Like many railway lines the Fife Coast line fell victim to the Beeching/Marples cuts, with passenger services being withdrawn in 1969.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.
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.
Sal
I love a railway, the 3rd pic is a beauty 
