The Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway was an early railway built to convey coal from pits in the vicinity of Dalkeith into the capital. It was a horse-operated line, with a terminus at St Leonards on the south side of Arthur's Seat.
Opened in stages from 1831, it was Edinburgh's first railway, and used the track gauge of 4 ft 6in, commonly used for mineral railways in Scotland. The entry into the terminus involved a passage through a tunnel on a rope-worked incline.
It was not planned for passengers, but a trader operated passenger services and they were surprisingly successful, and the company later operated them itself.
When intercity railways were being planned, the North British Railway wished to reach Carlisle from Edinburgh, and it purchased the Dalkeith line in 1845 to secure part of the route. The new owners altered the gauge to the standard 4 ft 8½in and laid stronger track for locomotive operation. Part of its main line became incorporated into the Waverley Route. Only a small section of the network remains open.
Read more about Edinburgh And Dalkeith Railway: Summary, Formation, Promoters, First Openings, Route Descriptions, The Inclined Plane, Rails, Coal, Passengers, Absorption, Later Railway Developments, Cycle Path, "The Innocent Railway"
Famous quotes containing the word railway:
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)