News arrived this month that the first rails have gone down on the five-mile Levenmouth Link, a branch which will connect Leven with the Fife Circle Line at Thornton North Junction. As well as the terminus at Leven, a station will be opened at Cameron Bridge, where the platforms and four tracks survive, though seriously overgrown. The track has been removed to the east of the station, as well as from about half a mile west. Time is running out, therefore, to walk whatever sections of the line remain accessible. Some interesting river bridges remain in situ. When it reaches Leven, the reinstated line will run alongside the Fife Heritage Railway, which occupies a few hundred yards of the trackbed on the outskirts of the town. The Levenmouth Link will run just to the north of the River Leven, through an area currently covered by a maze of sidings slumbering in the long grass, and then pick up the trackbed of the old dock branch to a new terminus behind the modern Leisure Centre.
The original North British route went north-east at this point, but is now built over. In the midst of new housing, a rather run-down ‘Station Hotel’ hangs on (now a bar), but that’s about it until you reach the western edge of the town, where a short footpath occupies the trackbed until it disappears beneath the links of the local golf club. However, a short distance west brings you to the beautiful Lower Largo Viaduct, best viewed from the harbour. Sadly, the viaduct itself is firmly fenced off. From here, the Fife Coastal Path uses the old trackbed until just before Kilconquhar Station. (RR)