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Craigtoun Miniature Railway

15 in gauge railways in ScotlandMiniature railways in the United KingdomScotland rail transport stubsUse British English from March 2018

The Craigtoun Park Railway is a 15 in (381 mm) gauge railway operating on a circular track around part of the Craigtoun Country Park in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. The gauge employed is usually associated with more extensive railway operations, including public transport services on railways such as the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway in Kent, England. However, the Craigtoun Park Railway operates on a circuit of approximately 400 yards (366 m), and purely as an attraction for families enjoying a day out in the public park owned by Fife Council but operated by the voluntary group The Friends of Craigtoun. The rolling stock, all built by Severn Lamb, consists of two open and one semi-open 'toast-rack' carriages, with motive power provided by a 2-8-0DH steam-outline locomotive built in 1973, designed to resemble a steam locomotive of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. The 15 in (381 mm) gauge railway has been running at Craigtoun since 1976.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Craigtoun Miniature Railway (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Craigtoun Miniature Railway
Prospect Row,

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N 56.31706 ° E -2.83934 °
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Craigtoun Miniature Railway

Prospect Row
KY16 8NG
Scotland, United Kingdom
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Cameron, Fife
Cameron, Fife

Cameron is a parish in east Fife, Scotland, 3½ miles south-west of St Andrews.It is bounded on the north by the parish of St Andrews, on the east by Dunino, on the south by Carnbee and Kilconquhar, and on the west by Ceres. From east to west it is 5 – 6 miles long and in breadth about 4 miles.The earliest forms of the name are from the twelfth century and appear as Cambrun. The etymology of the name is uncertain: it may derive from Pictish, Scottish Gaelic, or be a Gaelicised Pictish name. The first element could thus be Gaelic cam or its Pictish cognate *cam (both meaning 'crooked'), and the second element could be a Pictish word *brun, cognate with Welsh bryn ('hill'), or Gaelic bruinne ('chest, front, breast') or perhaps brú ('belly'). The later development of the name was influenced by the widespread Scottish personal name Cameron (from Gaelic cam shròn 'crooked nose').It contains the hamlets of Lathones, Denhead (first mentioned in 1581, from Scots den, 'steep valley', and heid, 'head or end', thus 'the end of the steep valley') and Radernie (first mentioned in 1329, from Gaelic ràth 'ring-fort' and an uncertain second element, possibly Gaelic àirne 'sloe', feàrnach 'alder', or Èirinn 'Ireland'). The civil parish has a population of 415 and its area is 9325 acres. It is also a Community Council area. The number of community councillors to which each area is entitled is determined by population and Cameron is therefore entitled to eight councillors.Cameron was originally part of the parish of St Andrews, but was erected into a separate parish in 1645 by Act of Parliament and the first minister of the parish, George Nairne, was inducted in 1646. With the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1894 the Parish Council was established. It ceased in 1930 when parish councils in Scotland were abolished, but civil parishes persist for census and other non-administrative purposes. The church is nearly in the centre of the parish, just north of Cameron Burn as its leaves Cameron Reservoir. It was built in 1808 to a plain design, replacing the old church on the same site which was in a very ruinous state. The church is covered in blue slate, with a belfry on the west gable. Ecclesiastically the parish is now linked to the parish of St. Leonards in the town of St Andrews, with the minister covering both churches.The most significant mansion in the parish is that of Mount Melville, former residence of the Melville family, which lies just inside the northern boundary of the parish. It was acquired in 1698 for General George Melville of Strathkiness and the present house was constructed in 1820-1821. The house and grounds continued in Melville family ownership until 1901. In 1947 Mount Melville house and gardens were acquired by Fife County Council with the mansion becoming a maternity hospital known as Craigtoun Hospital. The gardens were then established as Craigtoun Country Park. In 1911 the burgh of St Andrews completed the construction of the Cameron reservoir, in the centre of the parish, which supplies water to St Andrews to the present day.

James Gregory Telescope
James Gregory Telescope

The James Gregory Telescope was constructed in 1962 by the University of St Andrews. It is of a Schmidt-Cassegrain design and is fitted with a CCD camera. The telescope has very large field of view, compared even to regular 'wide field' designs, and can view 5 square degrees.The James Gregory Telescope is the largest working optical telescope in the UK and is still used by the School of Physics and Astronomy for research in collaborative projects such as SuperWASP and the study of super massive black holes and their impact on galaxy structure.The James Gregory Telescope is named after the Scottish mathematician, astronomer and University academic James Gregory, who invented the design Gregorian telescope. This was the first design for a reflecting telescope, and pre-dates Newton's design; however Newton is better known as he actually produced a functioning example. (see Newton's reflector) As of 2018, this telescope is recognized as the largest telescope in operation in the United Kingdom. It is also recognized as the largest Schmidt-Cassegrain. This design was developed by Baker and Linfoot, and a half-scale model was also made during its development. It was estimated that the telescope cost about £1 million to manufacture, in early 21st-century currency.The telescope uses both a mirror and corrector, and is capable up to 16 degrees but was adjusted after it came online in 1962.The telescope has an aperture of 37 inches, but in the current setup about 33 inches of aperture are used.