Markinch

Location type

Station

Name and dates

Markinch (1847-)

Station code: MNC National Rail ScotRail
Where: Fife, Scotland
Opened on the Edinburgh and Northern Railway.
Opened on the Leslie Railway.
Open on the Edinburgh to Perth.
Open on the Edinburgh to Dundee.

Description

This is a two platform station with a car park on the west side. The original station building, by architect David Bell, sill stands, a three storey building with the top two floors at road level and ground floor at platform level. There were timber waiting rooms at platform level. A large retaining wall runs down the east side of the station.

To the south was the junction for the Leslie Railway. This was controlled by 'Markinch Junction' signal box, at the south end of the station and on the east side of the main line. The goods yard was reached by reversal from the branch. It was at the south end of the station on the west side. South of the junction were exchange sidings in the 'V' of the junction. (There was a temporary Markinch South signal box in 1914, probably for Markinch Viaduct repairs.)

There were bays on either side of the station, approached from the south.

A short distance down the Leslie branch were Haig's Sidings.

North of the station, also on the west side, was the Markinch Co-op Siding.

The Leslie line closed to passengers in 1967.

The new town of Glenrothes has developed to the west of the station.

Markinch goods shed was home to LNER Class A4 4488 Union of South Africa from the late 1970s until 1994. The shed burned down in 2003.

The signal box closed in 1980, taken over by Edinburgh Signalling Centre.

The stub of the Leslie Railway to Auchmuty Paper Mill continued in use until 1992 and was lifted not long afterwards. The trackbed is now a footpath.

A new rail and bus interchange opened in 2007 along with a new station building, just south of the original. With the junction and goods yard removed further car parks were able to be laid out on the west side of the station. Access to the platforms was improved and there is now a bus interchange. The station is a railhead for Glenrothes, Methil and Leven.

Tags

Station Junction
12/10/2019

Facilities

Listing: B




Chronology Dates

17/09/1847Edinburgh and Northern Railway
Opened from Burntisland to Lindores and Cupar. Stations at Burntisland [1st], Kinghorn, Kirkcaldy, Sinclairtown, Dysart, Thornton, Markinch, Falkland Road, Kingskettle, Ladybank, Collessie, Lindores [1st], Springfield and Cupar.
02/01/1932Leslie Railway
Leslie to Markinch closed to passengers.
04/01/1932Leslie Railway
Leslie to Markinch closed to passengers (alternative date).
  /  /1992Leslie Railway
Thornton Marshalling Yard and Rothes Pit (British Railways)
Auchmuty Paper Mill branch from Markinch closed. Bulk starch traffic transferred to new freight depot within Thornton Yard and carried by road to the works.
  /12/2001Edinburgh and Northern Railway
Railtrack withdraws £800,000 of its funding towards the proposed £1.8m Markinch interchange.

News items

01/06/2023Caledonian Sleeper fault brings Kirkcaldy services to a halt [The Courier]
31/12/2022Severe flooding brings Hogmanay disruption [BBC News]
05/10/2021Rush hour trains between Edinburgh and Aberdeen affected by signalling fault [Press and Journal]
03/08/2021North-east rail commuters face disruption as engineers fail to complete line improvements on time [Press and Journal]
04/12/2020Electricity cable on rail line at Fife station disrupts services [Fife Today]
03/12/2020Permits for residents to beat parking issues at Fife station [Fife Today]
15/02/2019ScotRail passengers evacuated from Edinburgh train after brakes catch fire [Daily Record
02/11/2009Man hit and killed by 30mph train [BBC News Article]
22/11/2008New Winter timetable [First ScotRail]
14/07/2008Probe after signal glitch chaos [BBC News Article]

Books


A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: The North of Scotland v. 15 (Regional railway history series)

Burntisland: Fife's Railway Port (Locomotion papers)

Fife's Last Days of Steam

Fife's Lost Railways

Railways of Fife

The Railways of Fife