Glenrothes with Thornton railway station

31+1⁄4 miles (50.3 km) north of Edinburgh Waverley.

History

The station is situated on the Dunfermline branch of the Edinburgh and Northern Railway, just west of its divergence from the E&NR main line via a triangular junction. ^[2] It is a completely new structure, having been built by British Rail with the support of Fife Regional Council to serve the two communities that it is named after. Glenrothes (as a post-war new town) has never had its own station (though Markinch station is nearby) whilst Thornton had lost its station (Thornton Junction) on the main line in October 1969 in the aftermath of the Beeching Axe (services on the line westwards to Cardenden and on the Leven branch had ended at the same time).

The successful inauguration of the Fife Circle Line service in 1989 had seen the Cardenden to Thornton Jn section reopened to passengers, and this provided the catalyst for the construction of the station. It was completed in the spring of 1992 and it was opened to traffic on 11 May that year, at the summer timetable change.^{[ citation needed ]}

Though it has the appearance of a standard two-platform station on a double-track line, it is actually sited east of Thornton West Junction, where the double line from Cardenden splits into two parallel single lines that diverge after passing through the station to join the main line. One of these runs southwards to Thornton South Junction and is used by all trains to and from Edinburgh via the coast, whilst the other curves to the north and is used by trains heading for Markinch and thence to Perth or Dundee. As a consequence of this, both platforms are bi-directional (a similar layout exists at Bare Lane in Lancashire), but the southern one (platform 1) was much busier than the northern one (2) due to the service pattern in use on the Fife Circle. The May 2025 timetable change saw the service from the west extended to/from Leven on weekdays and Saturdays, and this has resulted in a complete change of usage, with nearly all services using platform 2 (as trains now use the west to north curve to reach their new northern terminus). Platform 1 now only sees occasional use by terminating services from the west and peak-hour trains from/towards Kirkcaldy .

Services 2025

As of May 2025, on Mondays to Saturdays (outside the morning peak period), there is an hourly service to Leven and Edinburgh via Cowdenbeath. There is a limited service to Edinburgh via Kirkcaldy of 1 train per day, plus some extra services via Dunfermline Town. On Sundays, there is an hourly service to/from Edinburgh via Cardenden that starts/terminates here. ^[3]

There is a very limited service to/from Perth. On Mondays to Saturdays, there is one train per day to Perth, while there are two trains from Perth which call here, heading to Edinburgh. On Sundays, there is also one train per day northbound, with one train from Perth to Edinburgh.

Glenrothes with Thornton Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Rathais le Thornton [1]
General information
Location	Thornton, Fife Scotland
Coordinates	56°09′44″N3°08′33″W / 56.1623°N 3.1426°W / 56.1623; -3.1426
Grid reference	NT291972
Managed by	ScotRail
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	GLT
History
Opened	11 May 1992
Passengers
2019/20	71,870

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Cardenden		ScotRail Fife Circle Line		Kirkcaldy
Cardenden		ScotRail Levenmouth rail link		Cameron Bridge

References

1. Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (December 2017) [1987]. "Gaelic/English Station Index". Railway Track Diagrams 1: Scotland & Isle of Man (6th ed.). Frome: Trackmaps. ISBN   978-0-9549866-9-8.
2. "Dunfermline Branch (Edinburgh & Northern Railway)". Railscot. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
3. Table 215 National Rail timetable, May 2025

External links

• Train times and station information for Glenrothes with Thornton railway station from National Rail