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LATHALMOND TIMELINE
A full, in-depth history of Lathalmond can be found in our Station Museum & our Captured in Time exhibition.
CAPTURED
IN TIME
INTERACTIVE HISTORY
1948
Rascobie tramway ceased operation, the limestone was being transported by lorry instead. This was probably the last use of Gask Siding and the Gask branch beyond RNSD Lathalmond.
1951
Branch beyond Gask Junction to Steelend closed. Trains only travel as far as RNSD Lathalmond now.
1971
RNSD Lathalmond ceases to use the railways, resulting in the closure of the internal railway system & the branch line serving it. The branch is truncated back to Lilliehill Junction in Townhill.
A NEW ERA
As part of the post-cold-war contraction of defence sites, RNSD Lathalmond was
closed in 1993.
In 1995, about half of the site was bought by The Scottish Vintage Bus Museum which then moved its entire expanding collection from its previous site at Whitburn.
Around two years later, a group of railway preservationists discovered the locomotive shed at Lathalmond and before long, Shed47 Railway Restoration Group was born.
UP TO 1864
Various coal pits & limestone quarries were established in the vicinity of Lathalmond. An extension from the northern end of the Elgin Wagonway reaches close to the valley.
1864
The West of Fife Mineral Railway branches open. A line from Whytemyre Junction in Dunfermline to Steelend, with the Gask Branch (from Gask Junction at Dunduff to Gask Siding) and a short-lived onwards connection to Lassodie on the Kelty Branch of the same railway.
Sometime after, narrow gauge tramways were built from Lathalmond Quarry to a dedicated siding on the Gask Branch, and from Roscobie Quarry to Gask Siding.
SECOND WORLD WAR
In 1939, war broke out across Europe and, 2 years later, construction started on Lathalmond Royal Naval Stores & Transit Depot.
Built as duplicate stores for Rosyth Dockyard, the idea was that if the Dockyard suffered any damage during an air raid, it could be quickly restocked by rail from Lathalmond.
Our Captured in Time Exhibition features a vast collection of photographs taken prior to, and during construction of the site. This is on display at Lathalmond Wartime.
The tramway from Lathalmond quarry and its siding seems to have been out of use by this time.
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