West of Fife Mineral Railway

Introduction

This railway is closed. It formed a network of lines to the north of Dunfermline. The lines were minerals only and served mines and works. Initially it ran north to Steelend, meandering through the coal field, with a branches to Kingseat and Roscobie. It was extended progressively including a line to Kelty which was opened by the North British Railway after their purchase of the line.

There were signal boxes at Lilliehill Junction and Lassodie Junction. A planned box at Lindsay Colliery did not open.




Dates

14/07/1856West of Fife Mineral Railway
Act of incorporation passed.
  /  /1858West of Fife Mineral Railway
Whitemyre Junction to Lilliehill Junction to Gask Junction to Steelend Goods and Steelend Colliery opened. Gask Junction to Gask Colliery opened. Lilliehill Junction to Kingseat Colliery Pit No 1 opened.
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.
  /  /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?)
  /  /1880West of Fife Mineral Railway
Gask Colliery to near Lassodie Junction out of use.
  /05/1905West of Fife Mineral Railway
Sinking of Lethans Colliery Pit No 2 begins.
  /06/1938West of Fife Mineral Railway
Lethans Colliery Pit No 2 closed.
01/07/1941West of Fife Mineral Railway
Steelend Goods closed, but traffic continues.
07/06/1951West of Fife Railway and Harbour
West of Fife Mineral Railway
Lethans Colliery Pit No 2 to Steelend Goods to Gask Junction (excluded) closed.
  /  /1958West of Fife Mineral Railway
Lassodie Junction (excluded) to Muircockhall Colliery (excluded) closed. (Approx date.)
25/02/1962West of Fife Mineral Railway
Muircockhall Colliery (latterly opencast site) to Lilliehill Junction (excluded) closed.
02/09/1963West of Fife Mineral Railway
Lilliehill Junction (excluded) to Whitemyre Junction (excluded) closed.
05/07/1971West of Fife Mineral Railway
RNSD Lathalmond to Gask Junction to Lilliehill Junction (excluded) closed.
18/06/2016West of Fife Munitions Railway
Construction of this 2 foot gauge railway begins at the former RNSD Lathalmond formerly served by the West of Fife Mineral Railway.

Portions of line and locations

This line is divided into a number of portions.


Whitemyre to Steelend

Opened 1858.

This was a junction in the west of Dunfermline. It was a pair of junctions. The older junction was Charlestown Junction [Whitemyre] which opened between the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway of 1849 and a short branch south east to the Charlestown Railway.
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See also
Stirling and Dunfermline Railway
Looking west from Lundin Road bridge, a little to the west of the the former Whitemyre Junction, along the Stirling & Dunfermline Railway. With the ...
Bill Roberton //1985
Looking west along the trackbed of the Stirling - Dunfermline line at the former Whitemyre Junction, where the West of Fife Mineral Railway branched ...
Bill Roberton 27/06/2008
Dunfermline, Whitemyre Junction looking west. The West of Fife Mineral Railway diverged to the right here, its formation lies directly behind the ...
Mark Poustie 23/09/2006
3 of 3 images.






This was the junction between the Lochhead branch and the West of Fife line. Both lines were single track mineral railways to the north of Dunfermline.
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Milepost still in situ on the West of Fife Mineral Railway branch north of Dunfermline in March 2008. ...
Grant Robertson 19/03/2008
Chance discovery of the remains of an old water tower near the site of Elgin Junction, north of Dunfermline, where once the Elgin Railway met the West ...
Bill Roberton 07/03/2008
2 of 2 images.






This was a four way junction north of Dunfermline and Townhill. The lines meeting here were goods and minerals only and single track.
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A little south of Gask Junction on the West of Fife Mineral Railway's Lethans No1 branch, and adjacent to the A823, are the remains of Lochend Siding, ...
Bill Roberton 11/03/2012
Looking east at the site of Gask Junction in February 2012 with the line to Steelend behind the camera. The Gask branch ran to the left of the hut ...
Grant Robertson 12/02/2012
2 of 2 images.




This was a small goods station, a loop on the north side of the line with a loading bank. To the west was a railway cottage (the agent's house) which still stands. The goods station was a railhead for the surrounding area. To the west the line continued by a level crossing to the Steelend Mines (Saline Valley Colliery). To the east it ran to Gask Junction and on to Lilliehill Junction ...

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Looking west along the B914 to the site of Steelend Goods Station in January 2012. The gate at left looks substantial enough to be a railway gate ...
Bill Roberton 30/01/2012
A little to the south of Steelend Goods Station itself is the site of the exchange sidings that once served Bandrum Colliery, located just over a mile ...
Bill Roberton 30/01/2012
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Lilliehill to Kingseat

Opened 1858 to Kingseat Colliery.

This was a four way junction north of Dunfermline and Townhill. The lines meeting here were goods and minerals only and single track.
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Rescobie (or Gask) Branch

Opened 1858. Noted for the Lathalmond depot.

A little south of Gask Junction on the West of Fife Mineral Railway's Lethans No1 branch, and adjacent to the A823, are the remains of Lochend Siding, ...
Bill Roberton 11/03/2012
Looking east at the site of Gask Junction in February 2012 with the line to Steelend behind the camera. The Gask branch ran to the left of the hut ...
Grant Robertson 12/02/2012
2 of 2 images.




This was a rail served Royal Naval Stores Depot established in the Second World War.
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Replica Bagnall 0-4-0ST 'Big Dave' works a passenger shuttle at Lathalmond Railway Museum on 22 May 2022.
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Bill Roberton 22/05/2022
Lathalmond Railway Museum, in collaboration with military re-enactors, held a 'Wartime Defend Fife' event on 3 July 2022. Both standard and narrow ...
Bill Roberton 03/07/2022
Bagnall replica 0-4-0ST 'Big Dave' on shed at Lathalmond on 8th June 2022. ...
Bill Roberton 08/06/2022
Replica Bagnall 0-4-0ST 'Big Dave' works the narrow gauge shuttle at Lathalmond on 21 May 2023. ...
Bill Roberton 21/05/2023
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This siding was at the east end of the Lathalmond Branch. The siding was in fact a loop serving a loading stage. The looped and bank were on the north side of the line. By 1895 this was the end of the branch which had continued east to Lassodie Colliery.
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View east from the B915 road along the flooded cutting of the West of Fife Mineral Railway's Gask branch in January 2012. On the left is a bridge ...
Bill Roberton 05/01/2012
1 of 1 images.







Kingseat to Kelty

Completed by the North British Railway, (who took over the line in 1862), from Kingseat to Lassodie Colliery in 1862 and from Lassodie to Kelty 1863 to connect the system to the yards at Kelty.





This junction was on the West of Fife Mineral system north of Dunfermline and south west of Kelty. The line from Kingseat Colliery to Lassodie Colliery opened around 1862. This junction opened in 1863 and connected that line to Kelty allowing through running from Dunfermline to Kelty.
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Looking west over the trackbed of the West of Fife Mineral Railway from the B917 south of Kelty in March 2009. The colliery, served by a tightly ...
Bill Roberton 03/03/2009
1 of 1 images.




This was a Fife Coal Co Ltd pit. It was located on the east side of the West of Fife Mineral Railway in the east of the village of Kelty and south of Kelty North Junction. This railway was a single track minerals line which ran south to Townhill and Dunfermline.
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Memorial to the nine miners killed at the Lindsay Colliery, Kelty, in 1957. The park is located on the infilled course of the West of Fife Mineral ...
Bill Roberton 30/01/2012
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Lassodie Colliery Branch

Possibly 1862. Opened by NB, private later. Was possibly a through route between Lassodie Junction and Gask Junction until 1880s.

1869 Charles Jopp map shows nothing between Gask and Lassodie https://maps.nls.uk/view/216546872
Aireys 1875 map shows a gap between Gask Siding and Craigduckie, and no triangular junction to east.
NBR 1882 map shows same
Emslies 1898 map shows a straight through route, but privately owned between Gask Siding and Lassodie Junction.
Emslies 1907 map ditto
Emslies 1915 map shows a gap and Lassodie Colliery to Lassodie Junction privately owned.
Emslies 1920 map ditto

This junction was on the West of Fife Mineral system north of Dunfermline and south west of Kelty. The line from Kingseat Colliery to Lassodie Colliery opened around 1862. This junction opened in 1863 and connected that line to Kelty allowing through running from Dunfermline to Kelty.
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This siding was at the east end of the Lathalmond Branch. The siding was in fact a loop serving a loading stage. The looped and bank were on the north side of the line. By 1895 this was the end of the branch which had continued east to Lassodie Colliery.
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View east from the B915 road along the flooded cutting of the West of Fife Mineral Railway's Gask branch in January 2012. On the left is a bridge ...
Bill Roberton 05/01/2012
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Elgin Colliery Branch

This branch served the Elgin Colliery, originally served by the Elgin Railway, part of which became incorporated or relaid. The main stem ran north with a branch running west to Rosebank serving several mines. The principal route continued north to a reversing spur at Balmule from which further collieries and Lochhead works could be reached. Parts opened in 1863.

This was the junction between the Lochhead branch and the West of Fife line. Both lines were single track mineral railways to the north of Dunfermline.
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Milepost still in situ on the West of Fife Mineral Railway branch north of Dunfermline in March 2008. ...
Grant Robertson 19/03/2008
Chance discovery of the remains of an old water tower near the site of Elgin Junction, north of Dunfermline, where once the Elgin Railway met the West ...
Bill Roberton 07/03/2008
2 of 2 images.












This junction was at the north end of the West of Fife Mineral Railway's Elgin Colliery branch. It was close to the end of the branch near Elgin Colliery Arthur Pit. Reversal at the junction allowed access to Elgin Colliery Balmule Pit, Elgin Colliery Drumtuthil Pit and Lochhead Fire Clay Works.
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Elgin Colliery Tramway

This tramway ran south from Rosebank No 2 to Hunter Pit (formerly served by a Elgin Railway tramway) and Fernieknowe Pit.










Townhill to Lilliehill

Incorporating portions of the old Townhill Waggonway this opened in 1880. This allowed minerals to flow west through Dunfermline on to Oakley and Stirling. The Forth Iron Works at Oakley would have benefited, before its closure in 1890.

The 1866 West of Fife Railway and Harbour, for Charlestown, met the 1849 Dunfermline Branch (Edinburgh and Northern Railway) at this junction. The location was just west of the Townhill Tramway route and Halbeath. Approach to the Charlestown line was from the east, the line running south west. The Dunfermline and Queensferry to the line to North Queensferry [1st] ...

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See also
Dunfermline Branch (Edinburgh and Northern Railway)
West of Fife Railway and Harbour
66021 takes a train of empties out of Halbeath sidings and heads south for the Forth Bridge in June 2006. ...
John Furnevel 13/06/2006
Townhill loops looking east in 1992. In the foreground is the stump of the West of Fife Mineral railway connection, latterly serving Townhill Power ...
Bill Roberton //1992
150258 passes the future site of Dunfermline Queen Margaret Station in April 1992. On the right is the stump of the Dunfermline Upper/Kincardine ...
Bill Roberton 15/04/1992
3 of 3 images.








This was a rail served power station located to the north of Townhill Loch, north of Dunfermline opened in August of 1905 by the Fife Electric Power Company. The power station was a chain grate coal fired power station.
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This was a four way junction north of Dunfermline and Townhill. The lines meeting here were goods and minerals only and single track.
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Lassodie Loop








Roscobie Lime Works Tramway

This siding was at the east end of the Lathalmond Branch. The siding was in fact a loop serving a loading stage. The looped and bank were on the north side of the line. By 1895 this was the end of the branch which had continued east to Lassodie Colliery.
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View east from the B915 road along the flooded cutting of the West of Fife Mineral Railway's Gask branch in January 2012. On the left is a bridge ...
Bill Roberton 05/01/2012
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Roscobie Lime Works operated a quarry, mines and limekilns north of Dunfermline. Ordnance Survey maps indicate that tramways were used in the ...
Bill Roberton //1993
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Kelty Loading Point

Opened during the Second World War as an opencast loading point.



This was a coal loading point with stocking. The facility was opened by the Ministry of Fuel and Power which was created in 1942 during the Second World War.
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