Plans for new visitor centre at Fife railway yard

Fife Heritage Railway, based at Kirkland Yard in Leven, wants to purchase three containers which can be connected together to create a large enough space for a museum.

The visitor centre would have information and exhibition space which would allow the group to display artefacts from its big collection.

“We’ve artefacts coming out of our ears – signs, signals, lineboards,” said Jim Danton, Fife Heritage Railway chairman.

“The majority is from Fife.”

The visitor centre would be run by volunteers and open five-six days every week.

The workshop currently gets regular visitors, including tourists who have come from as far as Australia, US, Canada, France and Germany.

“At the moment we open two days a week,” said Jim.

“We need to open more. We’re getting people coming in. It means we have to stop working and take them round.

“We’re getting more people phoning up asking when we’re open.

“We would like to bring more people in here. If we had something like this here, we could be open five-six days a week. We don’t have anything to show them other than what’s in the workshop.”

The group have already done a lot of work with the site, creating a tearoom and new toilets.

Open days are held most months, with hundreds of people visiting the site, going on the locomotives and seeing the latest projects.

The visitor centre would not just benefit the group, but also the local community.

“The locals could use it,” Jim explained.

“If people want to put on an exhibition or a show on. Where is there in Leven to go? It would help the community and help us.”

It is estimated that the development would cost around £20,000 – around £17,000 for the purchase and delivery of the three containers, and a further £3000 to create the exhibition infrastructure.

“Trying to find funding is the problem,” said Jim.

The group recently took possession of a locomotive that spent decades in the Kingdom, with the aim of restoring it.

If you would like to get involved with Fife Heritage Railway, become a volunteer, or help the group reach its fundraising target, you can contact the group on Facebook or visit the website, www.fifeheritagerailway.co.uk.