Edinburgh Railways - Balerno Station

Balerno Station

The Caledonian Railway

The Caledonian Railway line from Edinburgh Princes Street Station to Balerno opened in 1874. The line followed the water of Leith. There were stations at Colinton and Juniper Green.

Here is a photo of Balerno station, at the end of the line. The setting looks very rural, though it is only a few miles from the centre of Edinburgh.

Ravelrig Platform

Reply 1

Thank you to Leslie John Thomson who read the comment above and replied:

"With regards to the Caledonian Railway's Balerno branch; you maintain that Balerno station was at the end of the line. In fact, the line looped back to the West Coast Main Line at Ravelrig Junction, and there was one more station, Ravelrig Platform.

In fact, Ravelrig Platform was a complete misnomer. It had two platforms. It was apparently mostly used by golfers, although quarry workers may have used the station as well. The station closed in 1920."

Leslie John Thomson: February 21, 2010

Ravelrig Platform

Reply 2

Thank you to Niall Melles who added

"The information about Ravelrig Platform in 'Reply 1' above is incorrect. Ravelrig Platform (technically Ravelrig Halt) was on the Caledonian main line slightly to the west of Ravelrig Junction and not on the branch itself. That's why it had two platforms. The branch line was single track at that point.

There is a photograph in 'The Balerno Branch and the Caley in Edinburgh' which clearly shows that the two platforms are located in a cutting on double track.

There is a photograph in flickr that claims to show Ravelrig Platform. However, having walked the branch on many occasions over the last 28 years, I can say that the location shown in this photo is the end of a siding, parallel to the branch, which served as a loading platform for the quarries.

The heap of spoil, referred to on the flickr site appears to be the remains of earth-filled sleeper-stop at the end of the siding."

Niall Melles: April 27, 2010

Date of the Photo

This photograph is a reproduction of a postcard by Lens of Sutton. It appeared in Donald Shaw's book 'The Balerno Branch and the Caley in Edinburgh' (Oakwood Press and D Shaw, 1989) ISBN 0 85361 366 4

In this book Donald comments that the station master and porter's house is on the left.

If you can estimate the approximate date of of the photo of Balerno Station at the top of this page, please email me.

Thank you.

Possibly around 1910

I believe that the photograph above may have been taken around 1910. My reason for thinking this is that I have copy of another photograph of Balerno Station. It has a train at the platform and is said to have been taken around 1922. The scene is similar to that in the photo above, but the tree close to the centre of the picture above is considerably smaller than in the 'other view'.

I will add the 'other view' to the web site if I can get copyright permission to do so.

Questions

Balerno History and Postcards

Thank you to Ian Williams, now living in Glenrothes, Fife for telling me that he believes the the name of the stationmaster in the postcard above was Mr Bishop.

Ian also asked a couple of questions about Balerno. If you are able to provide any answers, please e-mail me so that I can pass on details to him.

Thank you. - Peter Stubbs

QUESTIONS

from Ian Williams

1. There was a later Balerno Station postcard which was displayed in Mr. Little's window at Balerno Post Office.

Sadly we moved away from Balerno in 1939 without buying a copy before we left. I would give my right arm for a copy because the family waiting for the train are the Williams family who lived at 5 Deanpark Cottages, now a bus-stop.

Does anyone have a copy of this postcard?

2. There used to be a local historian in Currie called John Tweedie. He died some time ago. Do you know if there is a copy of his papers left somewhere? It would be good to be able to trace them.

ANSWER

Thank you to John Scott, local historian, Balerno, for answering question 2 above. John writes:

"John Tweedie papers are held in the Archive Department of Heriot Watt, University, on their Riccarton Campus."

John Scott, Local Historian, Balerno, Edinburgh, April 8, 2006