| St Andrews Railway | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Overview | |||
| Locale | Scotland | ||
| History | |||
| Opened | 1852 | ||
| Closed | 1969 | ||
| Technical | |||
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | ||
| |||
The St Andrews Railway was an independent railway company, founded in 1851 to build a railway branch line from the university town of St Andrews, in Fife, Scotland, to the nearby main line railway. It opened in 1852. When the Tay Rail Bridge opened in 1878 residential travel to Dundee was encouraged.
The railway was engineered as a low-cost line by Thomas Bouch and the company suffered adversely from that in later years, and sold their line to the larger North British Railway in 1877.
The line was successful until road transport competition began to abstract traffic, and when the Tay Road Bridge opened in 1966, 40% of the line's passenger carryings were lost immediately. Decline continued and the line closed completely in 1969.