We are the owners the former Kirkland marshalling yard at Leven in Fife. The yard was located at the junction between the East Coast line and the line to Methil docks. This 20 acre site once handled all of the coal wagons carrying coal to be exported through Methil docks, which at their height were the most important and busiest coal-exporting docks in Scotland. As well as shunting coal 24 hours a day, Kirkland Yard also handled much of the freight for a thriving industrial area, and was of critical importance to the the war effort during the Second World War. Adjacent to the yard site, and included in our land purchase, is part of the former Fife Coast line, which was an important secondary main line in Fife, and was once a favoured tourist route through the East Neuk of Fife. A Railtrack line still runs along the southern side of our site, on land that was originally part of Kirkland Yard. This line until a few years ago serviced Methil Power Station until its closure with coal trains. The line has been mothballed and has now been out of use since.
Progress of the First Phase in January 2003
The plan below shows a possible development for this site. As you can see from the plan, we have chosen to lay our line round the northern part of the site. Our storage sheds and restoration workshops will be on the eastern half of the site, as will a museum and our station.
Possible Future Site Plan
We can only do so
much at a time and our plans for the current year are shown below.
We
were given a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to help us complete this
stage which helped us to erect a compound fence, lay some track and
put up a building to keep our rolling stock under cover.
Work
started last summer on the site with a security fence being built and
items of rolling stock, signalling, sleepers and some other pieces of
equipment brought from storage. We also brought in containers and
portacabins for storage of smaller or valuable things.
The first
track was laid on 8th March and has been lined and levelled ready for
the rolling stock to be put on. The shed was completed in May
2003.
Work is ongoing with a reception centre and exhibition to
welcome anyone coming along for a look.
First Phase Started Summer 2002
Last updated: - 30th August 2007
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