5 days ago
Rare photos capture the end of a 'landmark' Dundee station and the closing of a Fife rail line
These images document a historic day on the tracks which ended with the closure of Dundee West Railway Station in May 1965.
The final train left Dundee West for Glasgow at 8pm.
More than 200 railway enthusiasts and wistful locals gathered to wave it off.
Another historic rail trip took place on the same day.
It has been largely forgotten and overshadowed in the past 60 years.
The journey time forgot has been brought to life again by Donald Maxwell.
He still remembers the day well.
Donald was 16 when he travelled on the Queen's College Railway and Transport Society Rail Tour along the Fife Coast line on May 1 1965.
A large number of enthusiasts bought a ticket for the trip.
Donald managed to snap away during the journey.
He has shared some of his snaps which were gathering dust in a cardboard box.
Vanished views were captured as the train traversed soon-to-be-closed lines.
Donald travelled from Perth to Dundee West Station.
'I was born and brought up in Perth,' he said.
'The station there was about a 15-minute walk from home.
'There was a great variety of locomotives there and Perth was an open access station so the walk to the centre of the town was always through the station.
'That was how I got started on railways as an interest.
'Queen's College ran a number of excursions.
'I went on three of them when I was still at school.'
Dundee West Station stood opposite where the Malmaison hotel is today, virtually sharing the site with Tay Bridge Station, which operated at the same time.
Dundee used to be served by three main stations.
Falling passenger use led to Dundee East being closed in January 1959.
Dundee West was recommended for closure by the Beeching cuts.
Tay Bridge was renamed Dundee and is the only one left.
'The May 1965 excursion marked not only the closing of Dundee West Station but also the imminent closure of the Fife Coast line round the East Neuk,' said Donald.
'I took all the black and white photos.'
The train was pulled by British Railways Class J37, locomotive number 64602.
It left Tay Bridge Station in brilliant sunshine on the Saturday afternoon.
The journey was 94 miles.
The train travelled through Leuchars, St Andrews, Kingsbarns, Crail, Anstruther, St Monans, Elie, Largo, Leven and Thornton.
'At Thornton there was a change of locomotive,' said Donald.
'Number 64618 took over for the run back.
'The train returned to Dundee, not by Cupar and the Tay Rail Bridge, but by Ladybank and Newburgh, which at that time was a freight only route.
'The excursion was filled with enthusiasts who took photos from every possible angle and swarmed over the tracks at both Elie and Newburgh.
'Health and safety wasn't an issue then!'
His father Kenneth followed the train by car on its way back from Ladybank.
He took some colour photographs to add to the collection.
Newburgh to Bridge of Earn, Hilton Junction and Perth completed the next stage.
The final leg journeyed from Perth to Dundee West Station.
It gave many passengers the chance of a last goodbye before the doors closed.
The train arrived back around 6.30pm.
Donald went in search of one final piece of history.
'We went back home to Perth on the last train to leave Dundee West,' said Donald.
'The trains vanished after the 8pm service left for Glasgow.
'By contrast after what went before it was something of an anti-climax.'
There were no bands, no flags and no ceremony.
As the train moved out of Platform 3, a series of detonators exploded.
They were placed on the rails by staff to add something to the final departure.
Railway enthusiasts were out in force with their cameras.
The first few compartments of the leading coach were packed with members of the Inter-City Railway Enthusiasts' Club in Perth.
They even had a tape recorder storing all the noises on the journey.
BR standard class 5, number 73145, hauled the last train.
George Reid from Bishopbriggs was the driver.
West Station staff had a get-together after the doors were shuttered.
The line was mourned and celebrated.
The Fife Coast line was swept away from September 1965.
St Andrews lost its connection to the national network.
The final section of the line was closed in 1969.
Dundee West Station was rubble by then, anyway.
Dundee firm Charles Brand started the demolition in April 1966 and the first task was to remove thousands of panes of glass from the roof over the platforms.
They were smashed down onto the ripped up track and platforms.
Then the steel roof beams were pulled down.
The platforms below ground level were kept and incorporated into Tay Bridge Station.
Donald said: 'For me and people of my vintage, it was the demolition of a fine piece of architecture and a landmark.
'Dundee East wasn't perhaps mourned so much when it went, but I always thought that Dundee West had a real bit of style, unlike Tay Bridge Station.
'Did I realise being on the final train was a moment in history?
'If you were interested in railways at that time, there were a number of moments of history as the railway landscape changed.
'The last train to Crieff, last train to St Andrews, last train to Kinross.
'Looking back now one maybe questions some of the decisions, but yes, they were memorable then, and are now important moments of local history.
'That's why I kept my ticket and photos after 60 years.'
Donald is almost as well-travelled as the trains he used to take.
'I certainly kept an interest in railways as I studied geography and then taught geography in Perth in the early 1970s,' he said.
'However, since then I have been an opera singer.
'I started with Tayside Opera in the 1970s as Donald MacAlpine.
'I changed my name to Donald Maxwell when I joined Scottish Opera in 1976.'
Now 76, Donald, who lives in Wales, has enjoyed a long international career.
'I have been a professional singer since then and continue to work – nowadays at the Metropolitan Opera in New York,' he said.
'La Bohème, fortunately, has two roles for an elderly baritone!'
