Edinburgh Waverley Railway Station - History

History

With the growth of the city and the construction of the "scientifically designed" New Town to the north, the Nor Loch became a fetid open sewer, at odds with the city's modern Scottish Enlightenment aspirations. Works were undertaken to drain the loch and manage the city's sewerage, and by 1820 the loch was largely dry and the land was available for development. Much was used to build Princes Street Gardens, an extensive landscaped park.

With the explosion of railway travel in Britain, three railway companies built stations in the valley in the course of the 1840s. The collective name "Waverley", after the Waverley novels by Sir Walter Scott, was used for the three from around 1854. The three stations were North Bridge, opened on 22 June 1846 by the North British Railway; General, opened on 17 May 1847 by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway; and Canal Street, opened on 17 May 1847 by the Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway, serving Leith and Granton via a long rope-hauled tunnel under the New Town. Canal Street station was also known as Edinburgh Princes Street, not to be confused with the Caledonian Railway station later built at the West End with a similar name.

In 1868 the North British Railway acquired the stations of its rivals, demolished all three, and closed the Scotland Street tunnel to Canal Street. The present Victorian station was built on the site, and extended in the late 19th century. The North British Hotel (now The Balmoral) opened in 1902 as a railway hotel, and was operated as part of the station until the 1980s. Waverley has been in continual use since, under the auspices of the North British, the LNER, British Rail, Railtrack and latterly Network Rail.

From its opening, Waverley has been the principal railway station in Edinburgh. From 1870 to 1965 the city had a second major station, Princes Street, operated by the rival Caledonian Railway, but this was never as important as Waverley.

As at other large railway stations of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, the railway company constructed a grand station hotel beside their station. The North British Hotel, adjacent to the station on Princes Street, opened in 1902. In 1983 British Rail sold it to the Forte hotel group. In 1988 Forte closed the hotel for a year to extensively remodel and update what had become something of a faded jewel. When it reopened it was rechristened The New Balmoral Hotel, maintaining the vNBinitials in what has proved to be an astute marketing move, despite the hotel being 115 miles from Balmoral Castle. Subsequently, "New" was dropped from the name.

It enjoys commanding views over central Edinburgh, being one of very few British major stations literally in the middle of the associated town or city; and is one of the most luxurious (and expensive) hotels in the UK. There is no longer a direct entrance from the station.

The station's large size and the unusual topography of its surroundings mean that it contains a large amount of valuable centrally located land. The station's successive owners, British Rail, Railtrack and its current owner Network Rail have been unfairly criticised for underutilising the valuable city-centre spaces available within, there being a legal covenant preventing any upwards extension, which would obstruct the view of Arthur's Seat from Princes Street.

Princes Mall (formerly the Waverley Shopping Centre), which occupies a column of space nestling between Waverley Station, Waverley Bridge, and Princes Street, opened in 1985.