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 |
| 10/1/1955 |
-- |
Methil to Thornton Junction closed to passengers |
| 2/12/1963 |
-- |
Thornton Junction to West Wemyss closed to freight |
| 15/10/1966 |
-- |
Lochhead Colliery to Methil West 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.
Lochhead Clump
The line came from West Wemyss Station to the north-west through
Lochhead Clump and continued south-east to Wemyss Castle Station in
East Wemyss.
Lochhead Pit stood here, and a branch of the line from it curved
back down south, going through Coaltown of Wemyss. (You can see the
embankment where the line would have swung south). The cache is on
the site of some old pit buildings. The line passed the primary
school, over the road and into the Wemyss Colliery.
Here there was an entrance into a tunnel for a separate line,
part of the Wemyss Private Railway, down to the shore at West
Wemyss.
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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