Tayport

Location type

Station

Names and dates

Ferry-Port-on-Craig (1850-1851)
Tay Port (1851-1879)
Tayport (1879-1966)

Opened on the Edinburgh and Northern Railway.
Opened on the Newport Railway.

Description


Terminus

This station was originally a terminus located next to the harbour which was to its immediate east.

The harbour was expanded on reclaimed land. Lines ran between the station and harbour to the north pier (short, at entrance) and onto the breakwater (the harbour wall) to the east. An extensive yard existed to the south of the harbour with a signal box at 'throat' at the south end (Tayport South box). A slip for Thomas Bouch's 'Floating Railway' (a roll-on roll-off goods train ferry) to Broughty Pier was rail served and in the west of the harbour, close by the station. Maps would suggest the the southern of the two ramps was that used by the train ferry. A moveable, according to the state of the tide, loading ramp linked the slip to the ferry. A turntable was provided west of the station.


Through station

The station was modified on the opening of the Newport Railway in 1879 to become a through station, modification largely being a slight realignment of lines at the north end of the station to complete a loop. A new building, backing onto a good shed, was provided on the southbound platform and the large canopy on the Dundee bound platform removed and replaced with a smaller version - the extent of the original being given away by a high wall running south from the station building. The main station building in Market Square, by no means as grand as that in Burntisland, appears to have survived the transformation. A new signal box, Tayport North, was provided to the north of the station as was a footbridge. The footbridge was removed before closure.

The line south to Leuchars (Old) was singled in 1929. It closed in 1959. The south box closed in 1962 (the line remained to Tayport Spinning Mill Siding). The station and line closed in 1966 when the line was severed by the building of the southern approach road to the Tay Road Bridge.


Today

No part of the passenger station remains today but a loading bank can be found on the north pier. The southbound platform building was lost before closure. The site of the coal and carriage sidings to the south of the harbour has been redeveloped for housing. These sidings were lifted before closure, around the time the line south of Tayport Spinning Mill Siding closed.

Local

Tayport Harbour

Tags

Station Terminus Train Ferry

External links

Canmore site record
NLS Collection OS map of 1892-1914
NLS Collection OS map of 1944-67
NLS Map
01/08/2020




Chronology Dates

  /  /1846Dundee and Arbroath Railway
Broughty Ferry to Broughty Pier authorised, a tightly curved line. The pier to be operated in connection with the ferries to Tayport.
17/05/1850Edinburgh and Northern Railway
Opened from Cupar to Ferry-Port-on-Craig for passengers. Stations opened at Dairsie, Leuchars [1st], Ferry-Port-on-Craig opened.
  /  /1851Edinburgh and Northern Railway
Ferry-Port-on-Craig renamed Tay Port.
  /  /1868PS Dandie Dinmont [I]
Transferred to operate the Granton Pier to Burntisland Pier [1st] service. (Sometimes also operating between Tayport and Broughty Pier.)
12/05/1879Newport Railway
Wormit to Tayport via Newport opened. A new short bridge opened from Wormit to meet the Tay Bridge and Associated Lines (North British Railway) at a junction just offshore. A second signal box was at this junction.
12/05/1879Edinburgh and Northern Railway
Tay Port altered to become a through station on the Newport Railway, afterwards known as Tayport.
09/01/1956Edinburgh and Northern Railway
Tayport (excluded) to Leuchars Junction [2nd] (excluded) closed to passengers. Leuchars Old (excluded) to Morton Siding (excluded) closed to all traffic.
22/05/1966Newport Railway
Newport-on-Tay East to Tayport closed, replacement bus starts.
22/05/1966Edinburgh and Northern Railway
Tayport, now a terminus from Wormit, closed.
23/05/1966Edinburgh and Northern Railway
Tayport to Spinning Mill Siding closed to goods.
23/05/1966Newport Railway
Newport-on-Tay East to Tayport closed to all traffic.
18/09/1967Newport Railway
Newport-on-Tay East to Tayport bus ceases.
18/12/1967Newport Railway
Newport-on-Tay East to Tayport official closure date (closed early due to Tay Road Bridge works).

News items

26/03/2022Tayport Heritage Trail explores centuries of the town's rich history [The Courier]

Books


A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: The North of Scotland v. 15 (Regional railway history series)

Burntisland: Fife's Railway Port (Locomotion papers)

Fife's Last Days of Steam

Fife's Lost Railways

Railways of Fife

The Railways of Fife