Location type

Name and dates

Note: text in square brackets is added for clarity and was not part of the location's name.

Description

This was the western apex of the triangle of lines formed with Thornton North Junction and Thornton South Junction.

To the west the line ran west to Dunfermline. To the east it divided into lines to (from north to south)
- Thornton North Junction (1848 - double track bypassing Thornton Junction station leading north to Dundee and Aberdeen - a large yard was laid out on either side, sidings on the north side being approached by reversal from Thronton North, those on the south side by reversal from Thornton West)
- Thornton Junction (1884-88 - double track to the south end of the station - [[Thornton Shed [1st] was laid out to the north of this curve, approached from either direction)
- Thornton East Junction (1887 - leading east to Buckhaven and Methil - single track)
- Thornton South Junction (1878 - leading south to Burntisland and Edinburgh Waverley - double track)

The signal box was on the south side of the junction. It was opened in 1878 and was originally called 'Thornton Central'. It was renamed in 1884 to 'Thornton West'. (The second box to bear this name - the first being further west, renamed 'Thornton Weighs' in 1884.)

The route to Thornton East Junction was closed in 1959. It had been realigned around 1956 for the opening of Thornton Marshalling Yard and Glenrothes Pit (British Railways).

Also related to the yard in 1956 a second double track line was laid west to Redford Junction running parallel and to the north of the existing railway.

Thornton Junction station closed in 1969. The approach from Thornton West to the former station closed in 1973.

In 1980 the box closed, control passing to the Edinburgh Signalling Centre. The junction itself closed and the curves to Thornton North Junction and Thornton South Junction singled. The new connection between these was moved further west, beyond today's Glenrothes with Thornton station, to Thornton West Junction.

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