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St Margaret's Head Tunnel

North Queensferry, Fife.

Railway tunnel (19th Century, abandoned).

Brick-lined, 4.3 m wide and 5.1 m high. Both portals have been blocked / landscaped, and the tunnel filled with removable expanded polystyrene blocks (allowing for potential future reuse). The S portal was near the N end of the present-day Ferry Barns Ct in North Queensferry (given coordinates), whilst the now-buried N portal was at NT 1256 8118.

"The vaulted roof and brick lined tunnel is located 15 metres below the A900 trunk road and the B981, adjacent to the northern approach to the Forth Road Bridge ... originally formed as part of the Dunfermline to North Queensferry railway line, providing a link to the ferry service until the opening of the Forth Bridge in 1890 and remaining in limited use for freight until 1954." [Cordek]

Alternative Names: St Margaret's Head Railway Tunnel, St Margaret's Tunnel

Notes: Outline of tunnel shown on 1920 OS 6" map.

The tunnel was operational from 1877-1954.

Not to be confused with the North Queensferry Tunnel that is located further east on the East Coast Main Line, just north of NQ Station. Furthermore, a common misconception is that the S portal is a bricked-up section further S at Ferry Road; this is in fact a bricked-up bridge that crossed a (now infilled) surface cutting that linked the tunnel to the pier.

Given coordinates are for the former site of the S portal, immediately S of the B981 road.