What is magnificent about the historic relationship the Scotland’s capital has had with railways is that there are often forgotten stations and lines that had a colourful past which has gone relatively unnoticed today.
One such line, which has been heralded as a trend setter in Scotland, used to connect the coal mines around Dalkeith with Edinburgh.
It is understood that the original line - The Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway Company (E&DR) - was constructed in order to bring better quality coal from Midlothian into the capital at a time when demand for the fuel was exponentially growing.
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Historians say that it was not economically viable to transport this via road so instead the aforementioned company was created which was given the go ahead through an Act of Parliament on May 26 1826.
The railway was a public company but the main shareholders, who happened to be coal mine owners, were the main beneficiaries of the line - Sir John Hope, the Marquis of Lothian, the Duke of Buccleuch and two members of the Dundas family were believed to be the prime backers.
The original design for the line was for it to be a horse-drawn railway which used a shallower gauge that was more common for its time in Scotland. The main Edinburgh station is understood to have been called St Leonard’s which was situated just to the south of the Salisbury Crags and ran to a coal pit at Craighall.
Later terminus were opened at Dalhousie Mains and Niddrie as well as Fisherrow - several coal pits along the route also built connecting tram lines to take advantage of the trailblazing railway.
But what was a particularly quirky part of the line's history was when the Marquis of Lothian, John William Robert Kerr at the time, paid over £7,000 to extend the line to his coal pits on the south-eastern side of the South Esk river at Arniston. This section of the track was labelled the ‘The Marquis of Lothian's Wagonway.’
The Marquis had a beautiful red sandstone ashlar building to act as the station house which was designed by Thomas Grainger and John Miller in order for it to meet his high standards. This building can still be found today in Eskbank on Station Road but it has now been redeveloped into residential flats.
The building at the time of its construction included a booking office, a waiting room and accommodation for the station master. As a form of compensation for the ‘The Marquis of Lothian's Wagonway’, John Kerr was allowed to use the North Esk viaduct on the railway line for his coal free of charge.
However North British Railway bought the line from the E&DR for £113,000 in order to modernise the railway line and connect with technologically advanced railways that were being created in the country at this time.
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