The Railway Company

Local History

It was in 1846 that the Railway Company bought the ferry rights from the Laird of Scotscraig and built Tayport and Broughty harbours to accommodate large paddle steamers, specially constructed with two lines of rails on their decks to carry loaded goods trucks, which were landed and embarked by a cradle which could be lowered according to the state of the tide and connected to a floating slip-way. Before this, the place of embarkation was the ‘old harbour’, which lies just west of the main harbour.

When passengers from the north were brought to Tayport by train they had to cross the Tay by ferry. The introduction of rail technology in 1850 allowed railway carriages to be embarked at Tayport, on the P.S. Robert Napier, one of the world’s first ‘roll-on roll-off’ ferries.

Overnight accommodation was so much in demand that by 1860 there were no fewer than 27 loging houses throughout the parish, as well as Scotscraig Innm at the harbour.

Towards the end of the Century however, commercial activity had increased so much that the Truck Ferry was no longer able to cope with it, proving too cumbersome to carry the ever-growing volume of traffic across the Tay and too prone to delays because of weather conditions.

A railway bridge was opened in June 1877 to carry a new line from Leuchars via Wormit over the Tay to Dundee. A link-up from Tayport to Wormit was completed in May 1878. The Goods Ferry was discontinued, but was revived two years later, following the Tay Bridge Disaster. When the second railway bridge was opened in 1887 however, the Truck ferry was finally closed down for good. But the Railway Ferry had served it’s purpose as far as the development of Ferry-Port-on-Craig was concerned. Re-christened Tayport by the Railway Company, the town had been galvanised into activity and, thanks mainly to it’s main legacy – a fine new Harbour – was able to stand on it’s own feet, supported by it’s own industry and commerce.

In 1892, the Railway Company tried to get permission from Parliament to close the Passenger Ferry, which they were legally bound to maintain, when they acquired the Ferry Rights, but local opposition proved so strong that the proprosal was dropped, and the Paddle Steamer Dolphin sailed regularly until 1920, after which the service was maintained by a local firm with motor boats up until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.

The Tayport-Wormit rail line ceased to exist in the mid 1960’s.

The Tay Road Bridge was built in 1966.

Sources:

• a booklet titled ‘The Burgh of Tayport: an Introduction’, published in 1985 by Tayport Community Council.

• a booklet titled ‘Tayport and round about: official guide’, published by Fife Tourist Association, (no date shown, approx. 1970’s).

• a leaflet titled ‘3 Tayport Walks’, by Fife Council (no date shown, ~2001).

• History of Tayport, by Sir James Scott, Kt. (at the age of 87), printed in Cupar by J. & G. Innes Ltd., 1927.

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