Route to the east through

Calton

from North British Railway's station at Waverley

Enlarge this picture

    ©

North British Railway Line through Calton

Stations

This view, looking to the east from North Bridge, shows the scene between about 1846 and 1848.

The North British railway line leaving Waverley to the east, then on to Berwick and Hawick, opened in June 1846.

Trinity College Church, beside the railway line in this view, was dismantled in 1848 to make more room for the railway.

There were three stations on the Waverley site in the late 1840s.  The other two stations were for lines to the west and north.  They were:

-  General station, the terminus for the Edinburgh & Glasgow railway's line to Glasgow.  This opened on August 1, 1846

-  Canal Street station, the terminus of the line to the north that passed under Princes Street and through Scotland Street tunnel, then (later) on to Granton Harbour for the ferry to Burntisland.  Canal Street station opened on May 17, 1847.

The View

This view is titled 'North British Railway from the North Bridge'.  I have only a small fairly feint copy of this image (about  4 ins x 3 ins).  The original may have been an engraving.  I'm not sure.

Included in this view are:

-  The Governor's House at Edinburgh Jail (top-left corner of picture

©

-  Edinburgh Jail, Regent Road (upper-left)

©

-  Royal High School (upper-centre)

©

-  Burns Monument, Regent Road (upper centre)

©

-  Trinity College Church, beside the railway (centre-left)

©

-  The Firth of Forth, coast of East Lothian (upper right)

-  North Berwick Law, East Lothian (to the left of the Burns Monument)

-  Canongate including gas works chimney (centre-right)

-  Slopes of Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park (top right corner)

-  A large gathering on North Bridge (bottom).  What was the occasion?  Might it have been the opening of the North British Railway line through Calton in June 1846?