Edinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Railway

The Edinburgh Suburban and South Side Junction Railway (or, colloquially, Edinburgh suburban railway line) is a freight and former commuter railway in Edinburgh, Scotland. It opened in 1884 for both freight and passenger services. Passengers services were withdrawn in September 1962.

Origin of the Edinburgh Suburban and South Side Junction Railway

The construction of the suburban line was formally proposed in the Edinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Railway Act of Parliament, dated 26 August 1880, as a mechanism to relieve the congested main line - running between Portobello and Haymarket - of freight traffic. (MacLean, 1991)]

The Act described the route of the suburban line as:

"Six miles 1507 yards, approximately, from a junction with the N.B.R. (E & G Section) at…the bridge carrying the Caledonian Railway Granton and Leith branches over the N.B. at Haymarket, and terminating at a junction with the N.B.R. some 200 yards south east of... Portobello Station".(MacLean, 1991, p 67)]

Sir Thomas Bouch, designer of the ill-fated Tay Bridge, surveyed and planned the original route of the suburban line but following his death in 1881, the engineering responsibility was transferred to George Trimble of Trimble and Peddie Ltd.(Mullay, 1996)]

Construction of the suburban line, conducted primarily by contractors John Waddell and Sons, began in August 1881 and continued for a period of three years. MacLean argues that despite: “the normal high cost of suburban land, the actual cost of the line was low.”MacLean (1991, p 68)] In 1882, however, the Merchant Company of Edinburgh (governors of George Watson’s Hospital) presented the North British Railway with an impressive claim for £23,368.10/-, to cover the capital cost of land upon which the suburban line was to be built and the incurred construction costs of new drainage systems, two bridges, and the erection of fencing.

The suburban line, which was opened to freight transport on 31 October 1884 and to passenger traffic on 1 December 1884, included stations at Gorgie (later renamed Gorgie East), Craiglockhart (opened in 1887), Morningside (later Morningside Road), Blackford Hill, Newington, and Duddingston (later Duddingston and Craigmillar). Stations at Portobello, Piershill, Abbeyhill, Waverley, and Haymarket although not lying on the suburban line were considered part of its 14-mile circular route.(Mullay, 1996, p 286)] The Edinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Railway Company, whose £225,000 founding capital was raised by the selling of 22,500 £10 shares, was legally incorporated into the North British Railway on 1 March 1885.(MacLean, 1991, p 69)]

The operators of the suburban line were dubious as to the appeal of passenger services. In a letter to the Board of Trade in London, dated 25 October 1884, the company stated:

"Keeping in mind that the primary objective of the suburban railway was to relieve the main lines between Haymarket West and Portobello of all through goods... it will be many years until suburban passenger traffic be at all considerable."

When the half-hourly passenger services began, however, they were well patronised; several hundred journeys were made on the first day of operation.

Original route and stations of the line

Function of the line

Although the nature of goods traffic on the suburban line has changed since its inception in 1884, freight transport has remained its mainstay. The circuitous route of the suburban line reflects not only settlement patterns and topography but also the location of mining and industry at the time of its construction. The suburban line intersected at its eastern extent the Niddrie yards, which, during the late-nineteenth century, was an important marshalling point for locally produced coal, particularly from the Woolmet colliery.(Mullay, 1991, p 114)] Coal was, consequently, among the most prevalent of goods transported on the suburban line at that time. Goods and mineral traffic were handled at Gorgie, Morningside Road, Newington, and Duddingston, where sidings were constructed to service local industry, including breweries at Duddingston and Gorgie.(Mullay, 1991, p 115)]

Today the suburban line remains heavily used for freight, transporting a wide array of goods: cement, chemicals, oil, vehicles, and - on occasion - nuclear waste materials.(Mullay, 1991, p 123)] The introduction of diesel locomotives during the 1950s, combined with the discontinuation of passenger services in 1962, allowed a greater frequency of goods traffic. Network Rail currently licences sixty-one freight train journeys daily on the suburban line: thirteen between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., thirteen between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., nine between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., twelve between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m., six between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., and eight between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. The continuing success of the suburban line as a transporter of large-scale freight suggests that whilst road-freight transport is significant, it is – for specific tasks – unable to match the speed and carrying capacity of rail-freight transport.

Passenger services on the suburban line, by contrast, faced varied competition in the forms of horse-drawn, cable drawn, and electrically driven trams, motorised buses, and later the private car. Edinburgh’s first tram – horse-powered – began operation on 6 November 1871, and ran between Haymarket and Leith.(Mullay, 1996, p 348)] The following year saw the establishment of the circle route, which ran via Marchmont and Church Hill to the West End of Princes Street; the fare was one penny, or two pence for a return. Contemporary with the opening of passenger services on the suburban line was the introduction of cable car trams; these employed a wire-rope cable within the road to pull the tram along its route. By the turn of the twentieth century, Edinburgh’s cable car system had increased to include 200 cars, servicing 25 route-miles of track.

The continued expansion of the tram network and the total electrification of the network, completed in the 1920s, increased the serviced area to 48 route-miles.(Mullay, 1996, p 350)] The tram network did not, however, compete directly with the suburban line for passenger but complemented its service; tram stances were located close to the majority of suburban line stations — creating an enviable integrated transport network. The tram system began a precipitous decline during the 1950s as the Edinburgh Corporation decided to shift emphasis to bus travel; the last tram ran on 16 November 1956.(Mullay, 1996, p 352)] Buses were viewed as more flexible than trams as they were able to service new routes without the construction of the infrastructure required by trams. During the 1950s, the number of buses servicing Edinburgh increased by more than 450, sounding not only the death knell for the tram system but increasing pressure upon the suburban line.

Mindful of the competition posed by the new bus services British Railways, operators of the suburban line, introduced diesel locomotives in 1958. The improved locomotives allowed the frequency of passenger services to increase from intervals of 30 minutes to intervals of 10 minutes at peak times - allowing a journey from Blackford Hill to Waverley in 15 minutes (a feat almost impossible today by any means). (Mullay, 1991, p 122)]

The introduction of new locomotives was, however, the only method employed by British Railways to negate the decline of passenger traffic. Mullay states that there was: "no attempt to streamline the timetable... or to save costs by introducing unstaffed halts.Mullay (1991, p123)] There was no apparent will to save the service at all." On 29 January 1962, the Edinburgh Corporation Transport Committee met to discuss a request made by British Railways to withdraw passenger services from the suburban line. The text records:

"British Railways proposed to make a saving of £56,885 per annum with the withdrawal of the circle and the Rosewell to Hawthornden branch. The Assistant General Manager argued that reducing the frequency of service would not result in a saving unless the stock and crew could be used on journeys elsewhere in the intervals."(Transportation Committee, 1962, p 1)]

The measure was approved with a prescient concluding remark from Councillor Bailie McLaughlin noting: "the desirability of ensuring that the line would be retained against the possibility the increasing congestion of road traffic might make its renewed use for passenger services necessary and practicable at some future date."(Transportation Committee, 1962, p 2)] On 10 September 1962, the suburban line was closed to passengers and, consequently, the stations at Gorgie, Craiglockhart, Morningside, Blackford Hill, Newington, and Duddingston were closed; Portobello, Abbeyhill, and Piershill stations closed in 1964.

Campaign for re-opening

Capital Rail Action Group (CRAG) have recently been campaigning for the reopening of commuter services on the South Suburban line, [ [http://www.reopenthesouthsub.org.uk/ CRAG website] ] proposed by them as a cheaper alternative to the Edinburgh Tram Network. There is a petition before the Scottish Parliament for this. [ [http://epetitions.scottish.parliament.uk/view_petition.asp?PetitionID=175 Scottish Parliament "e-petition"] ]

External links

* [http://www.reopenthesouthsub.org.uk/ CRAG website]
* [http://www.transformscotland.org.uk/info/docs/2007-03-30_ESSR.pdf Briefing: Re-opening the South Sub] - Transform Scotland

References

ources

* MacLean, A (1991). "A History of the Railways in the Edinburgh District". Edinburgh: Ravenswood.
* Mullay, A J (1991). "Rail Centres: Edinburgh". Shepperton: Ian Allan Ltd".
* Mullay, S (1996). "The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia". Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing.
* Transportation Committee (1962). "Lord Provost’s Committee Report on Suburban Railways". Edinburgh: Edinburgh Corporation.