Fife Coastal railway ((Part 3)) Methil Leven To St andrews SQ2009 Cameron Brig

[lonelyzenith]

This is amazing - it's hard enough to find good photos of these old lines, let along videos! Cheers for posting it.

[quinnman1971]

@lonelyzenith glad you enjoyed pal...

[TiggerScotland]

This footage is amazing .. I'm grateful to you for sharing such an amazing glimpse back into my childhood. I grew up in Elie but now live in Edinburgh.

[quinnman1971]

@TiggerScotland Cheers mate... share it with the people eh..........

[TiggerScotland]

we used to stand on the bridge into Elie station to get lost in the smoke from the engines .. we had fun jumping up to pull the chains for lighting the gas lamps, to help Mr Paton the station master .. once I was allowed on to the goods engine to throw coal on the fire but the shovel was too heavy so I needed help - it was my birthday .. those were the days!! Stupid short-sighted Beeching took it all away.

[May11th1983]

Don't know why it took me so long to discover this vid. Fantastic footage. Missed that era by a decade or so and I wish I hadn't....in some ways ;-)

[Scottishguyusa]

Woah, my dad is at 2.45! He was a signal man in Fife, and I've just found this video for the first time. My folks passed away in the 90s.

This is wonderful! Thank you so much for posting it. What a lovely surprise to see my dad on film!

I live in the USA now, but my sister and family are in Glenrothes.

[quinnman1971]

@Scottishguyusa Thats Amazin mate, glad it gave you a great buzz... Wire in about savin it to your PC , then you can whip it onto a disc....

Fab though pal, glad it made ye happy...

[IanMathewson1]

An absolute brilliant piece of historical footage. Can remember Lower Largo station as a wee boy. When was the film taken. Must have been around 1964 or 65

[quinnman1971]

@IanMathewson1 no sure buddy... Your dates prob about right, just lookin at some o the gear they are wearin eh lol...

[Bassboom26]

enjoyed this

[daveyohm122]

rich valiant times, we'll never see that again. Happy days.

[keplermission]

See at 2.00, this is a tiny road bridge to Earlsferry by Elie, a road turning off the main road to Elie that many will miss. A narrow road, used mainly by locals and with passing places, it could be awkward, there is a small sign for Earlsferry after a tight bend in the main approach road , the place virtually unrecognizable today! The previous clip is of Kilconquhar Station, pronounced 'Kinnocar' and best known today for its Kinconquar Castle Hotel and Country Club, a magnet for visitors.

[TheStevecs]

@keplermission It took me a while to find it but once you know its there you can see its the right place. The road is Ferry Road and as you say it is a very tight corner. If you go to the right place you can actually see it on Google StreetView

[atlast1948]

I really enjoyed that.

My great great grandparents left Buckhaven after the 1881 census to travel to Smoky Stockport in Cheshire.

They must have left with their children from that little railway station.

Robert Cairns born Kirkcaldy1853 and Jane nee Wilson born 1855 Buckhaven.

Children, Mary, Joseph and Alexander. M and J stayed in Stockport, Alex born 1881 disappeared after 1891. Love to find out.l

[Calfaeairdrie]

What's the music to this.

[BillDFC]

Old railway lines just fill you with nostalgia!

Damn Beeching!

[quinnman1971]

@BillDFC Id say Beeching the Bastard lol,,

The 'Beeching Axe' is an informal name for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost[1] of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard Beeching.

[keplermission]

@quinnman1971 - people dislike Beeching but they forget a number of things:-

1. The preservation of British steam traction depends largely on preservation trust owned tracks made possible by Beeching.

2. The preservation of stations in their former glory with every feature designed by expensive teams of British origin has only been possible thanks to Beeching.

3. Railways were not a good rival to the private car, they were more expensive and rail freight pricing made lorry transport a must.

[1990kriss]

I can see my house on that

[kipper3296]

2.13...thats my grandad at elie station swapping purses......cheers for telling me dibles lol....i nearly died when i seen him lol

[quinnman1971]

Great stuff mate :D is your Grandad still alive?

fine stuff eh...

[quinnman1971]

wow great stuff eh,, any1 know what the purse/bags that they swapped over were???

[nospam911]

They contained the tokens to permit the driver onto the section of line (the driver hands back the token for the section he's just finished and collects the token for the section he's about to enter).

The loop was just to make them quicker and easier to exchange.

They are still in use in Scotland, e.g. between Elgin, Forres and Nairn.

[quinnman1971]

Cheers for the info mate, wow!

Theres me thinking it was the cash aswell.

cheers.

[jrewada]

Im reading echoparks comment- Its a small world!! My late grandfather was the signalman at St.Monans, and you can see him on the left at 2.46 getting up and walking towards the camera.

[Reno5gtt1]

Did you film this? You definitley deserve to be bought a pint!! Do you know how long I have waited to see a video like this? Well done my friend a great piece of history....

[quinnman1971]

No im only 37 mate,, brill film though eh...

Glad you like it...

[kazzieo9]

@quinnman1971 What a great piece of film

[quinnman1971]

@kazzieo9 isnt it just mate, check out the others? goosebumps n that lol.

[echopark21]

2.13 is my grandad when he worked at Elie train station ^^

[quinnman1971]

that is just quality mate, do you have the film yourself?

[echopark21]

nah. I never knew this existed till i saw on my m8s facebook. I was only watchin it so i could see Elies trainstation as the old rail way would of passed right just behind my house. It was a big shock to see my grandad in the video

[rgannals]

Wow, this is amazing! Where did you get this from - does it belong to you? Whoever had the foresight to film this is/was a genius!

[BillDFC]

Thank you Mr.Beeching for depriving us of all these wonderful rural lines.

[quinnman1971]

ooops ps , an extra 4 mins of nothingness LMAO...