Wemyss and Buckhaven Railway
History
This line ran along the north bank of the Firth of Forth in
Fife. The line served a number of coalmines, washeries and
extensive docks at Methil.
The original line ran from Thornton to Buckhaven. It was
extended first to Methil and later to meet the Leven Dock Railway
by Leven. These lines and docks were built at the instigation of
the Wemyss family who owned a large number of local coal mines as
well as the lands of Wemyss, Buckhaven, Methil and Leven.
| Date |
-- |
Activity |
| 1879 |
-- |
Wemyss & Buckhaven Railway authorised |
| 1/8/1881 |
-- |
Line opened from Thornton to Buckhaven |
| 5/5/1887 |
-- |
Line opened from Buckhaven to Methil |
| 5/5/1887 |
-- |
Methil Dock No. 1 opened |
| 26/7/1889 |
-- |
Wemyss and Buckhaven Railway merged into North British
Railway. |
| 7/11/1949 |
-- |
West Wemyss closed |
| 2/12/1963 |
-- |
Thornton Junction to West Wemyss closed to freight |
From Thornton to Methil with a branch running north to meet a
branch of the Leven Railway running south from Cameron Bridge. At
Thornton there was a connection which passed under the East Coast
Main Line which connected to the Dunfermline Branch running
westwards to Thornton Yard, Cowdenbeath and Dunfermline.
West Wemyss
The line came from Thornton Junction to the north-west, through
Moss Wood, over a level crossing and into West Wemyss Station,
which closed on 7 November 1949. There are the remains of the
station house, and a platform just north of this. Tree cover means
poor signal, so just walk south-west along the line of the track
bed. You should see the wall of the platform, and some sleepers in
the woods.
There are the remains of a wooden lineside hut at the end of the
platform.
The line continued south-east, going under the Standingstane
Road, towards East Wemyss. The actual town of West Wemyss is 1.5
miles south of the West Wemyss Station.
Cache
The container is a tobacco-tin size clip-lid box. There is a
notepad and pencil.
There is limited space for bugs, etc. Please do not cram stuff
in and burst the box locks. We hate finding soggy logs!
Bobble Hatters
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