Cable Trams at King's Road, Portobello

Seafield Road and King's Road - Portobello

This photo, taken around 1910s, shows two of Edinburgh's cable cars crossing the railway line from Portobello (right) to Leith Docks (left). Behind the trams are two horses that appear to have loads of hay. They are heading into Seafield Road, towards Leith.

Straight ahead is King's Road, Portobello leading towards the sea. The tenement houses and shops were built 1909-1910, around the same time as Marine Gardens, which are immediately to the left (out of picture).

Marine Gardens were created as a leisure complex incorporating many of the buildings that had formed the 1908 Scottish National Exhibition in Saughtonhall Park, Edinburgh.

The Marine Gardens site has now become a Lothian Buses bus depot.

Each of the tramlines can clearly be seen to have a third 'line' running between the two tracks. This was to allow the trams (cable cars) to grip the moving underground cable that pulled them along. Edinburgh's cable cars were replaced by electric trams by around 1920.

The tram tracks lead round to the right and along Portobello High Street towards the centre of Portobello, about 1/4 mile to the east.

The land on the right-hand side of King's Road, open in this picture, became the site for Portobello Power Station, with its high chimney, a landmark for many years. The Power Station has now been demolished.

The view above is a postcard produced in the Caledonia Series.