Visit to Scotland - Day 3 - Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway

This very Scottish of preserved railways runs for 5 miles between Bo'ness and Manuel Junction.

A view of Bo'ness station from the footbridge

The Railway journey begins at Bo'ness station which has the Scottish Railway Museum next to it, more of that later, plus its own running sheds all of which can be visited.

Bo'ness has an overall roof and trains depart from underneath this structure and pull out on their journey past the closed harbour on the right and follows the line of the A904, Union Street.

To the right, once past the harbour, the Forth can be viewed with the various ships that use it easily spotted through the trees.

The loco runs round its train at Manuel.

Not far out of Bo'ness station the train enters the lineside halt of Kinniel with its basic platform and passing loop.

The line now follows a heavily wooded route through some open farm land and industrial areas although it never looks ugly.

As the line approaches the oil refinery on the right hand side it turns to the left and heads into the countryside.

It then passes under a farm road and into Birkhill Halt which also has a passing loop.

The BP Refinery flares off.

Further along the line we pass over the River Avon and then under the M9. From here, if you look to the right, you can see the terminus at Manuel which is next to the Mainline . The line turns right into Manuel where you can alight to watch the loco run around its train. There is no access to this station so once the train is ready passenegers get back on for the run back to Bo'ness.

The throat of Bo'ness station and the harbour.

Back at Bo'ness we had a look around the yard on our way to the Scottish Railway Museum.

The yard has some interesting pieces of Scottish railway stock most of which, unfortunately, is not in great condition although lots of work is being done on some of it.

As we walked around the yard we visited their O gauge model railway housed in two MK1 BR coaches. It is well worth a visit with its neat detail and sound equipped model locos adding another element to the models.

A classic Scottish multiple unit under restoration.

We walked further round the yard to the back end of the shed complex furthest away from the station and, surprisingly, found two class 68 diesels one of which was brand new. I think they are there for training but didnt get confirmation of that.

The yard is typical of any preserved line with loads of wheelsets, body parts and bogies along with a surprisingly large collection of signal and point work equipment.

A covered wagon in my personal favourite livery.

We then reached the entry to the Scottish Railway Museum where we found a wonderful collection of locomotives, rolling stock and lots and lots of other railway paraphernalia. The displays are interesting and well presented, there is even a wheel tapping display!

All in all the railway is most certainly worth a visit and includes a reasonable shop and a nice cafe. The ride is interesting and picturesque and well worth the fare.