Clickable Schematic of route
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Alva and Menstrie are located at the foot of the Ochil hills.
From Cambus to Alva, the line turns North from
a junction facing East, crossing the River Devon before entering Menstrie and
then running East to Alva.
Cambus Junction
East facing junction with the Stirling and Dunfermline Railway to the west of Cambus station.
From Jeffray Wotherspoon:
"Glenochil was a 1950's 'superpit' like the Rothes (at Glenrothes). The site of it is now used by the Glenochil prison/detention centre. It had a colliery branch (off the Alva branch) whose connection faced Cambus. It ran across a few fields to reach the end of the Sheardale ridge (which is the south side of the Devon valley) and ran along the north side of the ridge (the south side of the valley) to Glenochil. It is virtually certain that no passenger train ever ran on it, and it didn't even see a lot of coal traffic as Glenochil was a failure."
Jeffray also suggests that the expectation of much coal traffic from this pit led to the construction of Alloa Marshalling Yard.
This is presently the end of the line. There is a loop and some sidings into the Glenochil yeast plant here. These trains used to operate to and from the United Molasses Depot at the James Watt Dock, Greenock.
A portion of eroded platform and the loading bank remain of the old station.
This was the terminus of the line. The building is now in use as a dwelling house. Some of the trackbed is now a walkway.
Many thanks to Jeffray Wotherspoon for his expert local knowledge. He has kindly allowed me to incorporate some of his pictures on this web-page. You can visit his site at Jeff's Home Page.