This still image of a train crossing the viaduct at Lower Largo is taken from a video posted early last year on this site.  The full video from 1959 can be viewed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MDMfqXcpus

As we are now marking half a century since the closure of the line through Largo, I thought it was worth revisiting this clip and requesting that anyone out there with their own video footage of trains coming through Largo and Lundin Links, or indeed any moving images of days gone-by in the Largo area, consider converting it to digital format and getting it on-line.  Likewise, if you have old photos that you think people would enjoy seeing, please consider getting them scanned and sharing these also.  It would be wonderful to build a larger archive of materials relating to Largo and Lundin Links for future generations.  If you have any queries about the practicalities of doing this, please get in touch via the 'contact' link.

Here are some other great clips of the local railway lines that are available on-line:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zXWsV0JUGw

​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LrZxjdgrIg

After writing about the withdrawal of service and the railway line closure, time for a more upbeat post about Largo Station in happier and busier times.  Above is an image of two trains passing at the station in the late 1950s.  The one facing the camera is the 62418, named 'The Pirate'. Note the tidiness of the station and the freshly painted white building to the left.  There is a wagon parked in the siding to the left beyond this. At the time of this scene, the railway was a century old.  I wonder how many people at that time would have imagined that it would be gone within a decade.

One man who knew the station is its heyday, and who helped it to look its best, is someone that I have written about before - James Hope Young. He was one of the former station masters at Largo, and recently his granddaughter contacted me and shared the photo below of her grandfather in his LNER uniform.  He was station master for nine years in the 1920s and during his tenure the station won several prizes for being 'best kept'. After 36 years services with the railways, Mr Young retired to Lundin Links.  I would like to put together a list of station masters at both Largo and Lundin Links - if you have any details of the names and dates of the holders of the jobs, please comment.

After the closure of the railway through Largo and Lundin Links to passenger traffic on 5 September 1965, the line remained accessible to the occasional freight service. The above image clearly dates from after the 1965 suspension of passenger services, as can be seen from the condition of the track and the station itself.  Note the weeds on the line and on the platform, as well as the worn paintwork of the building and peeling posters. The book "The Leven & East of Fife Railway" by Hajducki, Jodeluk and Simpson mentions this period in the history of the line.  It says:

"On 26th February 1966 the Crail to Leven section was reduced to 'one engine in steam' status*. The goods service continued to operate in a sporadic fashion between Crail and Leven but it was obvious that it was being run down pending total closure.....The end was, however, not long in coming and closure notices were posted in May 1966 informing the public, who still cared, that goods services were to be withdrawn with effect from 18th July 1966 and the stations at Crail, Pittenweem, St Monance, Kilconquhar and Largo were to be closed to all traffic. Thereafter all remaining wagons and moveables were collected and the line was officially closed with effect from 18th December 1966, the grass-grown track was now left to await its fate at the hands of the demolition gangs."

There was a footnote in this passage of the book stating that the last train to cross the line was in fact in April 1967. This was a locomotive which would normally have not been permitted on the line - the 'Union of South Africa', which you can read more about here.

* 'one engine in steam' refers to the working of just one train over the whole length of a branch line

The same book also notes that...

"By 1969 the demolition gangs had removed most of the rails by lorry* and those structures which remained but were thought to have any real scrap value, such as girders and footbridges, were cut up on site and removed within the next year or so." 

* A BR 350 hp diesel locomotive had been hired out to the demolition contractors and was used for a time when the line was being lifted

Lundin Links station was purchased by the golf club and the building demolished in 1971. Largo station disappeared around the same time and the site converted into a car park. If you recall the post-closure goods services, the track removal, the demolition of the stations and such like - please comment!

Here is the official notice of the planned withdrawal of rail passenger services between Leven and St Andrews.  This appeared in the East Fife Mail of 24 February 1965 and was followed by a long letter from the Ministry of Transport. This spoke of how other rail and bus services would be adjusted and improved such that "any remaining hardship would be insufficient to justify the retention of the service". The final service ran on 5th September 1965, in spite of a campaign to have the decision reversed.

The iconic railway posters of the early to mid twentieth century remain popular to this day.  Some of the most recognisable ones were created by Frank Henry Mason (1875-1965). Mason was an artist who specialised in marine, coastal, shipping and harbour scenes. It was fitting then that he painted the above image of Largo Harbour and coastline to advertise the Fife coast. Judging by the style of the cars and the train in the poster, this is probably a 1950s scene. Recruited by the London and North East Railway because of his reputation as a maritime artist, Frank Mason was a versatile painter who was one of a handful of artists that created the bold and memorable images used to promote the destinations reachable by rail. This Largo scene really captures the area as a post-war holiday resort and of course highlights the village as the birthplace of Alexander Selkirk. I wonder how many people saw this poster and decided to come and visit.

To read more about Frank Henry Mason, see more of his work and an image of the man himself, follow link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-32495451

It's 50 years ago this month that the last passenger train ran on the East Neuk line.  On Sunday 5th September 1965 hundreds of people caught the final scheduled service - the 18:20 from Crail to Leven. The East Fife Mail of 8 September, under the headline "No Tickets Left for Last East Neuk Train to Leven Station" reported that such were the numbers of people who travelled to Crail, that... 

"...the booking office there ran out of tickets. And crowds greeted the train at every station along the line, with more passengers boarding at practically every stop. Cameras clicked and whirred as the diesel made its way round the coast with visitors, locals, enthusiasts and ex-railwaymen taking their last look at the East Neuk countryside from inside a British Rail train."

Provost James Braid captured the sentiment of the day in his comment that "This closure is a tragedy. Every single person here feels it is a tragedy." He had spear-headed the fight to try to keep the line open and even at this point clung to the hope that the line may resume as a private enterprise. This would prove not to be, however, making the 18:20 service, driven by Jimmy Dobson, the last passenger train after all.

Two ladies from Lundin LInks were on board for the final journey (which was their first) and were quoted as saying "we had never been on it before, so we thought we had better take the chance now". Despite the sadness of the occasion, the crowds that waited at Crail, Anstruther, St Monance, Pittenweem, Elie, Kilconquhar, Largo, Lundin Links and Leven were upbeat.  There were balloons and even detonators on the track to ensure the day went with a bang! But festivities were short-lived and the day ended on a melancholy note:

"As the train made its last run into Leven station, the clouds opened and the rain came down, as if weeping in sympathy....And then it was all over and the only sound left was the splattering of rain on the lines which had carried the last train from the East Neuk...."

If you recall the closure of the line and have memories or images of its final days - please do comment or get in touch using the 'contact' link.

The image above of the old Lundinmill School dates to the first decade of the twentieth century, before extensions were added to the front of the building. It gives a good impression of how the school itself and the schoolmaster's house (to the right) were fully integrated.  There would have been an internal door allowing the teacher residing in the house to access the school directly.  The school building was originally split into a boys' half and a girls' half - with two entrances, two playgrounds divided by a wall and two outdoor toilet blocks. There was an entrance from the vennel behind the school, into the playground as well as the front entrance from Crescent Road. 

Built in 1857/8, the school building had to be expanded at various points.  There was an addition made to the school in the late 1870s and in 1910 the front extension seen below was added. At the time, the new frontage provided a new entrance, a cloakroom, a store, a W.C. and a "teacher's retiring room". I have never seen any photographs of the inside of the building during its time as a school, however, a small insight comes from the following newspaper account of the school board's discussions from 1874. The 11 June Fife Herald states "the clerk submitted his report on the state of the maps in the schools, and was instructed to procure maps of Europe, Africa and The British Isles for Lundinmill School...". This conjures up images of walls covered with large maps and other educational visuals, perhaps alongside a globe, an abacus, and a large blackboard.

On this, the day that the present Queen overtakes Queen Victoria as the longest reigning UK monarch, here is a photograph which marked the 150th anniversary of the accession to the throne of Queen Victoria. On 24 June 1987, the East Fife Mail ran a feature about how, a century and a half to the day after Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, an 'open house' took place at Cardy House in Lower Largo.  The venue itself being Victorian - at that time inside as well as out - was an appropriate one. Members and friends of the Scottish Tartan Society came together with locals to mark the occasion at the then home of Ivy Jardine (on far right of the group). It was noted that a number of school groups had visited the house too, as they had been studying the Victorian era.

We see from an 1894 OS map that the old toll house still stood just before the major development of Lundin Links, and long after it had gone out of active service.  Presumably it was not demolished until the Post Office was ready to be built in its place in 1895/6. It also seems that the last toll keeper, John Myles, who we know to have been living in the toll house from 1871, if not earlier, stayed with his family in the decommissioned building until it was finally demolished. In the 1891 census his family were in the 'Old Toll House'. So, where did they go after 25 years or more in the toll house?  By the 1901 census, the family are directly across the road in the villa named 'Beechwood' built just a few years previously.

'Beechwood' is the first house on the north side of Leven Road, adjacent to the Fir Park (on left of image below).  It's neighbours also had tree-themed names - 'Rowan Cottage' and 'The Chestnuts'.  Then, of course, comes 'Woodielea Road'. In the photograph below some kind of metal pole can be seen embedded in the wall between Beechwood and Fir Park - could this have been a remnant of the old toll bar?

The tide began to turn again the turnpike road system in the 1840s, as railways began to expand and road users became frustrated by the network.  From the 1860s, turnpike trusts began to be wound up and replaced by local highway boards. Nevertheless, the Lundinmill Toll Bar lasted for some time after the arrival of the railway in Lundin Links and Largo in 1857. At the time of the 1861 census the occupier of the Lundin MIll Toll House was Peter Ormiston and his family. Peter was described as "Toll Tacksman employing 4 men". In the 1871 census, John Myles was the toll collector residing in the Lundinmill toll house.  By the end of that decade, however, things had changed.  Many toll bars had closed and Mr Myles (although living in the same house) was now occupied as a gardener and the house was now referred to as the "Old Toll House". We can presume that the closure took place towards the end of the 1870s.  A 'Lament for Toll-Bars' was written by T.P. Johnston and published in the Fife Herald on 26 June 1879.  It ran to twenty verses long - here are the best bits...

"The toll-house stands at the town end
Deserted and forlorn,
Its tariff down, its steelyard gone,
Its post and bars uptorn

I ought to ban that robber's hold,
As I have often banned,
When late for train on full career,
Its barrier made me stand.

Or when at night returning
From the convivial board,
I found the bar was padlocked,
And the tollman lay and snored.
...
A toll was always some place
Where coach that went to town,
Could take your note up as it passed,
Or hand your parcel down.

A toll was always some place,
Where men might rendezvous,
To gossip when their work was done,
And interchange their view.
...
And so when grumbling by and by,
Perhaps we'll sigh and say -
How useful and how picturesque,
Were toll-bars in their day.

We'll have our artists painting them,
Our bards shall sing their praise,
Our antiquarians will dig,
A buried post to raise...."

So, what might Lundinmill Toll Bar and House have looked like? I've tried to imagine it and present below an impression of how it might have looked.  Maps show that it stood right up against the road on the opposite side of the junction from the old inn and facing the edge of Fir Park. Like many toll houses, this one would have have several windows and a polygonal front (typically a half hexagon) enabling the toll collector to see traffic approaching from different directions. The porch entrance offered the toll keeper some protection from the weather.

In the above sketch, the toll house stands on the site of the present Post Office (see small image).  There were no other buildings to the right of this for quite a distance.  Behind and to the west was ground belonging to Sunnybraes Farm.  On the opposite side of the main road was Fir Park at the bend and 'Sandiland's Field' to the west of that. To the left out of shot would have been the old inn and the houses and businesses of Emsdorf to the east. The bar or gate would have spanned the main road in front of the house. Of course, the site of the old toll would be transformed by the end of the century, as feuing took place and 'Gilmour Place' sprang up.