Edinburgh’s ‘Caley’ Connections

David Anderson gives an overview of the rise and fall of the Caledonian Railway lines in and around the Scottish capital, including duties on the branches serving Leith, Granton, Barnton and Balerno.

David Anderson gives an overview of the rise and fall of the Caledonian Railway lines in and around the Scottish capital, including duties on the branches serving Leith, Granton, Barnton and Balerno.

On 15 February 1848 the Caledonian Railway reached Edinburgh’s Lothian Road terminus, 27½ miles from Carstairs Junction on the company’s AngloScottish route between Carlisle and Glasgow. The line was completed 18 months after the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway introduced passenger services between the two cities in its name, while August 1846 saw that company establish a joint Edinburgh station with the North British Railway, which had recently opened its main line from Berwick and was expansionist in its outlook. Although thwarted by the NBR’s ambitions to promote the building of lines in the Edinburgh area, from 1861 the Caledonian Railway would gradually establish routes to Granton on the Firth of Forth and to Leith Docks to capture the lucrative coal export trade. In addition, the company established branch lines and stations to Barnton from the Granton route, to Balerno on the western outskirts of the city, and to Leith to serve the growth of residential development, all of which was achieved by the end of August 1879 despite the ‘Caley’ experiencing financial difficulties in its formative years.

Edinburgh’s Lothian Road and Princes Street stations

A little less than a year before the first Caledonian service train reached Edinburgh,

on 9 April 1847 the foundation stone for the proposed building of a grand railway station befitting the Scottish capital was laid with due ceremony by the Duke of Atholl, naturally with city dignitaries and Caledonian Railway hierarchy in attendance. The station’s planned construction consisted of three main buildings above an impressive colonnade. However, due to a shortage of funds to proceed with the project, the ambitious scheme was abandoned and a basic structure with just a single platform would have to suffice. The first Caledonian Railway connection to Edinburgh came after the completion of the company’s main line from Carlisle through to Beattock on 10 September 1847 when a connecting service was provided by stage coaches, and when the extension north allowed the first trains to follow, five months later, there were no grand opening celebrations.

Passenger trains during these early years were entrusted to 2-2-2 locomotives from four manufacturers – by 1852 the Caledonian Railway had built 30 of these at Greenock, with others from Vulcan Foundry (12), Jones & Potts (16), and Scott Sinclair & Co (3).

They had 6ft diameter driving wheels and were based on a London & North Western Railway design, with construction under the Caledonian Railway’s first locomotive superintendent, Robert Sinclair, who introduced a more powerful 2-2-2 design in 1854 to eliminate double-heading, these having 7ft 2in driving wheels. The 0-4-2 wheel arrangement was also adopted in 1847, for lesser duties, with 26 locomotives by the end of 1855, while 1854/55 saw 2-4-0s introduced, and then Benjamin Connor was at the helm of locomotive matters from 1857, his 8ft 2in 2-2-2s notably appearing from 1859 and (once rebuilt from 1868) serving into the 1890s.

With increasing traffic, the Caledonian Railway gave priority to the replacement of its first Lothian Road station buildings on an expanded site nearer to its junction with Princes Street and thus taking that name. The new, second station opened on 2 May 1870. Around 500ft long by 100ft wide, the modest structure was overlooked by both Edinburgh castle and a row of elegant buildings that lined Lothian Road, a thoroughfare that led north to the west end of the city’s famous Princes Street. After 20 years of operation, the station, which was often referred to as being no more than a ‘wooden shanty’, was destroyed by fire in June 1890, along with several coaches. The loss of the station mattered little by this stage as a new city centre railway terminus at the west end of Princes Street and worthy of the elegance of the city had already been planned by the Caledonian Railway. With the appointment of a contractor, construction of the grandiose Princes Street station was started in the autumn of 1890, the same year as the opening of the Forth Railway Bridge that was to revolutionise the transport system of central Scotland.

Built in the classical style, the second Princes Street station measured 1,000ft by 230ft, had an imposing glass-screened westfacing frontage, and an entrance leading to and from Princes Street from below the Caledonian Hotel, a late addition to the station structure that was completed in 1903. The main pedestrian and cab entrance was from Rutland Street at road level, with a further passenger access provided from Lothian Road, above which was situated a large parcels office. Under a massive steelframed overall glass roof supported by thick sandstone walls, the new Princes Street station had seven curved platforms of between 450ft and 700ft length. Internally, no expense was spared in its design, with a spacious concourse surrounded by intricate woodwork and timber panels but with no internal pillar supports. An eight-window oval booking office was overlooked by a huge clock with detailed wooden surrounds, below which was a large information office. The central concourse led to waiting rooms, dining and refreshment rooms, shipping offices, a hairdressing saloon, lost property offices and many other passenger facilities.

Five carriage storage sidings with lowlevel cleaning platforms were situated on the western side of the main building, towards Rutland Court, and on the opposite side of the station, south-east of the curving trainshed, the Caledonian Railway Lothian Road goods depot was at a slightly higher level.

An impressive signal gantry spanned the seven tracks of the station approaches, which were numbered on boards appropriate to the platforms. The area was controlled by a 156lever signal box, adjoining which was a locomotive turntable (a facility not provided at nearby Dalry Road engine shed) and a water column. The Caledonian Railway’s Princes Street station was reported to have cost in the region of £120,000, which was a sum much less than the company’s North British Railway rival had spent on rebuilding Waverley station. Notably, unlike the NBR station where passengers and vehicles had to struggle up steps or carriage ramps to reach Princes Street, the ‘Caley’ station was at road level, which considerably eased accessibility for cabs and pedestrians alike. No doubt, in time the provision of access and parking areas within the station was more convenient for such occasions as when royalty visited the capital en route to Holyrood House, rather than the inconvenient level of the sunken roadway approaches at Waverley station.

The visual aspect of the station as seen from the west end of Edinburgh’s Princes Street was altered considerably by further work to construct the massive Caledonian Hotel above the terminus, which would remain as a rival to its NBR counterpart – the enormous structure of the Waverley Hotel (later renamed the Balmoral) at the east end of Princes Street. The Caledonian Hotel, which was built using red sandstone that was quarried and then transported by rail from Dumfries-shire, opened on 21 December 1903. Both the concourse at the Caledonian Railway’s station and the city centre hotel were to become the regular meeting place for generations of Edinburgh citizens.

From the early 1900s, Edinburgh’s Princes Street station was handling around 180 passenger trains per day, including longdistance Anglo-Scottish expresses to London (Euston), the Midlands, and the south of England via Carstairs or direct via Symington, as well as Glasgow (Central) via Midcalder, and Ayr, Oban, Stirling, Perth and Dundee, together with services to Lanark, Muirkirk, Moffat and Peebles. Local destinations served by the Caledonian Railway included Leith, Barnton, Balerno, Merchiston and Kingsknowe (formerly called Slateford). In 1951, additional Saturdays-only holiday and excursion trains were introduced to Heads of Ayr (for Butlin’s camp), Gourock (to connect with Clyde steamer sailings) and Blackpool.

As well as the normal passenger stock, the Caledonian Railway owned a total of 22 1914built Pullman cars, four of which were added to the Edinburgh (Princes Street) to Glasgow (Central) route. These were named after historical ‘Marys’ during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots. In contrast, the Barnton and Balerno branches provided four-wheel coaches for their passengers.

Ultimately, the loss of Edinburgh’s former Caledonian Railway/LMS branch line passengers services came between 1943 and 1962, and there was now over-capacity in Edinburgh’s railway operations, with Princes Street station quiet for some parts of the day. The era of Edinburgh Corporation’s electric

tramcars spanned 1 July 1919 to 16 November 1956 and competing bus services had been damaging to the railway’s local passenger numbers too. In an era where the chairman of British Railways, Dr Richard Beeching, was exposing route duplication of an inherited railway, the Reshaping of British Railways appeared in March 1963 and listed Edinburgh (Princes Street) station for closure, and in the ‘Passenger services to be withdrawn’ section of the same document were these entries – Edinburgh (Princes Street)-Carstairs-Lanark, Glasgow (Central)-Edinburgh (Princes Street), and Edinburgh (Princes Street)-Kingsknowe.

Lothian Road goods depot was an early casualty, closing from 3 August 1964, and closure of the neighbouring station ultimately came from 6 September 1965, and was inevitable. In due course the nearby Morrison Street goods depot was closed to public goods from 15 August 1966, and then the main line from Princes Street through Merchiston and as far as Gorgie was lifted, the remaining main line services of Caledonian origin by then diverted to Edinburgh (Waverley) station by means of an upgraded spur line linking Slateford and Haymarket – the Duff Street Junction scheme. The abandoned section of former ‘Caley’ main line trackbed would see use for a new approach road into the city, the splendour of the Princes Street station building lost forever when demolished to make way for the scheme and a city west end car park. Thankfully, the Caledonian Hotel remains, albeit under the rebranded name of the Waldorf Astoria Caledonian (Edinburgh).

The network expands

In fierce competition with the North British Railway, the Caledonian had ambitions to tap the lucrative trade at the Firth of Forth ports at Granton and Leith. In August 1861 the company opened its single-line branch from Slateford Junction (met by eastbound trains about 1¾ miles west of the then Lothian Road terminus) north to the Western Breakwater at Granton, a 3¼ mile route over which the company mainly worked coal traffic for shipment. The addition of a link to Leith Western Docks came from 1 September 1864, a double-track route that diverged from the Granton route at Crew Junction (about 1¼ miles south of the Western Breakwater) and continued east, much of it in cutting, and en route it crossed the NBR’s Scotland Street line just south of Trinity – that line passed north-south and had opened as the Edinburgh, Leith & Newhaven Railway in August 1842. As part of the new ‘Caley’ scheme to serve Leith Western Docks, a triangle of lines was added at the west end of the new line, with Crew Junction at its southern point, Pilton Junction West to its north on the original Granton route, and Pilton Junction East on the new route to Leith – Pilton East to Pilton West offered a direct freight link between Leith and Granton.

Looking at the wider picture, the connection between the Granton and Leith Western Docks branches and the coalfields was aided from 9 July 1869 by the creation of a new line east from Cleland through to the Carstairs-Edinburgh line at Midcalder, and this also created a new through route between Glasgow (Central) and Edinburgh via Shotts that was more direct than travelling via the original main lines through Carstairs.

The next new line to open was a ¾ mile long connecting spur west from Dalry Junction to Haymarket West Junction on the North British Railway’s Edinburgh to Glasgow route, which from 1876 enabled Caledonian trains from Edinburgh to the north to use running powers and travel over the NBR line through Linlithgow and Polmont as far as Larbert, before continuing over their own metals to Stirling, Oban, Perth, and Dundee.

Further Leith line developments

A call for a suburban passenger service from Leith saw the Western Docks line modified by the addition of new tracks east from Newhaven to a new passenger terminus on the western edge of Leith. Situated alongside Lindsay Road, the new Caledonian Railway terminus was opened simply as ‘Leith’ on 1 August 1879 when a 5½ mile suburban passenger service was introduced through to Edinburgh (Princes Street), the line serving the developing and affluent suburbs to the west of the city. Including Leith station (known as North Leith between 1 August

1903 and 7 April 1952, when again renamed, to Leith North) six new stations opened with the service and two were later additions – in order from Leith, they were Newhaven, Granton Road, Murrayfield, East Pilton (opened on 1 December 1934 in an attempt to

stave off electric tramway competition), Craigleith, Murrayfield and Dalry Road (opened on 2 July 1900). Initially, a weekday service of 12 trains was offered using elderly tank engines or 0-4-2 tender engines but incredibly this increased to nearly 40 trains by the 1930s, by which time four-wheeled passenger stock had given way to bogie vehicles hauled by 0-4-4Ts.

The local Caledonian network expanded further on 1 March 1894 with the opening of a branch line west from Craigleith. It was opened for passenger and goods traffic to Cramond Brig (renamed Barnton from 1 April 1903) to serve another development of residential housing. Intermediate halts were provided at Davidson’s Mains (known as Barnton Gate until 1 April 1903) and at House o’ Hill (from 1 February 1937, and like Granton Road in answer to tramway competition). At its height the branch ran a service of 24 trains daily to and from Edinburgh (Princes Street), the trains taking a journey time of 16 minutes. Passenger services were withdrawn from 7 May 1951 while still using four-wheeled coaching stock, and the same day saw goods facilities withdrawn from Barnton. However, there was a continued goods need at Davidson’s Mains that led to the retention of a truncated version of the Barnton branch for another nine years.

The final Caledonian Railway addition in the vicinity came about to serve expanded dock facilities in 1902, running south from Newhaven Junction on the Leith line (soon to be North Leith line), a freight-only route took a course via Ferry Road and Leith Walk to serve Leith (East) goods depot. In addition, on the west side of the Leith (North)/Granton branch between Pilton West Junction and Granton Breakwater Junction, the Granton gas works was opened in 1902. The works was rail-connected to the Caledonian Railway route with an agreement from the company that free travel would be provided for its workforce travelling to and from Edinburgh (Princes Street) station, and thus the Granton line received its first passenger trains, albeit for workmen to a private station on the edge of the gas works site from 1 November 1902. These trains appeared in the timetables as far as Craigleith, but not beyond. The privatelyowned gasworks railway was worked by a fleet of green-liveried Andrew Barclay, Sons & Co Ltd-built 0-4-0T engines. The main part of the gasworks was closed in 1987.

Through London, Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) days and into the British Railways era the Leith (North) branch provided an intensive passenger service to and from the city and by 1958 investment saw the steam workings replaced by diesel-multiple-units. Incredibly, the line was closed to passenger trains from 30 April 1962 at a time when the branch was still carrying around 2,000 passengers every weekday. Meanwhile, its freight operations continued.

Balerno branch

The only other Caledonian passenger branch in the Edinburgh vicinity served Balerno. Passenger services on the attractive 8½ mile line began from Edinburgh (Princes Street) on 1 August 1874, the single line diverging from the main line (at this point Edinburgh to Glasgow via Carstairs or Shotts) at Balerno Junction, 2½ miles west of the city. The branch served small wayside stopping places at Hailes Platform (opened in November 1908 to serve a nearby golf course), Colinton, Juniper Green and Currie, before rejoining the main line at Ravelrig Junction. The sharply-curved railway followed the winding Water of Leith and served several mills and a tannery. A class of 12 ‘104’ 0-4-4T engines – the ‘Balerno tanks’ – were built by McIntosh in 1899 to handle the passenger traffic together with a batch of four-wheeled coaching stock. Most services terminated at Balerno station but continued through to the main line junction to facilitate run-round and a return to Balerno to resume service with a return trip to Edinburgh.

The Balerno branch became a popular weekend retreat for Edinburgh day-trippers and the Caledonian Railway ran a service of around 20 daily workings, with a journey time of 25 minutes from the Edinburgh (Princes Street) terminus. The branch closed to passengers from 1 November 1943 but remained open for a daily freight working that for sometime was usually entrusted to a Dalry Road (64C)-based Fowler 0-6-0 dock tank, No 47163, which in due course was replaced by an 0-6-0 diesel shunter. The unusual status as a branch/loop ceased from 9 September 1963 when the section of line from Ravelrig Junction to Balerno Goods groundframe was closed completely; but the rest of the line remained active until 9 October 1967.

Dalry Road shed

The Caledonian Railway engine shed occupied a cramped triangular site between Edinburgh (Princes Street) and Merchiston station on the Edinburgh to Carstairs and Glasgow (Central) route about one mile to the west of the terminus and with Dalry Road station, on the Leith (North) branch, on its north side.

In early years, the original shed was a small, two-road timber building with limited facilities. Old maps show the gradual development of the area, the final four-road shed being completed in 1912 and measuring 153ft by 52ft, with a timber two-road repair shop on its south side. The rebuilding process saw the original 42ft locomotive turntable replaced by a 60ft diameter table but it was installed in an area adjoining Edinburgh (Princes Street) station. Naturally, at times the need to turn locomotives as part of servicing fell to the shed, and visiting Pacifics are recalled being turned over the triangle of lines formed by the Granton line and the main line into Princes Street – using Dalry Junction, and Coltbridge and Slateford Junctions.

Through to closure, steam engines were still coaled at the original manually-operated timber stage at the shed, overlooking the passenger platforms at Dalry Road station. Servicing of locomotives was carried out in the shed yards in rather primitive conditions regardless of the

weather. Locomotives based at Dalry Road shed handled the Caledonian Railway’s express, local passenger and freight duties around Edinburgh and were designed by the locomotive engineers Sinclair, Conner, Brittain, Drummond, Lambie, and into the renowned era of McIntosh and Pickersgill, and thereafter by LMS men.

In the 1950s and 1960s the shed serviced Fowler and Stanier 4-6-0s which had arrived at Edinburgh (Princes Street) on through or excursion workings from the south, whilst ‘filling in’ turns from Glasgow (Central) brought Stanier Pacifics, and BR Standard ‘Britannias’ and ‘Clan’ 4-6-2s into the city on a regular basis. Every two years Welsh rugby supporters arrived in Edinburgh for the international rugby match at Murrayfield, which required a total of 20-25 special trains hauled by a variety of ‘Royal Scots’, ‘Jubilees’ and ‘Patriots’. The majority of the ‘foreign’ locomotives had to be serviced at Dalry Road, a mammoth task for the shed staff with their limited facilities. Every available Fairburn ‘4MT’ 2-6-4T allocated to Dalry Road shed was

pressed into service to assist the heavy returning specials as pilots for the climb to Cobbinshaw summit.

The locomotive allocation of Dalry Road – coded 28B by the LMS, and 64C by British Railways – totalled around 45 engines, reaching 70 in the 1930s, none of which were larger than a Stanier ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 and Hughes/Fowler ‘Crab’ class 2-6-0 – see Table One for an April 1954 sample. In due course, Dalry Road shed was closed on 3 October 1965 and the depot, together with Dalry Road station, was demolished and the area cleared to make way for the construction of the Edinburgh Western Approach road system.

Lost connections

While I have already mentioned the passenger closures, the Balerno branch, the Barnton branch and that from Leith North, the final loss of the routes themselves was a complicated and often more drawn out process whereby some freight installations still needed to be served, but beyond that point the lines were often cut-back or a new arrangement was made by the merging of neighbouring ex-Caledonian and ex-North British Railway lines. Table Two records the known closure dates for the Caledonian routes under review. The information is the work of the Branch Line Society.

Today, nothing remains of Princes Street station, Dalry Road shed and the former Caledonian Railway lines and branches to the west and north of the city, Edinburgh’s original Caledonian main line connections ending at Slateford, although the adopted approach from there to Haymarket is via the erstwhile

Granton Junction (where a loop line once diverged north for Coltbridge Junction, Granton, and Leith) and then along the ‘Haymarket Branch’ to the former Edinburgh & Glasgow main line immediately west of Haymarket station, allowing about 1¼ miles of that route to conclude an otherwise incoming ‘Caley’ journey at Waverley station. On a happier note, much historical and photographic material documenting the proud days of the ‘Caley’ and its railways around Edinburgh has been saved for posterity.

As a footnote, the author recalls the splendid penny-in-the-slot model of an LMS Compound 4-4-0 in a case adjoining the information office at Princes Street station, which must have turned its driving wheels many times to the benefit of charity. If any readers can provide details of its whereabouts, perhaps they could contact the editor.

W S Sellar A classic Caledonian Railway scene, albeit 35 years after the company was absorbed by the newly formed London, Midland & Scottish Railway in 1923, records ‘Caley 123’ at Slateford Junction on 18 March 1958, the day of its re-launch after 23 years of retirement. Preserved by the LMS and looked after for many years as a pet engine on the Perth-Dundee route, a new era of celebrating Scotland’s pre-grouping companies saw this unique 4-2-2 restored to full Caledonian livery, as seen, along with the accompanying coaches, corridor third No 1375 of 1921 and brake corridor composite No 464 of 1923. After proving runs and a move to Perth under darkness, the day saw the 1886-built engine depart Perth at 2pm for Edinburgh (Princes Street), arriving at 3.56pm, the passengers being a party of English and overseas press representatives travelling to Edinburgh on festival matters. The Perth crew, driver John Powrie and fireman David Meol, were dressed in the appropriate manner, complete with beard and moustache respectively, and the guard had a ‘Caley’ uniform. This evening view finds the train at the end of the route from Granton, where it meets the main line from Princes Street, which suggests the use of the Dalry Junction-Coltbridge Junction-Slateford Junction triangle to turn the train ahead of its empty stock move to St Rollox, Glasgow.

Robin Nelson Collection An Airey’s map of 1870 shows Caledonian routes in red, the main line from Carstairs appears bottom left met at Midcalder by the incoming direct route from Glasgow, via Shotts. At this stage the only passenger CR routes in the Edinburgh vicinity are through to Princes Street and the branch south from Balerno Junction to Balerno, all other CR metals being goods only at this time.

Crown Copyright The Caledonian Railway’s first terminus in Edinburgh – Lothian Road – as recorded by Ordnance Survey in 1849. The three roads to the south side have cover from an overall roof of 180ft x 54ft, but there is only one platform. The goods handling is on the north side, and both the passenger and goods facilities have an array of wagon turntables. Although the station soon proved to be inadequate, and indeed was a budget option when finances were tight, it was this site that would be evolved to create the next two stations, the 1870 and 1890 versions of Princes Street, such establishments as ‘St Cuthbert’s Poor House’ and the ‘Royal Horse Bazaar’ making way for the growing needs of the iron horse and its expanding terminus arrangements as they crept north towards Princes Street, albeit while still bounded by Lothian Road.

V R Webster Collection/Kidderminster Railway Museum Conner ‘98’ class 2-4-0 No 110 is seen between duties at Edinburgh (Princes Street) station on 15 October 1894. Boasting 7ft 2in driving wheels, 3ft 7in leading wheels, 17in x 24in cylinders and a working pressure of 140psi, this locomotive was completed by the Caledonian Railway at its St Rollox Works in 1868 and is seen after its rebuild after ten years of service. The class amounted to 28 engines, all but ten being built by Neilson & Co Ltd, and they were designed to work with the Connor ‘76’ class 2-2-2s on passenger duties. Transferred to the duplicate list in 1899 as No 1226, the pictured locomotive would be withdrawn in 1900.

D Sutcliffe/Colour-Rail.com/128022 Beyond the twin arches on a rather more clement day, Saturday, 13 April 1963, at 10.15am the sunshine pours into the trainshed, highlighting the wooden panelling of the various buildings. The car parked in the foreground is a Hillman Minx, and taxis await their next fares immediately at the end of the platforms. The advert elevated high above the exit point of platform 3 is for the Evening Dispatch – ‘a better paper for particular people . . . people with lively minds!’ During 1963 it would merge with the Edinburgh Evening News and assume a predictably long title, although ultimately the united papers became known as the Evening News.

Ray Oakley/Colour-Rail.com/102784 A view towards the platforms records the everyday sight of a service for Carstairs and Lanark patiently waiting its allotted departure time, although there seems little hurry to board just yet. A Stanier ‘Black Five’ is in use on this occasion, so the load of four coaches will be no trouble. This scene dates from 1965 and the posters display the new (1964) British Rail branding with its white double-arrow on a red background. Among other things, they promote sleeper services, and day rail rover opportunities to such places as Callander. Across the platform, cars are parked, which was seemingly a 6am to 6pm arrangement.

G E S Parker/Kidderminster Railway Museum The main road entrance to Edinburgh’s Princes Street station was on Rutland Street, immediately flanking a north-west facing wing of the Caledonian Hotel, its entrance being at the corner of Lothian Road and Rutland Street, and with Shandwick Place and Princes Street just across the road. This scene was recorded on 5 October 1963 as Austin ‘FX3’ taxis come and go, the station concourse and platforms being beyond the arches, while a Triumph ‘Razor-edge’ Renown is parked in the street. A visit here today will reveal the same frontage alongside the hotel, but the girders of the roof structure are all gone, as indeed are the advertised excursions.

D Sutcliffe/Colour-Rail.com/128027 Viewed from Morrison Street overbridge at the south-west end of the Princes Street/Lothian Road station site, this 13 April 1963 view shows, from left to right, carriage sidings, the Princes Street trainshed with the Caledonian Hotel looming higher as a backdrop, the signal box and turntable, complete with Carstairs-based ‘Black Five’ No 44793 mid-turn, and the Lothian Road goods depot with the high ground of Edinburgh castle as a backdrop. It is worth noting that the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway main line is in the twin Haymarket tunnels beneath the station, passing directly under the near left-hand corner of the trainshed at a skew angle, and then under Lothian Road, Castle Terrace and King’s Stables Road to emerge in daylight and pass through Princes Street gardens.

A Donaldson/Kidderminster Railway Museum Ex-Caledonian Railway ‘3F’ 0-6-0 No 57559 – completed at St Rollox Works as McIntosh ‘812’ class No 821 in July 1899 – is viewed running light engine on the north side of Princes Street station on Monday, 16 August 1954. As one of the first batch of ‘812s’ this locomotive is Westinghouse-fitted and was initially painted in ‘Caley’ blue livery, it being intended for express goods work. Dalry Roadbased when seen, and seemingly on hand at the terminus for empty coaching stock duties, this particular 0-6-0 would serve until September 1961.

V R Webster Collection/Kidderminster Railway Museum The Princes Street station site changed much over the years, with three different stations and the operational changes that brought about, but also changes to the wider site, with the clearance of land when expansion was needed. We are looking out from the end of the trainshed towards Morrison Street as a Caledonian 2-4-0 departs the station. With inclined cylinders this appears to be a Conner era double-frame ‘Crewe’ type with a curved running plate, cut-outs in the outside frames, and a stovepipe chimney. Such engines dated from 1858/59 but were rejuvenated at rebuilding and served through to 1894-1902. Note the signal gantry, its shadow across the platform end giving away its siting at the time. A row of branch line coaching stock is just in view to the left, and the monolithic building on the right is perhaps the south wing of the Edinburgh Lighting Central Generating Station that dates from 1898, although this particular building appears to have been short-lived.

Philip J Kelley The need to serve long distance destinations from both Glasgow and Edinburgh led to portioned operations, with Stirling a favourite meeting point, this view recording Caledonian ‘72’ class (LMS ‘3P’) 4-4-0 No 54503 about to set out with the 11.40am Edinburgh (Princes Street) to Oban service on 1 June 1953, hence the flags flying for the Coronation of the new queen, which would take place the following day in London. The 4-4-0 will diverge from ex-CR metals at Haymarket West Junction, recalling old running rights beyond there, travelling via Polmont to regain home metals at Larbert. On this duty No 54503 will only work as far as Stirling, where a Stanier ‘Black Five’ class 4-6-0 will takeover for the run north and then west to Oban. Note the high position of the shedplate on the smokebox door, this being a Perth (63A) engine. New as CR No 92 in December 1922, so during the last month of the Caledonian Railway, this Pickersgill engine would serve until October 1959.

Neville Stead Collection/Transport Treasury BR Standard ‘5MT’ 4-6-0 No 73072 passes under Grove Street as it nears journey’s end at Edinburgh (Princes Street) in 1964. This view is from Gardener’s Crescent bridge, which met Morrison Street to jointly cross the line immediately before the station. The train has just passed Morrison Street mineral depot on the down (north) side, while the lines on the left are gaining height and lead to Lothian Road goods yard, adjacent to and on the south side of Princes Street station. No 73072 was new to Chester Midland shed in December 1954, but between November 1958 and October 1966 it was a Polmadie asset. Sadly, by the latter date all lines in this view had been abandoned.

I Krause/Kidderminster Railway Museum Few Beeching station closures offered such an impressive sight, but the writing was already on the wall when this view was recorded on a late afternoon/early evening in August 1964. Departing with a local service for Carstairs is LMS Derby-built Fairburn ‘4MT’ 2-6-4T No 42273 of Dalry Road (64C) shed. New in May 1947, it would still be on the books when that shed was closed on 3 October 1965, albeit a transfer across Edinburgh to the ex-North British shed at St Margarets would ensure the best part of one more year of work before scrapping.

Norris Forrest/Transport Treasury Merchiston station was just 1¼ miles out from Edinburgh (Princes Street) and was served by trains on the short-service to Kingsknowe, a limited number of Carstairs/Lanark duties, as well as most travelling to/from Glasgow via the Shotts route, a good number of these being diesel-multiple-unit worked by this time. A passenger is seen purchasing a ticket on the up (Carstairs/Shotts bound) platform, its signal box being an 1898 addition to the July 1882 premises, albeit inactive post-1960 once the domain of Dalry Junction signal box was extended. A victim of being the wrong side of Slateford Junction, this station was doomed with the eradication of the Princes Street terminus.

W S Sellar Collection A Railway Clearing House map of 1907 gives a post-Forth Bridge overview of public railways west of Edinburgh and thus sees significant NBR change, while the Caledonian network has grown to include two new branches in the Edinburgh vicinity – one goods only, but additionally an upgraded Leith line was now in CR passenger timetables too. A wider vista allows the full route to Carstairs to be seen (27½ miles south-west of Edinburgh), with Lanark just beyond as a terminating point, and the route west via Shotts and on towards Glasgow. Finally, ‘hidden’ thanks to running rights over NB metals is that to Larbert (28 miles) from Edinburgh via Polmont, where the Carlisle/Glasgow to Stirling and Perth main line is met, thus aiding links to Dundee, Oban and Aberdeen.

Author The inherited railway in 1948 was the merged collective of countless competing companies, and streamlining this was a key part of the ‘reshaping’ plan of 1963, even so the realisation that such long standing edifices as Princes Street station had actually served their time was an eye-opener. The blue and white wooden board on the left identifies the Princes Street parcels office as we look north along Lothian Road towards the west end of Princes Street itself. The two-storey parcels building has since been demolished, with offices now on the site, but the lengthy six-storey structure beyond, complete with flagpoles, is the Caledonian Hotel. Dr Richard Beeching argued for the retention of the railway hotels after the abolition of the British Transport Commission and during restructuring under the BR Board, and they lasted until a programme of asset disposal was undertaken, the Caledonian Hotel being sold off in 1981, and is happily still operating 40 years later.

Author Taking the 1879 Dalry Junction to Haymarket West Junction spur in the opposite direction is Fowler three-cylinder ‘4P’ Compound No 40938 on the 11.40am Edinburgh (Princes Street) to Stirling service. This view dates from June 1955 and records the 4-4-0 running in alongside the E&G main line before joining it at Haymarket West, a glimpse of Haymarket engine shed on the left assisting with placing the location – the running along the E&G will continue through to Polmont, where it will join the Stirlingshire Midland Junction line. Built at Derby Works as the penultimate member of its fleet – 45 Midland Railway engines and 195 new to the LMS – the pictured locomotive entered service in September 1932 and is proudly sporting a 63B (Stirling) shedcode, so is heading home. In BR days it stayed true to Caledonian main line sheds, apt for the so-called ‘True Line’, serving from Perth South, Stirling, and Forfar, its final workings coming on return to Perth South shed in February-June 1956.

W A C Smith/Transport Treasury A 1947 product of Horwich Works, Dalry Road-allocated Stanier ‘Black Five’ class 4-6-0 No 44994 heads the 10.15am Stirling-Edinburgh (Princes Street) service along ‘Caley’ metals through Dalry Middle Junction on 29 February 1964, so it will soon pass through Dalry Road station. Having left the Edinburgh & Glasgow main line at Haymarket West Junction, it is now meeting the Caledonian’s east-facing spur from Granton and Leith, the line curving in from the right, and is less than a mile from termination.

W S Sellar It took the Caledonian Railway the best part of 15 years to evolve the goods-only Leith Western Docks line to also carry passengers, doubtless because there was need for a new section of railway east from Newhaven – a new junction, Newhaven Junction, was created just west of a new station site. This 11 February 1961 scene at Newhaven, looking east from Craighall Road, shows the station, the original formation on the left and the 1879 passenger route in use by a Leith to Edinburgh (Princes Street) passenger train, with passengers waiting, and a Leith-bound train is ‘pegged’ too. Although there had been periods where CR ‘Passenger Tanks’ were the dominant power, by 1961 the steam provided was as likely to be a Fairburn 2-6-4 tank as anything else, No 42271 on this occasion, but nominally it was a diesel-worked route and had been since sometime in 1958.

W S Sellar Bucking the diesel trend, as well as coming from ‘the wrong side of the tracks’ in regard to its non-CR/LMS heritage, we find Gresley ‘J39’ class 0-6-0 No 64946 on passenger work at the former CR station of Leith North on 19 March 1960. The goods and passenger routes ran in parallel east of Newhaven before reaching the edge of the Firth of Forth, and then immediately the passenger route curved inland and soon terminated here. Meanwhile, immediately north of here a network of lines splayed out to serve West Old Dock, East Old Dock, Victoria Dock and reach across a swing bridge that crossed the Inner Harbour (effectively at the end of the Water of Leith) to reach more docks. Immediately above the ‘J39’ is Lindsay Road, which from 1905 until 1956 was on a direct electric tram route into Edinburgh, less than two miles distant – stiff competition against a far from direct branch line of 5½ miles. It was ultimately left to modern diesel units to battle against modern buses for the business.

Norris Forrest/Transport Treasury Craigleith station opened with the Caledonian Railway’s Leith passenger branch on 1 August 1879, this circa 1962 view being taken looking south from under Queensferry Road and towards Edinburgh (Princes Street). The booking office was on the road bridge at street level and like the platform shelters was timber built. On Edinburgh Corporation bus routes to and from the city – traditionally No 9 to Blackhall, and No 11 to Barnton – they had proved to be too much to justify a passenger service on the Barnton branch after May 1951, which would also have called here, and clearly they took the cream away from the railway’s Craigleith takings as a whole, but for now this station continued to serve Edinburgh-Leith services.

W S Sellar Chancelot flour mill dominates the horizon as Reid ‘J37’ class 0-6-0 No 64554 rounds the curve at Bonnington on the 1902-built Caledonian branch from Newhaven Junction to South Leith docks on 13 September 1961. The mill was served by both the NBR/LNER Edinburgh, Leith & Granton Railway and by a north-facing line off the ‘Caley’ route. Sadly the mill suffered an explosion and was gutted by fire in 1967 – it was eventually pulled down in 1971 whilst a new modern facility had been built in Leith Western harbour to replace it. Shortly after passing over the NBR’s North Leith goods route – not to be confused with the similarly named CR terminus just to its west – the train continues towards Leith (East) depot, to use its BR era name – it was formerly known as Leith South by the CR. Below the branch, a lone box van resides in the weed strewn sidings of Bonnington goods yard. The Leith New Lines of 1902 continued through to Seafield, where a two-road engine shed was built. Rather late on the scene in this vicinity, the Edinburgh & Dalkeith Railway reached South Leith from Portobello in 1838 (and it was NB owned from 1845), the ‘Caley’ found itself leasing its engine shed to the North British Railway in World War I.

W A C Smith/Transport Treasury Viewed from the road overbridge at Craigleith station, looking north, Reid ‘J37’ class 0-6-0 No 64612 passes Craigleith Junction with a goods duty from either Granton or Leith on 25 January 1958. Despite its NBR heritage as ‘88’ series No 402 of January 1920, the locomotive was based at Dalry Road engine shed (ex-CR) at this time. Beyond the signal box is the diverging, singled and shortened Barnton branch of 1894 – it was truncated at Davidson’s Main from 7 May 1951 upon the loss of passenger services. On the right, a lorry climbs up to Queensferry Road from Craigleith quarry or the small goods yard sited to capitalise on its traffic. Although the pick-up goods is short, it is a Saturday, and the yard is clearly in use, but only until 1 June 1960. On the horizon, new houses are part of a massive transformation for this location since the railway here first opened through to Granton for goods-only operations back in August 1861.

W S Sellar Rated as ‘3F’ and a long-term Dalry Road engine, Pickersgill ‘300’ class 0-6-0 No 57654 has journeyed tender-first along the branch from Craigleith Junction to Davidson’s Mains Goods on Tuesday, 22 March 1960 and is now engaged shunting. With no run-round in the yard, the crew stopped at the nearby Silverknowes Road overbridge and uncoupled the incoming five-wagon train and then the engine went ahead. The sidings were at a lower level to the now lifted continuation of the branch to Barnton, which had run by on the embankment on the right, so once the line was truncated and served from the east, the practice was for the incoming stock to arrive by gravity, checked by the guard’s handbrake in the van and guided into a different line than the stabled locomotive. With all safely gathered in, the engine has shunted the brake van to the siding on the left and the outgoing train is made up.

Author Heading south with ‘empties’ from Granton, LMS Stanier ‘5MT’ 4-6-0 No 45023 passes the distant signal for Murrayfield at Ravelston Dykes road bridge when passing with a Granton to Slateford freight, the target number ‘E8’ being carried on the locomotive’s lower-right lamp bracket. Generally, although patterns of operation existed, freight movements were planned out on a week-by-week basis, with target numbers identifying the duties. New to Perth shed on 20 August 1934, the pictured engine is in its second spell at Dalry Road, from 29 September 1951 through to its withdrawal on 16 September 1963. The large version of the early BR crest and no AWS, fitted on 28 August 1959, help to date the view.

Author Gas works with their insatiable appetite for coal and a nice line in by-products, were always good business for the railways, the trade at Granton lasting 85-plus years, and in effect using five main line railway companies over that time. With old rivalries largely swept under the carpet in BR (Scottish Region) days, another of Dalry Road shed’s ex-NBR locomotives, Reid ‘N15/1’ class 0-6-2T No 69187, is on hand and draws forward out of the sidings adjacent to Breakwater Junction with a coal train for Granton gas works on 16 May 1956. This locomotive was new from the North British Locomotive Co Ltd (Works No 22279) as NBR ‘20’ series No 22 and it would serve until December 1959.

Author One of a trio of standard gauge Andrew Barclay 0-4-0STs used at Granton gas works and owned by the corporation gas department until 1 May 1949 when the Scottish Gas Board took over, Works No 1036 continues to operate as Edinburgh Corporation Gas Department No 7. It was brand new to this site in 1904 to Edinburgh & Leith Corporation Gas Commissioners, that concern existing until 1920, and it would go for scrap in 1964. Also boasting an internal narrow gauge railway, the works was served by a spur off the CR’s Granton branch and from the NBR’s Granton Harbour branch, from the south and east respectively. Just in view on the right is the platform ramp of the private station opened in 1903 within the site. The station building contained the time office where workers works passed through turnstiles. The passenger service ceased in 1942 but remarkably the station building still survives.

W S Sellar The wartime withdrawal of passenger services from the Balerno branch in 1943 was never reversed, so few people will have seen passenger trains pass this way, except the very occasional enthusiasts’ special or visit by an inspection saloon. However, the vibrancy of goods operations saw lengthy steam-hauled trains heading for Balerno on a daily basis into the 1960s, the branch following the meandering Water of Leith. A wintery landscape greets the crew of Fowler ‘2F’ 0-6-0T No 47163 between Colinton and Juniper Green on 19 February 1955 – note that the brake van is immediately behind the locomotive, which was not always the case. This dieselisation of this service would see No 47163 seek work elsewhere, its transfer to Greenock (Ladyburn) shed coming in the four-weeks ending 24 September 1960.

During his tenure as the Caledonian Railway’s locomotive superintendent J F McIntosh created the ‘104’ class 0-4-4Ts for suburban work on the Cathcart Circle in Glasgow and for the branch operations between Edinburgh (Princes Street) and Balerno, with the latter the preserve of the class until the 1930s. This scene at Dalry Road records No 15155 in LMS days while rated ‘1P’. New from St Rollox Works as CR No 167 in April 1899, this locomotive would serve until October 1935. Order No Y56 was for a dozen of these engines, their bogie wheels being only 2ft 6in diameter, driving wheels 4ft 6in and cylinders 17in x 24in. The Westinghouse pump for braking can clearly be seen ahead of the side tank, and within the enlarged cab the driver had lever reverse.

Colour-Rail.com/13361 The Carstairs to Edinburgh (Princes Street) main line is in the foreground as we look north across the Dalry Road shed site in July 1953 and see McIntosh ‘43’ class (LMS ‘3P’) 4-4-0 No 54452 between duties. New from St Rollox Works as CR No 45 in 1913, rather curiously the long-term latter day Dalry Road allocation of this ‘Superheated Dunalastair IV’ was interrupted in February/March 1951 by a loan period to the Mechanical & Electric Engineers, Princes Street. Back at home, the latter day work of the ‘Caley Bogies’ based here often involved spells working from Slateford carriage sidings; No 54452 would serve until July 1957. Other locomotives on hand include a ‘Crab’ class 2-6-0, an ex-NBR 0-6-0 and a CR ‘Passenger Tank’, the Leith and Granton route passing to the north of these.

Author Fowler ‘Royal Scot’ class 4-6-0 No 46134 The Cheshire Regiment is at rest alongside the manually-operated timber coal stage at Dalry Road shed, the coaling up procedure here unchanged since the Caledonian era, so the presence of an ex-CR 0-4-4T seems apt. Having worked into Princes Street station from Birmingham (New Street), the ‘Royal Scot’ is being prepared for the next day’s return journey. The view is in early BR days, prior to No 46134 undergoing rebuilding under Stanier, complete with a taper boiler, which would come about in December 1954.

W A C Smith/Transport Treasury A glimpse of Dalry Road coaling facility on the far left locates the shed in relation to the island station of the same name as Gresley ‘V3’ class 2-6-2T No 67624 calls with the 1.10pm Leith (North) to Edinburgh (Princes Street) passenger service on 19 March 1960. On the east-to-north side of a useful triangle, being sited between Dalry Junction and Coltbridge Junction by the ‘Dalry Connecting Spur’, trains also passed through that were travelling via the 1876 spur to and from the E&G at Haymarket West. St Margarets-allocated for its entire career, 28 November 1931 to 21 September 1960, its pre-October 1952 guise being as a ‘V1’, this Doncaster-built engine would ultimately be credited with 730,334 miles of service.

W S Sellar Adjacent to the North British lines at Haymarket, the Caledonian Distillery was served by both the NBR and CR. The Caledonian connection was from here at Granton Junction, but on 1 July 1964, with the closure of Edinburgh (Princes Street) station imminent, what had been just a goods line was in the process of being upgraded to a main line link to enable the remaining Princes Street services to be diverted into Edinburgh (Waverley) station and permit closure. Bridges carrying the lines from Dalry Road to Haymarket West Junction and from Dalry Road to the North Leith line have already been demolished after the passenger service ceased from 2 March 1964, but a freight connection would be maintained over much of the erstwhile Leith (North) line via the lines on the left until 4 September 1967. The trackbed of the link from Haymarket West and into Princes Street would soon be turned over to road use and become the Western Approach road. Donaldson’s school for the deaf, on the other side of the NBR lines, is on the horizon.

Author A long-term resident of Dalry Road shed was McIntosh ‘439’ class 0-4-4T No 55202, which was always very clean. In May 1955 it is recorded south of Craigleith on approach to Ravelston Dykes at the head of the 1.43pm Leith (North) to Edinburgh (Princes Street) local service made up of suburban stock. New from St Rollox Works as Caledonian Railway No 469 in December 1909, it would finally be transferred away from Dalry Road in the fourweeks ending 14 January 1961, Perth being its new home, although only until withdrawal in the August. The last of the family of ‘Passenger Tanks’ at Dalry Road proved to be Nos 55124 and 55165, from the Lambie and McIntosh eras respectively, both of which were condemned from the shed in October 1961.

Author Although the Leith (North) branch closed to passengers from 30 April 1962, and the Granton line at its heart vanished from the railway maps as a freight-only route on 4 September 1967, this Caledonian Railway relic, a cast iron heraldic design of lions rampant, is pictured in November 1975 as the central section of the rail overbridge that crossed West Coates, the Haymarket to Roseburn road immediately to the south of Murrayfield station on the Leith (North) branch.

K C H Fairey/Colour-Rail.com/92063 After traversing the new link from Slateford, LMS ‘5MT’ 4-6-0 No 45127 drifts into Haymarket station with what is probably the Edinburgh portion of an express from London on Monday, 27 September 1965. On paper the engine was still allocated to Dalry Road shed and it would not be reallocated to the former NBR shed at St Margarets until 4 October, so Dalry Road was presumably still at least partially active in that grey area after closure of Edinburgh (Princes Street) station from 6 September 1965 and before the link from Slateford Junction was closed from 15 August 1966.