The Railways of Kinross were a local network of three rural railways which made the town of Kinross in Scotland their objective in the 1850s.
They were:
the Fife and Kinross Railway from Ladybank to Kinross; the Kinross-shire Railway from near Cowdenbeath to Kinross; and the Devon Valley Railway from Tillicoultry to Kinross, although the last-named was not completed until 1872.
These single-track rural lines became part of the main line network when the first Tay Bridge was opened in 1878, and then the Forth Bridge in 1890. For the Forth Bridge route two new sections of route were constructed, a cut-off line near Cowdenbeath, and the Glenfarg line connecting Mawcarse and Bridge of Earn, near Perth. All the local passenger services were discontinued by 1964, and the through Glenfarg route to Perth closed in 1970 to make way for the M90 motorway.
History
Kinross In the interior of the country, Kinross, the county town of Kinross-shire, had developed little before the railway age. By 1829 its population was only 7,762 and cotton weaving had only lately become the industry.The Edinburgh Gazetteer or Compendious Geographical Dictionary, Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, Edinburgh 1829
Nonetheless it became the destination of choice for the builders of three independent railways. By 1850 main line railways had been built surrounding it:
the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway running from Edinburgh to Perth and Dundee (but with two ferry crossings of the Firth of Forth and Firth of Tay, and with a branch from Thornton to Dunfermline; the Scottish Central Railway running from Central Scotland to Perth; the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway.
Coal workings had been undertaken for some time in the southern part of the area around Dunfermline, at this time the greater extent of the deposits was being discovered.
The Fife and Kinross Railway
The Fife and Kinross Railway (F&KR) was authorised by an act of Parliament, the (18 & 19 Vict. c. cxxvii), on 16 July 1855 to build a 14-mile line, to build a branch line from the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway (EP&DR) at Ladybank to Kinross. There was provision for future extension to Tillicoultry, where a connection could be made with the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway line to Alloa. The line was to be single throughout. Authorised capital for the scheme was £70,000.E F Carter, An Historical Geography of the Railways of the British Isles, Cassell, London, 1959William Scott Bruce, The Railways of Fife, Melven Press, Perth, 1980,
The proposal had encountered considerable opposition in Parliament, especially from the and the Scottish Central Railway, who both feared expansion of the line into a competing through route. The act of Parliament, having been secured, a contract for construction was let in the sum of £47,818; the first sod was cut among considerable rejoicing at Auchtermuchty on 14 January 1856.Thomas, Forgotten Railways, page 109; Thomas and Turnock say 12 January. Application was made to Parliament in November 1856 to make a deviation at Milnathort, and a new line from the deviation to the near South Lumphinnans, and a branch to Kelty colliery. The South Lumphinnans connection would have been a direct duplication of the Kinross-shire Railway route, and the latter was authorised while the proposed amendment was refused.
As the date of opening drew near, the directors found that the was unwilling to spare a locomotive to work the line, as had been hoped, although they were prepared to hire rolling stock to the little company. The was approached by R and W Hawthorn, who had acquired the Leith Engine Works, with an offer of a locomotive. The ordered two 0-4-0 tender engines, and part-paid in shares. When delivered the locomotives were named Loch Leven Castle and Falkland Castle. Rolling stock was procured locally, and the 's offer was not taken up.
The line was opened from Ladybank to Strathmiglo on 8 June 1857, and extended to Milnathort on 9 March 1858,Thomas and Turnock; also Thomas page 110; Brice says (page 93) it opened as far as Milnathort on 15 March 1858 and to Kinross on 26 August 1858. Ross says (page 53) between Ladybank and Kinross on 15 March 1858. and finally to Hopetown of Kinross on 20 August 1858. The line was single throughout.John Thomas, Forgotten Railways: Scotland, David and Charles (Publishers) Limited, Newton Abbot, 1976, John Thomas and David Turnock, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume 15, North of Scotland, David and Charles, Newton Abbot, 1989, David Ross, The North British Railway: A History, Stenlake Publishing Limited, Catrine, 2014,
The access at Ladybank was by a curve leading southwards on the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway main line; it joined that line some distance south of Ladybank station, and passenger trains arriving at Ladybank reversed on a headshunt parallel with the main lineOS 25 inch map, 1892-1914 series to a bay platform there.From Archivist of the North British Railway Study Group. Cobb shows a northwards spur at Ladybank, but this is not supported by available large scale maps.Col M H Cobb, The Railways of Great Britain -- A Historical Atlas, Ian Allan Publishing Limited, Shepperton, 2003,
The line was authorised to be extended to meet the Kinross-shire Railway at a joint Kinross station by the Fife and Kinross and Kinross-shire Railways Junction and Joint Station Act 1858 (21 & 22 Vict. c. lxv) of 28 June 1858. The extension was opened on 20 September 1860, when the original station was renamed Hopefield.
The working of the railway was finally taken over by the on 5 April 1861; the was always short of money and it secured absorption by the by an act of Parliament, (25 & 26 Vict. c. clxxxi), of 29 July 1862.
The Kinross-shire Railway
The Kinross-shire Railway was authorised by the (20 & 21 Vict. c. cxxiv) on 10 August 1857 to construct a single line route 7 miles long from the Dunfermline branch of the Edinburgh, Perth and Dunfermline Railway near Lumphinnans to Kinross. Authorised capital was £53,000.
In the 1858 parliamentary session a joint bill was presented by the two companies to make a connection between the two lines and to make a joint station; it was passed as the (21 & 22 Vict. c. lxv). The Kinross-shire Railway opened its line on 20 June 1860 to a temporary station about a quarter mile south of the now-authorised joint station,Actually on the south-east side of the Cowdenbeath Road. and the extension to the joint station with the Fife and Kinross Railway was opened on 20 September 1860. The had agreed to work the line provided that the Kinross-shire acquired its own locomotive, and it did so, obtaining one similar to the engines, also from R & W Hawthorn.
Just before opening the contractor threatened to prevent it until his bill was paid.
The passenger timetable on the two Kinross lines worked in harmony, with trains making good connections at Kinross. There was a traffic agreement between the two railways determining which route traffic originating or terminating on the line should take; this occasionally led to some counter-intuitive routings.
The company obtained the (24 & 25 Vict. c. clxxvii) in July 1861 authorising a branch from Kelty to Kingseat, where it was intended to make a junction with the West of Fife Mineral Railway. the line opened in 1863.
The financial performance of the little company was poor, and inevitably it had to seek absorption by its larger neighbour; an act of Parliament, the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. ccxiv) giving authority to amalgamate with the was obtained on 1 August 1861.
Devon Valley Railway
The Devon Valley Railway was incorporated by the Devon Valley Railway Act 1858 (21 & 22 Vict. c. cxxii) on 23 July 1858 to build a line from the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway station at Tillicoultry to Hopefield (Kinross); the authorised capital was £90,000. A further act of Parliament, the Devon Valley Railway Act 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c. cc) of 1 August 1861, authorised several deviations, and then the Devon Valley Railway Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c. cxxiv) brought about a £10,000 reduction of capital. The Scottish Central Railway and the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway each had powers to contribute £30,000 to the share subscription, but on 4 August 1858 both those companies declared a change of mind. Nonetheless by 1864 the NBR contributed £40,000 fearing an incursion into Fife by the rival Caledonian Railway.
The first sod was cut on 4 August 1860, but then nothing much was done as it proved difficult to raise the money. Eventually on 1 May 1863 the section between Kinross and Rumbling Bridge was opened.
The next section was to traverse exceptionally difficult terrain, and it was decided to build from the other end of the route, at Tillicoultry. Work started there and the line was opened to Dollar on 3 May 1869. The NBR paid £10 for life membership of Dollar Water Supply Association for DVR engine water.
The Devon Valley and North British Railway Companies (Arrangements) Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. cccxxvi) obliged the North British Railway to pay £60,000 for completion of the DVR line; this had been agreed to when the NBR was in expansionist mood and desired to exclude the Caledonian Railway from the area. Now the NBR had to make good on its promise. The NBR decided that the Rumbling Bridge station configuration was inconvenient for the extension, and it altered the proposed alignment, easing the ruling gradient from 1-in-50 to 1-in-63. The difficult intermediate section was completed and the line was opened throughout on 1 May 1871.John Thomas, The North British Railway, volume 1, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1969,
The DVR line joined the Fife and Kinross Railway line at Hopefield, now renamed Kinross Junction. The DVR company was independent but the line was worked by the NBR, until it absorbed the DVR in 1875.
The DVR was vested in the NBR on 1 January 1875, under authority of the North British Railway Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict. c. c), with £100 DVR shares being exchanged for £62 10s NBR ordinary shares.
The Tay Bridge
Completion of the three Kinross lines gave the NBR a route from Ladybank to Alloa. The opening of the first Tay bridge enabled through carriages to be run from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Dundee and Aberdeen, via Kinross. Completion of the second Tay bridge transformed Fife, enabling the North British Railway to run fast trains from Dundee to Glasgow and Edinburgh. Some trains ran from Glasgow to Perth via the Devon Valley (portrayed for publicity purposes as the "Picturesque route"), and ten trains ran daily between those places, half on the Devon Valley route and half on the traditional route.
The Forth Bridge
The Forth Bridge was fully opened for all traffic on 2 June 1890. It required a number of enhancements to the main line routes of the North British Railway leading to it. The Kinross route was transformed into part of the main line from Cowdenbeath to Perth, and the entire route section from Kelty to Mawcasrse Junction was doubled and upgraded for main line running.
The Glenfarg Line
The Glenfarg Line is the name often given to the line between Kinross and Perth (actually Mawcarse Junction and Hilton Junction).
As early as 1863, long before the construction of the Forth or Tay bridges, the North British Railway had obtained the (26 & 27 Vict. c. ccxiii) giving powers to build a line through Glenfarg, linking the proposed Dunfermline and Queensferry Railway and the Kinross lines, which were to be doubled. From Glenfarg the line would run directly to Perth, by-passing the Caledonian route from Hilton Junction through Moncrieffe tunnel. At the Queensferry end, there would be train ferries across the Forth.