Lochty no more

DOCJACOB

I note one page 217 of "The Leven & East of Fife Railway" by the Oakwood press, there is a photo of one of your beloved grain vans headng east through Leven station - possibly loading grain for Cameronbridge Distillery from the farms of the east neuk - rare to see them east of Kirkland yard.

Best wishes

Lochty no more

DOCJACOB

You have not posted for a while, are these grain vans going to restore themself - probably not, now the following excuses are acceptable to RMwebbers:

Excuse 1 ; I am dead, and cannot restore LNER grain vans

Excuse 2:: My hand is trapped in the Corn Flakes packet and I am awaiting rescue from the fire brigade

If your excuse is none of the above, then get yourself down to Ludborough and sort it out

P.S. Pete Westwater got an advanced copy of a new book ( he had contributed photo`s ) The Leven & East of Fife Railway - there is a cracking photo of LNER grain vans at Cameronbridge Station and a good chance your grain vans were once in Kirkland yard ( where trains for Cameronbridge were marshalled ).

Regards Lochty no more

DOCJACOB

I agree with you on the signals position, could this be one of the rare occasions where the S&T department get there bit done before the Permenent way department alter the trackwork?, as it stands anybody puting there head out of a window on the road to the left of the signal would be at risk of getting slapped in the coupon with a signal arm. The promenent signal No,track circuit diamond and ladder hoop are all comprimises Health & Safety legislation ect, at least with my NBR signals there is no ladder to put a hoop on.

Dojacob

I gather from your last post that your feeling a little bit disallusioned, dont be, most  preservation society`s members dont give a S**t  about railway wagons my first project was a Place wagon ( which turned out to be the last one in existance ) I cleaned it up, painted it black only to discover it should have been painted olive green, so I can understand your frustration. Most railway society`s have this attitude, dont worry about this the work you are doing on your wagons is nationaly important - no body else is doing this - as far as I can see there is only you and I actually doing preservation on  this forum.

Sometimes it`s hard to motivate yourself, but there are out there people who apreciate your endevours - more power to your elbow!

Hi,

Interesting to note that when this individual was born,1829, Thornton was described as Thornton Markinch. I presume that at that time Thornton would be a very small village, if that, perhaps little more than a farm. Markinch would be the nearest place of any size. Thornton grew to the size it is now with the coming of the railway and for a long time a large percentage of the population were railwaymen. There are several places called Lochty but the Lochty burn passes North of Thornton and runs into the River Ore at Waukmill which is where I think that the Bleach works was. I tried searching the internet for this and found that the owner of the works fought one of the last duels in Scotland and there is a book on the subject and I read some of the extracts. It seems that his opponent a Kirkcaldy Banker must have been an argumentative type as he had already tried to get an ancestor of mine, then the local tobacconist, to fight with him but had been refused.

The full description IIRC of the wagon was " Empty Cask Wagon" I had always assumed that that meant returning empty beer barrels etc. does not explain the return to Kirkcaldy branding on the wagons though. On my weekend walk I reached the Edradour Distillery. This is the smallest Distillery in Scotland, attractive buildings and very tasty product! It reminded me that some whiskies are matured in second hand Sherry casks and that contributes to the colour/flavour. Pure speculation but could there have been a trade of these through Kirkcaldy Harbour?

 

best wishes,

 

Ian

Ian

there was a large traffic in sherry casks from Kircaldy Harbour to Cameronbridge distillery ( Windygates ) and possibly to other distillery`s - the Grange distillery at Burntisland, I forget the name of the distillery at Auchtertool. When the whisky was made they needed something to put it in hense the reason for the NB cask wagons, once the barrels had been filled they went into a duty free warehouse for a minimum of 3 years, full whisky barrels would have been transported by more secure vans to the bottling plants e.g. Haig`s plant at Markinch. I belive this traffic went over to road vehicles after WW2

Regards Lochty

Proper job - keep up the good work - thanks to you future generations will have an LNER grain van to look at

DOCJACOB

It`s a treat to hear from somebody who`s actually doing some preservation. Keep up the good work with the Grain vans

Lochty

Still dont see any shunting poles, brake sticks or loose 3 link couplings on loco`s  - may have to inform the layout police

Dave

Not much to critisize here, but a suggestion, most shunting locomotives used a spare 3 link coupling on the hook ( it gave extra reach and was easier to pick up with a shunting pole than a screw coupling )rarely modelled as far as I can see. Most shunters also carried a shunting pole & break stick on the buffer beam or the side of the loco. I mention this as you have not missed any other small details - the difference between a realy good model and perfection is built on such minutia.

Another peek at Pete Westwater`s legendry photo archive - this time Thornton is considered "Kirkcaldy area*

62418 at "Thornton Weighs" signal box

62427 in bay platform at Thornton Junction

62478 at Kinghorn station

62492 at Thornton

61508 at Thornton?

Clayton at Baco Burntisland

"wheel meet again" No 65916 on scrap road at Thornton

on shed at Thornton

60519 at Kirkcaldy

"Blue Peter" Kirkcaldy

 

Very interesting photos by Neilgue, especially of the former Invertiel Harbour branch. I hadn't realised that there were so many traces left.

Following a bit of rummaging for something else entirely, I discovered the following couple of slides in my 'discards' box. The originals are unviewable, but a bit of 'Photoshopping' discovered scenes of the Dubbie branch, taken in 1981.

DSC00305.JPG

DSC00306.JPG

The loco is NCB No. 30, a Barclay 16 incher, works 2259 of 1949, sitting amongst the general dereliction, and the other pic is of the fine North British Railway lower quadrant 'home' guarding the White Gates crossing of Normand Road. I do hope this signal has been preserved, as it must have been one of the last few working LQs in normal service. Perhaps Keefer or Lochty will know.

I am afraid the scrap metal merchant got that one. The windlas from the signal on the other side of the crossing has been preserved and will be re - fitted to a "Stevens & Son" single lattice signal from "Methil Central" that is undergoing restoration at the Kingdom of Fife Railway Preservation Society in Leven

The "Dubbie pug" is also being restored at the KFRPS we hope to have it back in steam within 2 years

Re Steve's photo and query regarding rebuilding of Kirkcaldy station, please see my post #30, way back on page 2 of this thread. Work was carried out during summer of 1964. I note the ticket inspector is in Steve's photo too! This topic has certainly got the old brain cogs creaking into motion, and Pete's pic of 'Glen Douglas' at Thornton sparked a few memories. A thorough search of the shoebox in the wardrobe turned up these. I reckon the date was 10 June 1962, and the railtour was taken on to Leslie and perhaps Methil by the cleanest J38 I've ever seen. Wasn't aware that Pete was into colour photography at this stage, but my efforts attached. The tarpaulin covered wagons in the goods loop are a point of reference.

64616 heading for Leslie

64616 ontour to Leslie

64616 at Thornton Junction

64616 at what is now Glenrothes

i'm repeating myself, but fantastic pics again!

 

i automatically thought the invertiel viaduct pic was looking west, but it's actually looking east

 

modern google streetview

 

looking at 1943 25-inch OS map at nls, this used to be the kirkcaldy steam laundry

61219 Roseburry Terrace on special, class 05 in foreground - 3 trains for the price of one

Touch North Junction

Is Thornton classed as part of the Kirkcaldy area? working on the assumption that the answer is yes, here are some more photo`s from Pete Westwater`s legendary archive

the scrap road at Thornton

Thornton looking north

three way points Dysart

fine old NBR distant signal on Dubbie branch

Kirkcaldy down advance starter

start of Auchtertool branch

Edinburgh & Northern station lamp at Dysart ( Pete always had an eye for detail)

Invertiel viaduct

64616 at white gates (Dysart)

more to follow

Nice signal but that finial looks a bit chubby in its upper part

Jon, that finial is suspicious here is a 12" to the foot version

the arm is a 4 feet NBR lower quadrant, your arm would be 5 feet, it looks a bit too chunky - keep up the good work

Hi,

Thanks again Lochty for another grand selection of photos. You are quite right about the embedded track. Just behind where the photographer was standing the line curves over Den Road and into Nairn's Works. IIRC Den Road was cobbled and the track was inset into them and the tracks inside the works were also embedded so that they could be shunted by tractor. The BR locos left/collected wagons in " Nairn's Sidings" but did not cross the road. For most of it's length Den Road is/was separated from the Railway by a substantial brick wall but there was of course a gap for the Nairns line. This was a good place to take photographs or just watch trains. Looking back over the photographs in this thread we should have a competition to see how often we can spot Pete's famous old bike.Anyone modelling Kirkcaldy in the 60s should include this, 70s onwards it was replaced IIRC by a Sunbeam Rapier.

 

best wishes,

 

Ian

Please what is the track at Den Rd that is encased in concrete used for?

I belive a shunting tractor was used by the works, the line was encased in concrete to provide a road for the shunting tractor ( we have an old shunting tractor at the KFRPS awaiting restoration a "Fordson" I belive, no idea of where it came from, must ask.

"Auld Reekie" at Dysart

D5232 at Dysart

at Den Road

ex GNSR passenger brake van at Kirkcaldy harbour, this vehicle survives to this day - known as the SMDV (six million dollar van, purchased from BR for six quid - a pound each )it went to lochty then the KFRPS at Leven

another view of the SMDV

502123 at Den Road

Thomson coaches on the Rosyth dockyard train at Dysart

62064 on brakedown train at boreland

NCB No3 at dubbie (Francess colliary)

Gresley steel full brake at Kirkcaldy station

as usual all the above photo`s are courtesy of Pete Westwater

Ex Glasgow & South Western Railway break van on the Wemyss Private Railway/NCB lines

photo courtesy of Peter Westwater

Some more gem`s from Pete Westwater`s collection

Coal yard, Kirkcaldy goods

level crossing at Normand Road

Caledonian train at Den Road

at Dysart

wagons at Kirkcaldy harbour

Southern Railway wagon at Kirkcaldy harbour

"McKenzie & Holland" swing bridge signal at Kirkcaldy harbour

"Stevens & son" knee frame Nairn`s siding`s, NBR drop flap ground signal in background

Robert Hutchison grain vans at Kirkcaldy harbour

Loads more to follow!

Kirkcaldy coal wagon

This thread seems to have lost it`s head of steam - time to put it back

The "Kirkcaldy area thread" set me thinking the other day, as we were looking for a point lever at the Kingdom of Fife RPS, what happened to the one from Kirkcaldy harbour? after a bit of rummaging we found it in a container

I have posted a short article under the preservation heading for anybody thats interested