Charlestown Railway

Introduction

The Charlestown Railway was originally the Elgin Railway, partly realigned and improved, particularly with a long curved deviation to the west of Charlestown itself and a station at the harbour.






Dates

  /  /1810Charlestown Railway
Earl Thomas builds a three arch viaduct, Charlestown Viaduct, to allow trains to reach Charlestown Harbour. 2 stationary engines also installed.
  /  /1834Charlestown Railway
Earl Thomas introduces horse drawn omnibus on railway which can take 50 passengers. First station at Charlestown [1st] opened by Camsie House on what is presently the cricket ground.
  /  /1848Andrew Carnegie
Leaves Dunfermline by the Charlestown Railway, Forth paddle-steamer ferry, Forth and Clyde Canal and steamer from Glasgow.
  /  /1859Charlestown Railway
Act receives Royal ascent.
01/08/1861West of Fife Mineral Railway
Charlestown Railway
West of Fife Railway and Harbour
West of Fife Mineral Railway merged with Charlestown Railway to create the West of Fife Railway and Harbour Company.
  /  /1866Charlestown Railway
Part abandoned.
  /  /1866West of Fife Railway and Harbour
Elbowend Junction [1st] to Townhill Junction opened, linking the Charlestown Railway to the West of Fife Mineral Railway. (Allowing the Pittencrieff Incline to close?)
  /  /1890Charlestown Railway
Part of Charlestown Harbour's inner harbour filled in to allow extension of the Charlestown Railway.
01/09/1894Charlestown Railway
Re-built line opened.
01/11/1926Charlestown Railway
Charlestown to Dunfermline (Elbowbend Junction) closed to passengers.
24/02/1964Charlestown Railway
Charlestown to RNAD Crombie siding (excluded) closed to freight.
  /  /1993Charlestown Railway
RNAD Crombie siding to Elbowend Junction [2nd] (excluded) closed.

Portions of line and locations

This line is divided into a number of portions.


Charlestown Incline Deviation



The site of Braeside Halt looking in direction of Elbowend Junction. Some degree of vegetation clearance has taken place here although there has also ...
Mark Poustie 10/04/2016
1 of 1 images.


The Angus Railway Group's 'Five Counties' railtour around Fife is seen at Braeside Junction, Charlestown, where trains reversed to reach Crombie. A ...
Roger Geach Collection 20/04/1974
Track and sleepers remain visible on the section from Braeside Junction to RNAD Crombie. In the late 1980s the track on the MOD section from around ...
Mark Poustie 08/08/2020
Approaching Braeside Junction from Charlestown in August 2020. Crombie Depot just visible in the top left. The track is still there on the right but ...
Mark Poustie 08/08/2020
Crombie straight ahead, and Elbowend Junction to the right, in August 2020. Braeside Junction is hardly recognizable these days although the track is ...
Mark Poustie 08/08/2020
4 of 18 images. more


This signal box was in the west of Charlestown a little to the location of the later Braeside Junction. The box controlled the connection between the line to the passenger station and the Charlestown Harbour sidings (laid out around 1896), which were approached from the north east.
...

More details
Having indicated a year earlier that repairs were unlikely I was proved entirely wrong and temporary repairs have been effected to the buffer ...
Mark Poustie 20/09/2021
The bufferstops at Charlestown looking the worse for wear, but not as a result of contact by a train! It was not clear if this was through vandalism ...
Mark Poustie 21/09/2020
The buffer at the end of the Charlestown/Crombie branch as seen in early 1996. This was approximately the site of Charlestown Goods Signal Box. ...
Ewan Crawford //1996
End of the line. The truncated spur from the Charlestown branch that ran to RNAD Crombie, seen on 5 December 2007. ...
Bill Roberton 05/12/2007
4 of 4 images.


Charlestown Harbour - view up the 'Roparee' former tramway incline - believed to be the end of the 1799 extension of the Elgin Railway to Charlestown. ...
Mark Poustie 28/01/2017
Looking south east over Charlestown Harbour on 24 January with Rosyth Dockyard and the Forth Bridges in the background.  The 1894 re-aligned 'main ...
Mark Poustie 24/01/2010
2 of 2 images.





Charlestown Terminus

This was a single platform station with a typical North British Railway building.
...

More details
Stone sleeper blocks from the Elgin Waggonway at the Mid
...
Grant Robertson 19/03/2008
The Mid Pier structure at Charlestown on 19 March 2008. The pier looks, in part at least, to have been originally made up of old stone sleeper blocks. ...
Grant Robertson 19/03/2008
Top surface of the Mid Pier at Charlestown Harbour on 19 March 2008. The pier is paved with stone sleeper blocks. ...
Grant Robertson 19/03/2008
Surviving rails amongst the overgrown top of the limekilns on the Charlestown quarry tramway in January 2010.
...
Mark Poustie 24/01/2010
4 of 10 images. more





RNAD Crombie

The Angus Railway Group's 'Five Counties' railtour around Fife is seen at Braeside Junction, Charlestown, where trains reversed to reach Crombie. A ...
Roger Geach Collection 20/04/1974
Track and sleepers remain visible on the section from Braeside Junction to RNAD Crombie. In the late 1980s the track on the MOD section from around ...
Mark Poustie 08/08/2020
Approaching Braeside Junction from Charlestown in August 2020. Crombie Depot just visible in the top left. The track is still there on the right but ...
Mark Poustie 08/08/2020
Crombie straight ahead, and Elbowend Junction to the right, in August 2020. Braeside Junction is hardly recognizable these days although the track is ...
Mark Poustie 08/08/2020
4 of 18 images. more


The setting sun catches the bridge over the Lyne Burn in October 2020. The gates of RNAD Crombie are immediately to the left of the bridge and ...
Mark Poustie 10/10/2020
Possibly the only section of track which is clear of vegetation on the whole of the branch from Elbowend Junction is the short section on the bridge ...
Mark Poustie 26/09/2020
37240 backs a train into the MoD yard at RNAD Crombie on 24 March 1993. ...
Bill Roberton 24/03/1993
What is obviously a very important van heading along the Crombie branch towards Elbowend Junction on 30 April 1990. 26010 (destined for the Whitrope ...
Bill Roberton 30/04/1990
4 of 4 images.