Cowdenbeath (Old)
Location type
StationNames and dates
Cowdenbeath [1st] (1850-1890)Cowdenbeath (Old) (1890-1919)
Note: text in square brackets is added for clarity and was not part of the location's name.
Opened on the Dunfermline Branch (Edinburgh and Northern Railway).Description
This was a two platform station with a goods yard on the west (down) side of the line accessed from the north. Cowdenbeath Colliery Pit No 3 was located just to the north of the goods yard. The goods yard is now a car park.
When it opened Cowdenbeath barely existed. The town was developed in connection with the mines and railways that served them.
A second station, Cowdenbeath (New) opened on a new shortcut between Cowdenbeath South Junction and Kelty South Junction in 1890, part of the improvements to the Edinburgh Waverley to Perth route for the opening of the Forth Bridge Railway.
This station was replaced by Cowdenbeath when a new alignment between Cowdenbeath North Junction and Lumphinnans Central Junction opened in 1900. The old station closed in 1919. The two stations had been open simultaneously for 29 years.
The station remained in use for mine workers' trains for some time after closure. The signal box was replaced in 1922 and closed in 1952.
Tags
StationExternal links
Canmore site recordNLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
07/09/2023
| Nearby stations Cowdenbeath Crossgates (Fife) Lochgelly Kelty Halbeath Dunfermline Queen Margaret Cardenden Aberdour Blairadam Donibristle Platform Dalgety Bay Dunfermline (Comely Park) Dunfermline Upper Dunfermline City Burntisland | Cowdenbeath Colliery Pit No 3 Cowdenbeath Colliery Shed Kirkford Colliery Junction National Coal Board Central Works Fife Cowdenbeath Colliery Pit No 8 Cowdenbeath Colliery Pit No 7 Cowdenbeath Colliery Dora Opencast Loading Pad Raith Colliery Dora Pit Raith Colliery Sidings Foulford Junction Raith Colliery Lady Pit Cowdenbeath Colliery Pit No 9 Hill of Beath Colliery Sidings Mossbeath Colliery Sidings |
| Location names in dark blue are on the same original line. | |
Chronology Dates
| 29/03/1919 | Cowdenbeath North Junction to Lumphinnans Central Junction (North British Railway) All passenger trains start to use the Cowdenbeath (New) deviation with the opening of the Cowdenbeath North Junction to Lumphinnans Central Junction link. Cowdenbeath (Old) closed to passengers. Cowdenbeath South Junction to Lumphinnans Central Junction given over to goods and mineral traffic. |
| /02/1970 | Dunfermline Branch (Edinburgh and Northern Railway) National Coal Board Central Works Fife to Foulford Junction to Cowdenbeath (Old) (excluded) closed. The line serving the works and running west to Cowdenbeath Colliery Pit No 7's Cowdenbeath Colliery Shed closed. |
| / /1974 | Dunfermline Branch (Edinburgh and Northern Railway) Cowdenbeath (Old) to Dora Opencast Loading Pad opened. |
Books
 Inverkeithing To Thornton Junction: Via Cowdenbeath (Scottish Mainlines) |
