A new video found online travels generations back in time, showing Waverley Station as it develops.
Passing through several generations of change, we watch as the land that is now Waverley reverts back to how it looked before the advent of the railways.
Having been established in the 1840s, Waverley Station is steeped in history - and the footage uploaded by The Time Travel Artist condenses this into just four and a half minutes. Alongside the station, the city develops before our eyes as buildings crop up and the roads begin to fill with motorised vehicles in place of horses and carts.
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As we see in the footage, in the mid-18th century Edinburgh’s Old Town was bound by a valley in which the Nor Loch had formed. Overcrowding in the city led to proposals to create a link over the body of water which would allow development in the north.
As buildings were constructed on the other side of the bridge, plans for ‘pleasure grounds’ were in discussions - what we now know as Princes Street Gardens. By the 1830s, proposals for a railway connecting Glasgow to the capital were set out.
The terminus in Edinburgh became Haymarket Station, after opposition came to running a railway through the quiet gardens that had been created on Princes Street. An agreement was finally reached in 1844, creating walls and embankments to conceal the railway line and opening and allowing trains to run through the city.
At this point, there were three different railway stations serving different lines. General Station served the Edinburgh to Glasgow line, North Bridge Station led to Berwick-upon-Tweed, while Canal Street Station connected Leith and Granton to the city centre.
These were eventually demolished by the North British Railway, and in their place the station we know today was built. Waverley Station, constructed in 1868, increased traffic heading into Edinburgh and has only grown since.
Since then, it’s become Edinburgh’s main rail terminus and has seen several extensions and renovations - such as a glass dome in 1897. Currently, it is Britain’s second largest station.
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In the footage uploaded by The Time Travel Artist, we also see the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition as the animation continues. Taking us through from Frederick North, who was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1790 - all the way through to Boris Johnson.
We also see the years covering the First World War, a time when the first ‘buffet for troops’ was set up in Waverley. By 1919, there were over 2 million meals served to service personnel at the station.
There was also a Red Cross ward set up to aid the sick or wounded, though Waverley was never hit during the air raids. During the Second World War, Waverley became the focus for evacuating children to more rural areas.
In just three days, over 178,000 children had been evacuated on trains leaving the station. When the war ended, Waverley had retained its glass and made it out of the other end - even becoming the first Scottish station to install a Christmas tree to raise spirits.
