Kincardine Line

The Kincardine Line is a railway in Clackmannanshire and Fife, Scotland. It was originally built to serve settlements along the north shore of the Firth of Forth, between Alloa and Dunfermline.

It was opened in two stages by the North British Railway: from Alloa to Kincardine in 1893, and the eastern section in 1903. Passenger traffic was disappointing, and closed in 1930. Goods traffic was poorly used as well, that is until in 1962, when a large coal-fired power station opened on the line. A second followed, and the entire line was re-opened in stages to bring in coal for the power station requirements. The power stations are to be decommissioned in 2016, bringing heavy mineral traffic to an end. There is a possibility of re-opening to passenger trains on the route.

During the promotion of railways in 1845 that resulted in the major expansion of the Scottish railway network, the Scottish Central Railway was authorised to build from Castlecary, on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, to Perth through Stirling. On the eastern side, the Edinburgh and Northern Railway was authorised to build from Burntisland to Perth and Tayport, for Dundee. The Edinburgh and Northern also obtained permission to build a branch line from Thornton to Dunfermline.

The following year, 1846, saw the authorisation of the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway, running through Alloa. All these lines were substantially complete by 1849. The Stirling and Dunfermline Railway had a Clackmannan station and a Kincardine station, but both those places were some considerable distance from the railway. The attraction of Dunfermline as a railway objective was the mineral resources, especially coal in the Dunfermline coalfield.

Kincardine had long had importance as a ferry crossing of the Forth, and in 1888 the North British Railway proposed a line connecting a junction near Clackmannan station with Kincardine, as well as acquisition of the ferry. However this was a low priority for the NBR at that time, and the idea came to nothing.

By 1865, both the Edinburgh and Northern Railway and the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway had become part of the North British Railway, while the Scottish Central Railway had become a part of the rival Caledonian Railway. The Caledonian had a dense network of railways in central Scotland, and continually hoped to reach the east coast ports and the rich Fife coalfield. The North British Railway responded by promoting its own lines serving the areas thought to be of interest to the Caledonian, so as to be able to demonstrate to Parliament that they were adequately serving the districts. Kirkcaldy was known to be a Caledonian objective, and the North British obtained authorisation to build a line from near Alloa to Kilbagie and Kincardine. The line was opened on 18 December 1893.

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