Stirling and Dunfermline Railway

Intermediately, the town of Alloa, also situated close to the Forth, was an important industrial centre, known for brewing, glass manufacture, woollen goods, and collieries.

On the north side of the tract of land following the Forth the Ochil Hills present a natural barrier to northwards travel, being closest at the Stirling end.

The Earls of Mar owned extensive lands in the hinterland of Alloa, and for some centuries coal had been produced from pits on the estate.

An extensive system of waggonways, initially wooden railed, later wood with iron facings, was installed from about 1768 to move the coal, using horsepower and gravity, from the pits downhill to the Forth.

The easy availability of money resulted in a very considerable number of Scottish lines being proposed in the following years, and in the 1845 Parliamentary session many were authorised.

Dunfermline was an ancient seat of government and industry, but it was the minerals, especially coal, in the area which encouraged the building of a line.

A special meeting of E&GR shareholders was held on 12 May 1846 to give approval to the merger and the promotion of the Stirling and Dunfermline line.

Since that time the E&GR had failed to acquire the Scottish Central Railway, which lay between the two lines, and the SCR had become hostile.

As the day of opening of the S&DR approached, it became obvious that the E&GR intended to evade its obligations to lease and work the line.

On 6 April 1849 the Engineer Miller issued a certificate that the line was complete (to Oakley) but the E&GR declined to lease it as had been agreed.

(The SCR was prepared to accept the S&DR crossing the Forth at Stirling on its bridge there, and using their station, but the E&GR insisted on separate facilities being provided.

The Stirling and Dunfermline Company was vested in the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway (E&GR) by Act of 28 July 1858.

Having started as an inter-city line the E&GR had been collaborating with the Monkland Railways and others in handling coal and iron in the west of Scotland, which became a dominant traffic.

[12] Alva was a significant manufacturing town, especially of woollens and textiles, located north of the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway, under the Ochil hills.

This became the Devon Valley Railway which was authorised by Parliament on 23 July 1858, but although parts of the line were quickly completed, difficult conditions in the central section meant that it was not until 1 May 1879 that it opened throughout.

[4][12][16] The Caledonian Railway was constantly trying to penetrate the Fife area to get access to east coast harbours and the coalfields.

In an attempt to forestall one such scheme, the North British Railway itself obtained authorisation for a coastal line from Alloa through Clackmannan to Kincardine.

A limited goods service to supply coal to the stationary steam engine that operated the Forth Swing Bridge from Alloa continued until May 1970.

Shortly afterwards, studies began for the reopening of the western end of the line from Stirling to Alloa, as part of the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine rail link.

[19][20]Under Scottish Executive funding and to relieve congestion on the Forth Railway Bridge the line between Stirling and Alloa was reopened in 2008.