| | In their previous book, The St Andrews Railway the authors set out the history, from inception to closure, of the pioneering branch line that connected the ancient university and golfing town of St Andrews to the outside world. This book continues the story of the East Fife Railways and deals with the fascinating and often tortuous history of one of the least prosperous and most ill-fated of all of the small companies that struggled to complete the coastal loop from Thornton to Leuchars, the Anstruther & St Andrews Railway. Opened in two stages between 1883 and 1887, this rather wandering 16 mile-long single track linked the terminus of the Leven & East of Fife Railway at the busy fishing port of Anstruther with the genteel burgh of Crail and, turning north, served the villages of Kingsbarns and Boarhills, although in the case of Kingsbarns the station was a long walk away from the village it purported to serve. From Boarhills the line then swung through a great arc and, passing through nowhere in particular, had remote stations at Stravithie and Mount Melville before beginning a fearsome descent to St Andrews where its flower-decked and spruce station was the meeting point with the branch from Leuchars. In an astute move the shareholders of the Anstruther & St Andrews eventually sold out to Scotland's largest railway company, the North British, and thereafter the line rose to new heights under the NBR and the London & North Eastern Railway, even carrying a named train, the fabled Fife Coast Express'. The combined effects of an economic recession and bus competition caused the four intermediate stations between Crail and St Andrews to close to passengers as early as 1930 and this section survived a threat of complete closure to serve the wartime airfields at Crail, Dunino and Stravithie. The post-war boom ended with rapidly falling revenues and even the dieselisation of the passenger services could not stop local people from turning their back on the line. When, in the 1960s, the line was finally closed many regretted that Crail was no longer on the railway map and that it would never again be possible to sit at the front of a diesel unit and trundle through a beautiful rural landscape interspersed with sea views, farmland and the four mysterious stations that seemed to have fallen asleep under a wicked spell. To those who remember the slow trains that trundled their way around the East Neuk, the Anstruther & St Andrews Railway was possibly the most fascinating and least visited part of the Fife Coast system and it is still held in great affection by those who knew it. It is with great pleasure that the authors invite you to take your seats and await the green flag and whistle. Contents:
- Foreword
- Authors Preface
- 1 A Coastal Peregrination
- 2 A District Unsurpassed
- 3 Boarhills or Bust
- 4 East Neuk Encircled
- 5 Home Run
- 6 Brave New World
- 7 London Calling, Figures Falling
- 8 Excess Fare
- 9 The Long Way Round
- 10 Crabs and Corn
- 11 Working the Line
- 12 Sixteen Mile and One Chain
- 13 Gone but Not Forgotten
- Appendices
- Sources, Bibliography & Acknowledgements
- Index
Continent: Europe
Country: UK | | Tag cloud: anstruther andrews fife loop mile-long terminus genteel burgh crail village swung stravithie melville fearsome descent spruce astute scotland rose wartime dunino post-war trundle farmland asleep neuk await flag whistle hajducki jodeluk simpson bust fare corn chain | Tell a friend about this publication  |
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