However the Act only authorised the share capital, and at a subscription meeting on 5 November 1866 to permit the public to subscribe, no-one turned up: there was not enough ready money locally to pay for a railway.

They did not want to lose their railway altogether, so they cut it back to the 1856 scheme: "The promoters of the Newport Railway have, in consequence of the abandonment of the Tay Bridge, found it necessary to abandon part of their scheme, and a Bill is to be brought forward authorising them to make the terminus of the line at Craighead, which would be convenient for East, but scarcely so for West, Newport.

"[4] Craighead is some distance north-east of Newport, at a place where the crossing to Dundee is narrowest, and there may have been thoughts of establishing a ferry pier there cheaply.

"[5] The much-reduced railway got its revised authorisation; putting a brave face on the situation, the Directors reported that: The abandonment of the Tay Bridge scheme rendered it necessary to delay taking any steps under the powers conferred on the Company by the Act.

To afford to the rising and populous village of Newport more easy access to Dundee on the one hand, and connection with the railway system to the south on the other, as well as to give greater facilities of access between Dundee and Ferry-Port-on-Craig, were the objects sought to be obtained by the original Act; and, as there was no prospect of the original scheme being carried out for a considerable time, it seemed desirable to your Directors, if it were possible to do so, to accomplish these objects by a modified plan...

It was arranged, in view of [the North British Railway] Company improving their station at Dundee, to construct a short line commencing at the terminus at Tayport, and terminating at a point near Craighead Cottage, to the east of Newport.

In consequence of the financial position of the North British Railway Company, your Directors have not yet completed any arrangements for carrying out of the line.

[6]The Chairman betrayed his pessimism about the financial prospects of the Newport company: At the conclusion of the meeting, the Chairman remarked that if the North British Railway would guarantee a small dividend, and work the line at a moderate rate, with a lien to the shareholders, as they did on the St Andrews and other branches of the North British system, he had no doubt that great interest would be given to the scheme.

The Newport Railway was quick to spot the changed circumstances, and in 1870 it obtained a third Act of Parliament, reinstating the original route, to build throughout from Tayport to the Tay Bridge.

It opened to traffic on 12 May 1879 between Newport and the relocated Tayport station,[note 1] and throughout on 13 May 1879:[7][8] The Tay-Port ferry closed and residential travel from the Fife coast to Dundee became a practical possibility.

The reconstructed Tay Bridge opened to passenger trains on 20 June 1887,[note 2] and the Newport line was connected to a rearranged junction at Wormit.

It was a school special excursion returning from Tayport to Dundee; an LMS class 5 steam engine running tender first derailed on the sharp curve emerging from the tunnel.

[9] The Newport-on-Tay branch, as it had become, enjoyed a high level of patronage, and the existence of the Tay (Rail) Bridge enabled daily commuter travel to Dundee.

[1][3][10][11] The Scottish Railway Preservation Society dismantled some of the station buildings at Wormit and re-erected them at Bo'ness on the south bank of the Forth estuary.