Date: 05/01/2013

It is 50 years since the closure of Rothes Colliery, the reason for building the new town of Glenrothes, and perceived to be one of the costliest industrial mistakes in Scotland.

External links

Rothes colliery: 50 years on

BBC News

Rothes Colliery was the first Scottish "superpit" and the reason for building the new town of Glenrothes but closed 50 years ago.

Related images

B1 61349 stands in the sidings alongside Thornton shed around the time of its withdrawal in the summer of 1966. The towers of Rothes Colliery dominate the background.
Location: Thornton Shed [2nd]
Company: Dunfermline Branch (Edinburgh and Northern Railway)
//1966 K A Gray

Evening at Thornton in June 1967, looking west, a few months after the end of steam. On the left is part of Thornton Junction shed, closed the previous April. In the centre is Thornton Weighs box, one of 9 signal boxes located in the Thornton area. On the right stand the winding towers of the ill-fated Rothes Colliery. Trumpeted as one of the new super pits on its opening in 1958, the decision was taken to abandon it four years later due to insurmountable flooding and geological problems. Remarkably the towers stood for a further 30 years until eventually demolished using explosives in 1993.
Location: Thornton Shed [2nd]
Company: Dunfermline Branch (Edinburgh and Northern Railway)
/06/1967 Frank Spaven Collection (Courtesy David Spaven)