The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-05-17 00:00:00

FIFE JUNCTION RAILWAY.

ONNECTING the County of FIFE with the Counties on
C the North side of the TAY, on the one hand, and those on
the South side of the FORTH on the other, thus forming a link
of union between the Ferries on the Forth and the Tay, con-
necting the Dundee and Newt vle Railway, with its br• ches to
Cupar and Glainmis, the, Dtindoe Forfar, and Ar oath Rail-
ways, present bef.,re Parliament, and at their in nded exten-
sion of them to Kirriemuir, Brechin and Mon se, as well as
the proposed Railway from Dundee to Per , with the great
Railways on the South of the Forth, part; .11 rly the Edinburgh
and Glasgow Railway—the Edinburgh, H ddiogton, anti Dun-
bar Railway:--the Edinburgh, Leith, and Newhaven Railway,
'and the Edinburgh, Dalkeith, and Leith Railway; and being
a branch from the great Trunk Railway proposed to be ex-
tended fromlondon by Fork to the Scottish metropolis.
The advantages of a Railway connecting together districts of
the country so very populous and advancing, and passing
through a highly cultivated line, fertile in its agricultural, and
abounding in its mineral productions, are too apparent to re-
quire to be commented on. •

Indeed it-is difficult to select a portion of country of equalex-
tent in the kingdom, which presents so many facilities and ad-
vantages for a railway communication as the country betwixt
the Fife and Tay ferries. The intercourse between Fife and the
Lothians on the south, and Forfarshire on the north, is even at
present very great; and some idea of the e;tent of the increased
communication may be formed, when is is considered that during
the year 1845 there were upwards of 75,030 pssengeis between
Newhaven atid Burntisland, Pettvoer,y and Kirkaldv, and up-
wards 3-1,000 between Newhaven, Dundee, and Aberdeen, &c.
The quantity4fgoods which would be carried along a railway
connecting the two ferries would be very considerable. The
mantifactures of Dundee and of the other towns on the lines of
the railway on the north, would be brought to the markets in
the south in'a cheap and speedy manner; and the articles of
commerce sent from the south being carried of a comparatively,
cheap rate would find a ready market in the populous and flou-
rishing towns of Dundee and Perth.

-Looking at the internal resources of the county of Fife alone,
abounding as it does in coal and limestone, a very considerable
traffic might fairly be expected, when the want of these articles
on the north of the Tay is considered. There ate at p•esent
imported into Dundee about 300,000 tons of Scotch coat► annu-
ally. If a cheap and speedy communication by a railway through
the coal district of Fife was formed, the greater part-of:this large
quantity might be fairly calculated upon as a part of the railway
traffic. There are likewise upward of 100,000 bolls of lime im-
ported into the ports of Perth and Dundee, besides importa-
tions into the intermediate ports.
Impressed with a consideration of the greet advantages to the
conntry-at large, which the formation of a railway between the
Fife and Tav ferries would produce, it has been resolved by a
number of gentlemen to endeavour to carry it into effect, and
that as promptly, economically, awl beneticially for the share-
boldeai and the public as its great accessibiliiies will admit.