View from SW showing part of SSW front of SW coal drop with railway tracks in foreground

Description View from SW showing part of SSW front of SW coal drop with railway tracks in foreground

Date 23/6/1970

Collection Papers of Professor John R Hume, economic and industrial historian, Glasgow, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 733354

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Methil Harbour (Methil Docks), Fife Methil was developed as a port from 1887 when a small wet dock was built for R Erskine Wemyss. Between 1894 and 1913 it was greatly enlarged by the North British Railway to become Fife's leading coal-exporting port. It was served by two North British Railway branches and by the Wemyss Private Railway. This shows one of two hydraulic coal hoists on the north-east quay of number 3 Dock surviving in 1970, looking along the railway line which took full coal wagons to be tipped into the holds of ships The upper line on the left took the empties away by gravity. The Methil Docks and associated collieries had until the 1960s a concentration of railway lines unmatched in Scotland. The closure of the last large collieries in this part of Fife led to the end of coal shipments from Methil in 1970. The dock remains open for general cargo traffic. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

External Reference H35/70/24/16

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/733354

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap