On Sunday 2nd June 2024 the newest part of Scotland’s railway opened to scheduled passenger services, with the eight-mile Levenmouth branch line from the ‘Fife Circle’ to Leven re-opening to passengers after a 55-year hiatus. Just over three months later, on Tuesday 3rd September, I made my way to Edinburgh’s Haymarket station to start my own journey to visit the line and tick off Scotland’s two newest stations. I also filmed a vlog during my visit to the Levenmouth branch, which you can find on my YouTube channel, here!
With the plan being to both of the stations on the new line was at Haymarket bright and early, ready to catch the second service of the day to Leven. Since their introduction, ScotRail has operated a roughly hourly service on the new line, with services departing Edinburgh Waverley at some point between the top of the hour and eight minutes past (with the exception of the 1753 – which is essentially the 18XX service). With the journey time to Leven being an hour from Haymarket, and a few minutes more from Waverley, the Levenmouth branch is easily accessible from the Scottish capital and opens up a new bit of Scotland to travellers.
Leaving the Fife Circle at Thornton North junction, the branch initially has a section of single track before becoming double track for the majority of the five miles to Leven via Cameron Bridge. This infrastructure, combined with both stations having two platforms allows for a future expansion of services up to half-hourly without any further works needing to take place, some positive forward thinking by Network Rail and the Scottish Government. My service arrived into Leven’s platform 1, seeming the preferred platform currently and as I waited for the train to depart I was able to have a look around the limited facilities.
In addition to the island platform and waiting shelters Leven has a small structure at the entrance, providing another covered waiting area as well as housing the two ticket machines. There’s also a car park and bicycle parking, although no bus stops at present. With the platform sloping at the buffer stop end down to street level, step free access isn’t an issue, although it would require a longer route to the station entrance from the town if you needed to avoid the steps down from the overbridge at the far end of the station. You might also spot a former rail connection beyond the buffer stops, crossing the River Leven just before its mouth on a rather decrepit looking bridge. This is the former line to Leven Docks, part of the line’s heritage but certainly not something anyone is looking at reopening.
Whilst the station at Leven is pretty basic, it does have some character, unlike many new ‘cookie cutter’ stations which is nice. Having spent a few minutes looking around, it was time to start my walk to the other station on the branch, Cameron Bridge, with just over an hour to complete the 2.4 mile walk before the next train back to Edinburgh. Initially heading up the steps to the main road and crossing the railway, a footpath starts adjacent to the nearby roundabout and follows the river for a short distance, before crossing back over the railway at ‘Sawmill Bridge’ just before the Fife Heritage Railway (FHR).
Based at Kirkland Yard, the FHR was formed in 1992 to showcase and preserve the heritage of the railways of Fife and restore the locomotives and rolling stock that once worked in the region. Initially based at the nearby, disused Methil Power Station, the FHR move to its current base at the former Kirkland Railway Marshalling Yard in 2003 and is now home to eight locomotives and a range of other rolling stock, including the recently retired Network Rail Test Train 313121. Immediately after crossing the river and railway on the ‘Sawmill Bridge’, the footpath crosses back over the railway, to continue following the river, with a bit of distance being gained between it and the railway. This is the one section of the walk that passes through an abandoned former industrial area which was a bit of a less pleasant environment, however it only lasted for a few hundred metres before the path crosses back over the river and heads through some more green space.
At this stage of the walk the path passes along between the river and some wetlands, until you reach the Kirkland Dam near Cameron Bridge and the Methilhill area. Whilst the footpath should continue along and join up with the main road, during my walk they were in the process of installing two new large footbridges across the river and railway and so the path had been closed. Diverting into one of the neighbouring housing estates, I was still able to join back up with the path which brought me out onto the A915. It was a short walk across the railway bridge to reach the new access to Cameron Bridge station, where I arrived with time to spare and just after the train had departed towards Leven, giving me about 10 minutes to explore the station.
Cameron Bridge is very similar to Leven, with a large car park, bicycle parking and a bus stop (although Cameron Bridge actually has buses serving it), as well as another interesting entrance structure which provides shelter to the ticket machines. Unlike Leven, Cameron Bridge’s two platforms are single sided with the tracks in between, with a footbridge and lifts providing access across to the Edinburgh bound platform. Whilst there was a Cameron Bridge station when the line was originally in use, the new Cameron Bridge station doesn’t use any of the former infrastructure and is in fact located a few hundred meters to the east, allowing for straighter platforms and therefore a reduced gap between the train and the platform. Google Maps has unfortunately got a bit confused and has three different markers for Cameron Bridge station, one on the old station, one on the new one and one randomly on the station car park.
I’ve got to say I enjoyed my walk from Leven to Cameron Bridge and it was an interesting to see a little corner of Scotland I wouldn’t normally visit. Its always good to see new bits of railway opening where demand dictates and it certainly seems like the Levenmouth branch will be popular in both directions, with the beach and golf courses of Leven now having easy access from the rail network. It’ll be interesting to see the popularity of the branch when the rail usage passenger figures are released in 2025, but I reckon that the usage will be above what was predicted before opening. If you have some time to spare, I’d certainly recommend a trip by train along the spectacular Fife coast to Leven, take the opportunity to explore the Levenmouth branch and perhaps pay a visit to the Fife Heritage Railway whilst you’re there.
Flights & Times 