Tag Archives: Hugo Pit

West Weymss Harbour, Tramways and Inclined Plane

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The featured image for this article shows Victoria Pit in the early to mid-20th century, (c) Public Domain. [7]

“In 1872–1873 the Hugo pit became productive; it was in high land above West Wemyss, and an inclined tunnel was dug, down which hutches of coal were lowered on a double track rope worked inclined plane, of 25 inches gauge. At the lower end of the tunnel the plane reached the small harbour of West Wemyss, already reached by the Victoria and Barncraig hutch tramways. An enlargement of West Wemyss Harbour was made at this time too, starting in 1872 and completed in September 1873.” [4][5]

An annotated satellite image from railmaponline.com which shows West Weymss and the locations of the two coastal pits (Victoria and Barncraig). Hugo Pit was further inland and utilised a tunnelled incline plane to get its coal to the harbour. Lady Pit was still in use in the 1890s and can be seen just to the West of the Harbour on the extract from the 1894 survey below. It is worth noting that it is possible to be much clearer about the alignment of the tramway between the Harbour and Victoria Pit than it is for the tramway which ran East to Barncraig Pit. [6]

Victoria Pit was once Weymss No. 7 Pit, Lady Emma Pit (Lady Pit) was close to the Harbour a West Wemyss. Barncraig (Coxtool) Pit was on the East side of the village. [7]

Barncraig (Coxtool) Pit was sunk circa. 1836 and is known to have been working into the 1860s. [8]

Lady Pit and the Harbour at West Weymss, circa. 1880.‘ (c) Public Domain. [10]

Lady (Emma) Pit was sunk circa. 1842, coal was last raised in 1902. The Pit shaft remained in use as an airshaft for adjacent pits until circa. 1939 when it is believed that it was in-filled. [10]

Victoria Pit in the early to mid-20th century, (c) Public Domain. [7]

For more information on Victoria Pit please consult the East Fife Mines website. [7]

This colourised image was produced by Levenmouth Pictures from a monochrome image in the Public Domain, dated 1910. The image was shared on their Facebook Page on 25th October 2019. [1]

It is known that the gauge of the tunnelled incline was 25″. [4] Given that the Hugo Pit will have wanted access to West Wemyss Harbour, this suggests that the tramways along the coast may have been of the same gauge.

This map extract is taken from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1894, published in 1895. It shows one of the tramways associated with the harbour. [2]
This map extract is taken from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1913, published in 1914. It shows a significant expansion of operations at Victoria Pit and is explicit about the presence of the inclined plane descending to the tramway from the Hugo Pit to the North. Neither of these two extracts show a tramway to the East of the Harbour. [3]
this map extract is taken from the 25″ Ordnance Survey of 1943, published in 1947. By 1943, the tramways and the pits have gone. The Harbour remains as doe the tunnel which carried the incline down from Hugo Pit. [9]
Looking East along the line of the old tramway through the site of Victoria Pit towards the harbour at West Weymss, (c) Jonathan Kirk. [Google Streetview, July 2023]
Looking North from the line of the old tramway towards the location of the tunnel portal for the inclined plane, (c) Jonathan Kirk. [Google Streetview, July 2023]
A view of West Weymss Harbour from approximately the same location as the photograph immediately above. The rack ahead follows the line of the old tramway which at one time was on a viaduct over the top area of the harbour. The building on the left, beyond the steel container was present on site throughout the life of the tramway and can be seen on the extracts from the Ordnance Survey above, (c) Jonathan Kirk. [Google Streetview, July 2023]

The viaduct mentioned in the note under the image immediately above, ran East from the corner of the building visible on the left in this image. Once across the viaduct the tramway continued in a straight line to the East, (c) Jonathan Kirk. [Google Streetview, July 2023]

A careful look at the extracts from the different Ordnance Surveys above will show that the stone building in this West-facing image sat quite close to the harbour wall, and that the tramway ran between the building and the rockface to the right of this image, (c) Jonathan Kirk. [Google Streetview, July 2023]
To the West of the Harbour there were two docks. That further to the West has been completely filled-in. That closer to the harbour has been partially filled. [Google Streetview, July 2023]
Looking West from West Weymss towards the harbour across what was once a dock. The tramway ran West from outside the brown stone, red-roofed building beyond the first building on the right of this image. [Google Streetview, August 2026]

The tunnelled incline ran North to Hugo Pit. It preceded the rail link to the Pit and provided the most effective way, at the time, to get coal to markets. [11]

The location of the Hugo Pit is at the top edge of this satellite image. The tunnelled incline was of a considerable length. The purple lines at the top of this image are the sidings at the southern end of the later branch line on the Weymss Estate Railway. [6]

The Hugo Pit was sunk around 1873, it lay south of the village of Coaltown of Wemyss and was linked by an underground tunnel to the Victoria Pit (formerly Wemyss No. 7), to the south by around 1875. Later, by around 1891-92 it was linked by rail to the Lady Lilian (later re-named Lochhead) Pit, less than a mile to the north. By 1910, much of the production from the Victoria Pit was no longer being exported from the West Weymss Harbour and was being shipped up the incline and stored at what became known as Hugo depot. As required, the coal from the Hugo depot was then loaded onto waggons and sent to Methil Docks. [12]

The darker area on this satellite image, just to the right of centre is the location of the Hugo Pit, later the Hugo Depot. [Google Maps, November 2026]

References

  1. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1445877255569720&set=a.194447409607645, accessed on 5th November 2026.
  2. https://maps.nls.uk/view/82881921, accessed on 5th November 2026.
  3. https://maps.nls.uk/view/82881915, accessed on 5th November 2026.
  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wemyss_Private_Railway, accessed on 5th November 2026.
  5. D Landale; Description of an Under-dip Coal Working in Prize-Essays and Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, Volume X; William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh, 1835.
  6. https://railmaponline.com/uk-and-irish-railways, accessed on 5th November 2026.
  7. https://www.fifepits.co.uk/starter/east/pits/v/pit-1.htm, accessed on 5th November 2026.
  8. https://www.fifepits.co.uk/starter/east/pits/b/pit-6.htm, accessed on 5th November 2026.
  9. https://maps.nls.uk/view/82881918, accessed on 5th November 2026.
  10. https://www.fifepits.co.uk/starter/east/pits/l/pit-4.htm, accessed on 5th November 2026.
  11. https://maps.nls.uk/view/82881438, accessed on 5th November 2026.
  12. https://www.fifepits.co.uk/starter/east/pits/h/pit-1.htm, accessed on 5th November 2026.