Oh! Dr Beeching! - Kingsbarns Station Traditional Cache
Lorgadh: Archiving at owners request
Oh! Dr Beeching! - Kingsbarns Station
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Cache is a standard lock and lock, suitable for small swaps. Area is very over run and boggy in places.
When I worked around this area in the early 80’s I always wondered why there was a street called ‘Station Road’ in a rural, countryfied, village that had nothing even vaguely resembling a railway line in the nearby vicinity. Only when researching the ‘Dr Beeching’ series did it all seem to fall into place.
The pile of stones at GZ now overgrown by trees and shrubs are all that now remains of the former Kingsbarns Station, built as part of the the Anstruther to St Andrews rail line. This became fully operational from Anstruther through Crail, Kingsbarns, Boarhills, Strathvithie, Mount Melville to St Andrews circa June 1887, some 120 years ago. A number of the stations on this line closed around September 1930 (through no fault of the infamous Dr Beeching) but the line was finally closed to all rail traffic in September 1965 - and that was due to the Beeching chap!!
The original station was used to transport farm animals and produce to market in either Dundee for the more exotic destinations, or to the more local slaughterhouse and cattlemart in Cupar, the local county town.
The station also provided access to the country estates that were popular at the time for the landed gentry who wished to ‘pop orf a few’ at our feathered friends who inhabited the fields and woods of the area at the time.
The station was intended to be the end of the route of the East Fife Central Railway which extended from the Thornton/Methil main line through Kennoway, Montrave, Largoward to Lochty which was the terminus. The station was laid out with two lines in preparation to allow joining, but this never actually took place.
Standing with your back to the cycle path look to the remains of the station. If you look closely towards the northern horizon you will see various buildings. The style and design of some reveal their ww2 origins and actually form part of HMS Jackdaw II, the satellite airfield for HMS Jackdaw I, otherwise known as Crail Airfield. The purpose of Jackdaw II was to provide an alternate safe landing area should the main airfield become unserviceable due to bombing etc. It also provided an additional training facility for pilots, ground crew etc as well.
When perusing the site of the railway station, amidst the more modern rubbish, some more elderly remains from turn of the century railway life can also be seen. Not the most accessible for buggy’s etc but does form part of a nice walk from Crail to Kingsbarns, utilising the original rail beds. Views out into the North Sea can be nice too.....
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
yvarfvqr, orarngu gur obneqjnyx....