Citizen coverage of commemoration
11, 01 19 13:51
This week’s St Andrews Citizen covers the 50th anniversary of the closure.
As well as covering last week’s activities, complete with photograph of office-bearers, the paper reprints a piece from 50 years ago describing the concerns over the closure. Of particular interest is the apparently sudden realisation by the Town Council that most of the Leuchars trains would not be met by a connecting bus, necessitating a half-mile walk for the majority of passengers, and the eleventh-hour attempts to provide a local subsidy which, at £20,000 per annum, proved too expensive (one wonders whether BR had inflated the amount safely beyond the reach of the council, like they had included mainline costs on the branch line’s balance-sheet? Perhaps.).
The general opinion was that closure, opposed by the Merchants’ Association, Hotelkeepers and Students’ Representative Council as well the Town Council, would be a ‘disaster’ for the town. Those looking at the masses of private cars travelling in, out and round about the town might well agree.
The full text of the article by Jamie Callaghan can be found at:
https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/transport/campaigners-mark-50-years-since-last-train-to-st-andrews-1-4856922
As well as covering last week’s activities, complete with photograph of office-bearers, the paper reprints a piece from 50 years ago describing the concerns over the closure. Of particular interest is the apparently sudden realisation by the Town Council that most of the Leuchars trains would not be met by a connecting bus, necessitating a half-mile walk for the majority of passengers, and the eleventh-hour attempts to provide a local subsidy which, at £20,000 per annum, proved too expensive (one wonders whether BR had inflated the amount safely beyond the reach of the council, like they had included mainline costs on the branch line’s balance-sheet? Perhaps.).
The general opinion was that closure, opposed by the Merchants’ Association, Hotelkeepers and Students’ Representative Council as well the Town Council, would be a ‘disaster’ for the town. Those looking at the masses of private cars travelling in, out and round about the town might well agree.
The full text of the article by Jamie Callaghan can be found at:
https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/news/transport/campaigners-mark-50-years-since-last-train-to-st-andrews-1-4856922