Newburgh and North Fife Railway

The Newburgh and North Fife Railway was a Scottish railway company formed to build a connecting line between St Fort and Newburgh, in Fife, intended to open up residential traffic between the intermediate communities and Dundee and Perth. It opened its line, which was expensive to construct, in 1909 but the local traffic never developed. It closed to passenger traffic in 1951, and completely in 1964.

The Newport Railway opened its short line in 1879, running from the Fife end of the newly opened Tay Rail Bridge. The short line immediately opened up residential travel from Newport-on-Tay to Dundee, providing a journey time of ten minutes by train, rather than the former unreliable ferry crossing. The fall of the Tay Bridge later that year, in the Tay Bridge Disaster, naturally caused a disruption to the development of the passenger business, but when the second Tay Bridge opened in 1887 the trade was quick to resume.

Dundee is hemmed in between the Firth of Tay and the hilly country to the north, and expansion to the south, in Fife, encouraged residential development.

Observing the commercial success of the Newport Railway, local promoters developed a scheme for another railway, this time running south-west from the Fife end of the Tay Bridge. This too was intended to develop housing and residential travel across the Tay, as well as linking up towards Perth at the Newburgh end, potentially tapping traffic at that end of the line.

There was an enthusiastic meeting of potential promoters in the Royal Hotel, Cupar on 3 November 1896.

The Newburgh and North Fife Railway obtained its Act of Parliament on 6 August 1897. It was to be just over thirteen miles in length, between Glenburnie Junction at Newburgh (between Ladybank and Perth) and a triangular junction at St Fort, between the Tay Bridge and Leuchars, enabling direct running to the bridge or towards St Andrews. The authorised capital was £120,000.

However the months rolled past and nothing was done, the subscription list not having been fulfilled, and the powers for construction had to be revived by the North British Railway in its general powers Acts in 1900, 1902, 1904 and 1906. At last on 11 June 1906 contracts had been let. Soon the first sod was cut, in June 1906

The line involved prodigious engineering works and took five years to construct. The line was inspected by Major Pringle of the Board of Trade on 12 January 1909.

The line opened for "general" traffic (that is, goods) on 22 January 1909 and on 25 January 1909 the line opened fully.

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