just wish there was some more photo evidence of the line in use

 

thanks

[Irishswissernie]

There is another book privately published by J K Corstorphine 'East of Thornton Junction' ISBN 0-9525621-0-3; I got mine from Midland Counties a few years ago .

 

Oakwood Press's The Wemyss Private Railway by A W Brotchie also has some information.

 

 

Ernie

[keefer]

thanks for the info, ernie - found a 2nd hand copy on amazon!

 

pH also flagged up a brilliant bit of period film:

 

thanks, everyone!

[Jamie]

Nice subject Keefer

I do like this neck of the woods and am often tempted to make it subject of plan B, whenever that appears on the horizon. I've just remembered a top-quality website, start here: http://andycarr.net/Page30.htm

 

Now, I daren't look back through it today or I'll be considering things sa'at an' sauce, ex-NBR, blood and custard, Thompson and Gresley stock, the works!

[Neil_S_Wood]

If you were interested in some DVD footage, I have found a fair bit on Thornton Junction in the Railways of Scotland DVD Fife which is the first in the series. There is also footage of this section on the Scottish byways and Scottish byways 2 dvd's. The Scottish byways has some footage of the line coming into Leven and and a bot of round the station then it heads off to Lundin Links and has a good bit of footage of a train going over the bridge in Largo. The second Scottish Byways oner has footage of Kirkland sidings between Mountflourie and Methil as a special from Thornton goes to the docks by the Bawbee bridge. I didn't think the line went all the way around, I thought it just went to the power station but that's what it seems to be saying. It also has brief shot of Buckhaven station amongst other snippets.

 

cheers

 

Neil

[Guest Max Stafford]

I can only echo Jamie's sentiments as regards the East Neuk. This is one area that would stand a good chance of being my own 'plan B'.

 

In fact, space and time permitting, an East Neuk-style exhibition layout may well appear from this source sometime in the next ten years...!

 

Dave.

[keefer]

neil, thanks for the info about footage available, i have the railways of scotland vol.1 on order!

 

regarding the joined-up-ness of the railways around methil - imagine you have the leven railway through cameron bridge at the top and the wemyss &buckhaven railway (but ending at methil station) at the bottom, then the link between the two contains the leven dock railway (i think)

 

hence the line down to the power station continues west around the the bottom of methil, joining up west of methil station.

 

from the national library on-line maps, bartholomew's 1912 map:

http://www.nls.uk/maps/atlas/bartholomew/view/?id=1138

 

just zoom in on methil to see what i mean. (also useful as it shows the wemyss lines too)

[Neil_S_Wood]

neil, thanks for the info about footage available, i have the railways of scotland vol.1 on order!

 

regarding the joined-up-ness of the railways around methil - imagine you have the leven railway through cameron bridge at the top and the wemyss &buckhaven railway (but ending at methil station) at the bottom, then the link between the two contains the leven dock railway (i think)

 

hence the line down to the power station continues west around the the bottom of methil, joining up west of methil station.

 

from the national library on-line maps, bartholomew's 1912 map:

http://www.nls.uk/ma...w/view/?id=1138

 

just zoom in on methil to see what i mean. (also useful as it shows the wemyss lines too)

 

 

Thanks for that map and info Keefer. I knew there were lines to the docks but not sure about where they came from. The area around the power station was fenced off and I only got inside when I went there with my Dad. There were plenty of railway tracks inside the docks area but I had assumed that they had all come from the Buckhaven area. It does seem logical now I look at the map. This explains the circular tour from Thornton on the Scottish byways 2 DVD.

 

I think you'll like the RoS DVD. I found it has some pretty good footage of what was in place forty- fifty years ago.

 

cheers

 

Neil

[jbg06003]

Another couple of publications to consider.

 

Thornton Railway Days by Lillian King ISBN 0953075893 Windfall Books

 

and

 

East Fife Railway Album compiled by R A Batchelor ISBn 09066664160 Melvin Press

 

HTH

 

Bruce