Kincardine Line

In 1952, work began on the construction Kincardine power station this led to the reopening of the eastern end of the line.

On the eastern side, the Edinburgh and Northern Railway was authorised to build from Burntisland to Perth and Tayport, for Dundee.

The Caledonian had a dense network of railways in central Scotland, and continually hoped to reach the east coast ports and the rich Fife coalfield.

In 1888 the North British Railway proposed a line connecting a junction near Clackmannan station with Kincardine because it had a ferry service of the Firth of Forth, which NBR planned to also acquire.

As Kirkcaldy was known to be a Caledonian objective, the NBR obtained authorisation to build a line from near Alloa to Kilbagie and Kincardine.

"[6] but the same newspaper was pessimistic about the economic activity of the locality: "The line passes through a district very rich in mineral, which only awaits development, and opens up a charming bit of country abounding in historical and antiquarian associations.

At one time the district in direct touch with the new railway was very much busier than now, having in fact seen better days, but the opening of the new line, which commences by a junction with the Dunfermline and Charlestown branch at Elbowend, with stations at Torryburn, Culross, and Kincardine-on-Forth, may be expected to waken it into new life.

Both these power stations had a huge demand for coal, which was brought in by rail from the Dunfermline end, so that the eastern section of the route was re-opened.

Changing patterns of coal delivery led to coal imported to Hunterston in Ayrshire being brought to Longannet from 2008, running via Alloa and the western end of the line, which is therefore now complete again.Nonetheless, Kincardine power station has long been closed and Longannet closed on 24 March 2016, so that freight train use of the line appears now to have no long term future.