# Methil to Cameron railway, Fife, March 2009



## RichardB (Mar 15, 2009)

Like many railway lines the Fife Coast line fell victim to the Beeching/Marples cuts, with passenger services being withdrawn in 1969. Freight services for Methil docks, Methil power station and the Cameron Bridge distillery kept the line going until the late 1990s. The line remains in place to this day but much of it is in very poor condition.

There are plans to reopen the line for passenger services to Leven with unmanned halts in between. The estimated price seems to rise sharply every time it is in the news. 

I had intended to follow the line all the way to Thornton but it took longer than I expected to get to Cameron. I will do the other half sometime soon.






Big mistake. The bikes proved more of a hindrance than a help.





Methil power station. Its coat is on an increasingly shoogly peg. It's an eyesore apparently. The retail park that will doubtlessly replace it will be a thing of great beauty.





The Kingdom of Fife Railway Preservation Society. I think they had hoped to use part of the existing line but they can't if it's earmarked for reopening.





A badly decayed footbridge. Several barriers have been put up to prevent people walking on it, it would probably have been cheaper and easier just to repair the damn thing.





The hoops you can see on the left of the previous picture are part of a footbridge over this canal, which runs under the railway. Presumably it was once a lot deeper. The far end has been filled in and there is no trace of that end on the surface.





More of the canal.





Cameron Bridge station and distillery in the distance.





These points still work. They kept the boys occupied for a good 20 minutes.





I think this would be an axle weigher to weigh the trains entering and leaving the distillery. 





Sign screwed to a sleeper. Railtrack Track Maintenance Boundary. Everything we have seen up till now is outside that boundary.






and conversely...










This was as far as I went. I will do from here to the live railway another day, and I won't be taking the bikes next time.


More pictures here.


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## Pincheck (Mar 15, 2009)

waas that the brewery that it runs past on the outskirts of methil? as i have passed it a number o times thinking where it goes and terminates


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## RichardB (Mar 15, 2009)

You're probably thinking of the Diageo bottling plant on the edge of Leven. The railway is a bit to the south of that, running alongside the river Leven. If you drive from leven to Kirkcaldy you would cross the railway here, and the distillery (also Diageo) is a bit further along the line. I'm not sure if you see it from the road or not.


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## tonyque2 (Mar 16, 2009)

What is it that I find so fascinating about disused railway lines ??
Great pics ! Thanks


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## spacepunk (Mar 16, 2009)

Brilliant report.Must pop down there one weekend for a look myself. Thanks for posting.


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## smileysal (Mar 16, 2009)

That looks great, love all the old lines still in place, and the old footbridge. I love old railways, especially when they still have the track laid.

Excellent pics, I'm looking forward to seeing the next part now.

Cheers,

 Sal


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## Trinpaul (Mar 16, 2009)

Great pictures  I love a railway, the 3rd pic is a beauty


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## V70 (Mar 16, 2009)

Excellent report Richard  I'd love to retrace the line myself some day, looks like there is plenty of artefacts left behind to keep the camera busy too.


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## Black Shuck (Mar 16, 2009)

Brilliant pictures there. I love old Railways and anything connected with them. Is this line in the Dunfermline area at all./. I would love to see some pics of the disused station there. I can never remember wether it is Dunfermline Lower or Upper that survives today. I can remember going to see my Grandma who lived in the town and me and my sister used to play on a Playground that was on the the top of a long sloping hill and the station was at the bottom of that hill. Maybe you will be able to enlighten me a bit.!


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## RichardB (Mar 16, 2009)

Trinpaul said:


> Great pictures  I love a railway, the 3rd pic is a beauty



Most of the track you can see there is panels that have been acquired and laid out roughly but not properly installed. More information on the KFRPS website.



norwich canary said:


> Brilliant pictures there. I love old Railways and anything connected with them. Is this line in the Dunfermline area at all./. I would love to see some pics of the disused station there. I can never remember wether it is Dunfermline Lower or Upper that survives today. I can remember going to see my Grandma who lived in the town and me and my sister used to play on a Playground that was on the the top of a long sloping hill and the station was at the bottom of that hill. Maybe you will be able to enlighten me a bit.!



This particular line terminates at Thornton which is maybe 20 miles east of Dunfermline. I know very little about Dunfermline but I can find out easily enough, and if there's anything to see I'll go along sometime and take some pictures. 

I'll be interested to see how the other part, which was maintained by Railtrack and its predecessors, has fared.


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## Smellycat (Mar 16, 2009)

nice one. Its amazing how many disused railways there are around. i'm going to try and do the "Deeside way" from Aberdeen to Peterculter in the summer.


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## Pincheck (Mar 17, 2009)

RichardB said:


> You're probably thinking of the Diageo bottling plant on the edge of Leven. The railway is a bit to the south of that, running alongside the river Leven. If you drive from leven to Kirkcaldy you would cross the railway here, and the distillery (also Diageo) is a bit further along the line. I'm not sure if you see it from the road or not.



yeh Richard you can see it just as you cross the bridge on the A915 just at Cameron bridge where the line goes under the road if you look to the right heading towards the bottom round about


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## Foxylady (Mar 17, 2009)

I'm another who really likes disused railway lines...I think it's partly the fact that you can walk along them and see cool stuff close to that you wouldn't normally be able to...plus the overgrowth and rusty goodness. 
Loads of interesting things to see there. 
Look forward to your next installment, Richard. Good stuff!


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## Black Shuck (Mar 17, 2009)

Foxylady said:


> I'm another who really likes disused railway lines...I think it's partly the fact that you can walk along them and see cool stuff close to that you wouldn't normally be able to...plus the overgrowth and rusty goodness.
> Loads of interesting things to see there.
> Look forward to your next installment, Richard. Good stuff!



If you are very lucky then a lot of the infrastructure is still there to be seen. On a branch line I know in North Norfolk is a Platelayers cabin still with the original Potbellied stove in the middle.


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## Foxylady (Mar 17, 2009)

norwich canary said:


> If you are very lucky then a lot of the infrastructure is still there to be seen. On a branch line I know in North Norfolk is a Platelayers cabin still with the original Potbellied stove in the middle.



Oh, excellent. 
I've been meaning to walk along one fairly local to me, but it needs a bit of careful planning because I don't drive, and means co-ordinating departing and arrival times of buses. 
Something to plan for now that the better weather's here.


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## RichardB (Apr 1, 2009)

I went back and walked a little further along but I was pushed for time so I didn't get to the end.










Underpass to the distillery. People used to walk to work, imagine that!





The other end of the underpass.





I don't know what this sign means.


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## Fraoch (Apr 11, 2009)

Hello,
second from last picture is what is known in the railway world as a fioxed distant signal, the train driver on seeing this will expect the next signal to be a stop signal.

Great report and fab pictures.


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## Trinpaul (Apr 18, 2009)

Trinpaul said:


> Great pictures  I love a railway, the 3rd pic is a beauty



I keep on looking at these pics and have a question for you. Is there a problem with subsidence on the site or is it just the angle of the 3rd picture   It seems that sections of the track and sleepers have "dropped" slightly below the level of the rest of the tracks, especially the middle track. It looks like it drops a couple of inches and then comes back up.


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## RichardB (Apr 18, 2009)

The track in the third picture is just sitting there, it hasn't been laid.


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## Trinpaul (Apr 22, 2009)

RichardB said:


> The track in the third picture is just sitting there, it hasn't been laid.



Ah  thanks


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## FieldyM (Apr 29, 2009)

RichardB said:


> I don't know what this sign means.



Its a fixed distant signal.




> On 28 February 1975 an accident occurred at Moorgate, which at the time was on the London Underground's Northern City Line. A loaded passenger train ran at speed through the buffer stop and into the tunnel end wall. As a result, British Rail decided that in future all colour light signals reading into terminal platform lines would show a yellow rather than a green aspect when the line was clear to the buffer stop





> In the early 1980s, a 'low cost signalling committee' was formed, tasked with finding cheaper means of signalling lightly-used lines. One thing that came out of this was the development of a reflectorised notice board style equivalent of the fixed distant signal.


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## RichardB (Apr 29, 2009)

Thanks FieldyM and Fraoch. 

I don't think I saw any signals at all on the line actually. There must have been something at one time I suppose.


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