North British Railway Study Group Journal Number 100-119
Key tp all Issue Numbers

Issue No. 100 (2007)

PROBLEM: scanned front cover for this Issue is clearly not correct, but is For Issue 99, but correct caption and reaction to correct image is included

"Rather nice view" of Holmes 18" 0-6-0 No. 45 in charge of a cattle train at unknown location (see lattter from Allan Rodgers Issue 101 page 8) following light snowfall. front cover caption

The 100th Journal: a celebratory Editorial. 3-6.
History of the Journal
It seems appropriate when the Group's main organ of communication has reached the milestone of a century that I should contribute an Editorial befitting of the status of this edition.
Before any pedant, and there are some within the Study Group, complains that there have not been one hundred Journals produced, then let me say here that there have not. The reasons for this are steeped in history, and as the Study Group is essentially a historical organisation, let me attempt to fill this page with a little of the history of the Group itself and its Journal.
There was an earlier group that had been formed to cover the North British Railway, simply called "The North British Railway Group", whose aims were broadly similar to those of the current Study Group. Membership was available for the princely sum often shillings, and by 1966, this Group had some 53 members, many of whom are well known in Scottish railway circles and some are members of the current NBRSG, though sadly many of the names listed are no longer with us. The original Group seems to have faded into oblivion around the end of 1966, although it is believed that it was never officially wound up.
Time then moves on to 1977 when a letter under the letterhead of the North British Railway Study Group was sent by a Mr.R.W.Lynn to people who had expressed an interest in the new Study Group, which culminated in a meeting in the North British Hotel in Edinburgh on 11 March 1978 which was attended by 15 people. A Committee was appointed under the Chairmanship of well known author, modeller, philanthropist and now retired academic, Ian Futers. Of the rest of the committee, it is pleasant to report that only one, dear old Tom Lindsay, has passed away, and that five are still members, the other, Richie Heard, is still going strong in his role of very occasional modeller and assistant operator to Mr. Futers. The first membership list, dated 21/03/1978, contains 22 names, who paid #163;2 each for the pleasure.
The first publication issued by the Group was an "Interim Newsletter" issued in April 1978, which is effectively Journal number nbsp;1. This formidable document consisted of two A4 sides of duplicated print essentially reporting what had happened at the inaugural meeting, and produced and issued by lan. The prophetic Mr. Futers closed the newsletter with the short paragraph "So, a start has been made, let us hope that the group will flourish, I'm sure it will. From little acorns and all that... .. ".What can one say?
Ian Futers issued two similar newsletters, however by issue 4 in FebIMarch 1979, Tony Dean (yes the very man who has just been educating us on beer) had taken over as producer of the newsletter, and issue four was the first to include input from a number of members, and Mr. Dean may justifiably regard himself as the first Editor. Issue 5 appeared in July 1979 and included a couple of short articles, requests for information and product news on models, noting that John Boyle had added 10 new etched coach sides to his range (no doubt someone is still waiting for delivery!!!) and Derek Munday at Sprat amp; Winkle had just introduced N.B.R. signal components. More importantly your current Editor had joined a membership that had reached "about 70".
By Number 8, which appeared in May of 1980, Tony had passed the Editorship to Keith Fairweather. This issue was the first to have the card cover with photograph, and was starting to resemble the current product, running to some 22 pages, and including photographs inside also for the first time. October 1980 saw the introduction of a "News Bulletin" being an equivalent to the current newsletter in presenting more topical matters that are not appropriate to the Journal, and the Newslet- ter continued to develop under Keith's stewardship, and then from Issue 12 under the guidance of Marshall Shaw. The covers were prepared by Ray Kitching, whose influence on the Journal at this time cannot be underestimated. Ray also arranged the production of the text and internal photographic pages, and carted the whole lot to Bill Lynn's flat where the North East Area Group collated and assembled the Newsletter/Journal for distribution to members. Issue 19 which came out in April 1984, was the first issue to cany the official title of Journal. The change was clearly too much for Marshall who was to resign before number 20, due to business pressures, a common cause of Editorial resignations!
John Smith stepped into the breach on the basis that he would find some mug to take over before long! However when Issue 20 appeared in July of 1984 the good Mr. Smith was still in charge, and the fruits of discussions between John and Ray resulted in a glossy card cover with coloured printing that was intended to be somewhere near N.B.R. Green, and with an additional West Highland scottie dog and some red print to celebrate 90 years of the West Highland Line, the Journal was developing into a quality product. John also produced 21, which included in its Editorial that he would be handing over to me from the next issue. It would seem that a peripheral interest in that august pinnacle of journalism #147;DARTS#148; - the newspaper of Sheffield University Student#146;s Union - as photographic editor - qualified as #147;some experience of editing magazines#148;, and so I got the job, with John as my assistant! With the impending issue of Journal 25, Ray, John and I felt there was reason for something special, and Ray produced the first of only two covers to feature a colour picture, which was kindly provided by the late Cecil Sanderson, inevitably of #147;Glen Douglas#148;. This issue ran to 52 pages, and in addition to the cover was to a new design, which I decided to adopt as standard from 26, though reverting to the green coloured printing and monochrome photograph. We had also acquired an ISSN number, and the Journal had now really arrived among the best of line society publications.
I was to continue in the job up to Number 37, the only notable events being the Group#146;s investment in an electric typewriter with automatic correction, which was a huge advance for me as in those days, I typed all the text in the Journal myself, initially on my own ancient Imperial with Tippex corrections, such was life before computers. The interior was tidied up somewhat, but latterly we were beset with the problems of an increasing demand straining the cottage industry production process, not only in its assembly by hand, but in the problems in getting the pages photocopied. We had passed the point where Ray, Bill or I could get the bits done at work, admittedly invoking huge expenses in boxes of chocolates for the actual workers. Thus 36 was the first one to be commercially printed by Shedden Macintosh in Clydebank, though the cover colour had changed to brown for some reason. By 37, I had handed my notice in, I simply did not have enough time to produce the Journal due to work and family commitments, and Stuart Black volunteered (yes volunteered) to take over from 38.
Sadly Stuart was unable to take on the role, as was a second more peripheral volunteer, and there was a period of uncertainty until Bill Rear was persuaded to take the job. His first Editorial in number 38 opens with those classic words #147;Having assumed the Editorial role at short notice, and in an acting capacity........#148; Bill stayed in the job until number 63, some six years later!! Now Bill was an experienced author, having published a number of books, mainly on the North Wales area in which he lived, and he was able to introduce computer based desk top publishing software to replace the previous laboriously typed version. So the Journal entered another era.
Bill kept the same cover design, but for some now forgotten reason, 48 and 49 came out in blue! Not surprisingly this caused some furore but by the appearance of bumper commemorative Issue 50, it had reverted to brown and featured a colour photograph of Scott class #147;Dugald Dalgetty#148; at Humshaugh in BR days.. Bill continued to produce a quality product supported by a small loyal band of authors and the same printers. As ever though, demands on time and other domestic factors caused Bill to tender his resignation after issue 63. The absence of a successor was averted by the publication of the Livery Register as 64. This was a loose leaf publication and contained virtually everything known at the time, and was collated by Archie Noble.
The void of the Editor#146;s position remained, and in the absence of anybody daft enough to volunteer, the Committee came to an arrangement with the #147;Journal Editorial Committee#148; to produce the Journal on their behalf. The committee consisted of John Smith, Sandy Maclean and Ronnie Cockburn, and, as John said in his first Editorial, the new Journal was something of a shock to the system. With a bold new cover design mainly in black print but with red relief, number 65 was printed throughout on glossy paper by Alex MacKay of Port Glasgow. It also established an important change in content, removing all #147;topical#148; matters such as membership details, notices, requests for information to a loose newsletter, leaving the Journal to contain items of a factual nature regarding the railway to which it refers, whether this be prototype or model. The Editorial Committee had produced six issues when a difference of opinion caused it to resign, though it was persuaded to produce one further issue, 71, which appeared in the summer of 1998.
To fill the void this time, the Group eventually turned again to the long suffering Bill Rear, who commenced his second stint with number 72 which was dated June 1999. While still printed by MacKays in Port Glasgow, It had a new cover design mainly dark green with a full colour N.B.R. crest and central black amp; white photograph, and it was printed on a satin finish paper. The coloured cover masters were printed separately on heavy grade A3 paper and the photograph and text overprinted so that the folded sheet becomes the first two and last two pages of the finished item, a system that remained in use up to Issue 99. Bill produced eight of these Journals, including a bumper 60 page 74, culminating in 79 dated Winter 2000. By then he had had enough, and the Committee was again on the lookout for a new Editor.
In one of those frequent examples of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I was wandering around the Gauge O Guild#146;s Scotgog event in Linlithgow in late 2000, and was approached by the menacing figure of Chairman Jimmy Hay and trapped in a corner. Jim suggested that I might like to be Editor again! I was quite adamant that this was not a good idea, however I somewhat foolishly agreed to reconsider if Jim couldn#146;t get anybody else. Needless to say the job was mine again, and I looked forward to typing it on a computer.
However if you have read this story so far, you will know that the Journal was now prepared on a desk top publishing system. I had no idea what this was, and it took me six months to learn even the basics of a system which seemed, and continues to seem, far too complicated for our simple Journal. This was not helped by an instruction manual written in computer gibberish, and I had to ring Archie several times for assistance, sometimes barely understanding his answers as well! Suffice to say I eventually got number 80 finished in June 2001, but then there was a shortage of pre-printed covers. I personally did not like the then current cover design, and so I decided on a monochrome cover until I could finalise a design, and 80 duly appeared carrying the date Spring 2001. Apart from a particularly hideous font for the title due to some cock-up within Page Plus, it was not too bad. The printer had been changed to DocQwise in York, this being the printer of the Newsletter, and I did visit them and was suitably impressed and generally happy with their efforts. The second of the grey covered Journals, 81, was out towards the end of 2001, and added the crest and a more acceptable font, and 82 was starting to look more like what I wanted. I spent some time in designing the new cover, and I am very happy with it. It first appeared on 83, which came out in late 2002 despite having a Spring 2002 date, and has been in use ever since, and will be into the foreseeable future as long as I remain in the Editorial chair..
Since 83, I have been valiantly trying to catch up on the Journals, so far without success. The desk top publishing system used, Page Plus, is bedevilled with an insane desire to continually update itself, so having taken six months to learn Version 3, when we changed to version 6 it lost a further couple of months, then 7 and 8 were not too bad, but the latest step to 11 was another couple of months. I have not seen any improvement as far as we are concerned from Version 3! In order to try to equate the date on the cover with that of the publication, the sharp-eyed will have noticed that the last issue was Summer 2006 and this one is simply 2007, I have neither the time nor the copy to catch up, and have therefore given up trying.
Now Number 100. This is the first issue to be printed by our new printers in Birtley, Tyne amp; Wear. I have been aware for some time that there were a number of points of concern with the printers in York. The principle one from the Members#146; perception was the photographic quality, which was at best variable and at worst completely unacceptable. This did seem to coincide with the change of title of the printers to #147;Paper4U#148;, which may be a clue to the problems. Having eventually exhausted all avenues with them, I concluded that there was no alternative but to find a printer who new what they were doing, and change printers. Fortunately Mike Shannon was familiar with a possible outfit with whom he already had a business relationship, and he was good enough to arrange an introduction. A bonus was that this man was located about half a mile from my work, and after some discussions it seems that he is exactly what we require. Hopefully this will prove to be a successful and long lasting arrangement, with an improved product with all production within the Editor#146;s control. Time will tell!
So what of the future? Chairman Macdonald (small d) in his notes in Number 50 thanked all who had contributed to the first fifty, and closed with #147;and here#146;s to the next fifty#148;. Well Brian, here we are at last! I would hope that there may be another fifty but who can tell. The group seems to be strong at present, with a reasonably steady membership number and in excellent financial health. It would be reasonable to assume that the membership will gradually decline as time passes, and the North British Railway becomes ever more distant in the past, however this may prove not to be the case. Certainly the current dearth of #147;modern#148; articles on the former N.B.R. Area would suggest this, no doubt time will tell.
I must apologise for what was intended to be a one page Editorial becoming a history of the Journal, but it just seemed to grow! I have refrained from putting a photograph of engine number 100 on the front cover, firstly as it is a rather hackneyed practice, and secondly because I could not find a photograph of #147;Glen Dochart#148; in N.B.R. livery. I hope that you enjoy reading the complex history of our Journal, and indeed the rest of this memorable hundredth issue.
I would ask you to consider putting your areas of expertise in writing for the benefit of the rest of the membership. A continued supply of articles will keep the Journals coming, and hopefully prevent the Group from diminishing in size too much or too quickly! Now that the printer problems that have beset the last few issues are hopefully resolved, I hope that Journals will appear at a greater frequency than of late. It is unfortunate that the change of printer, which has involved a large amount of work on my part, has coincided with a period of uncertainty at my workplace, with a consequent increase in my workload and resultant shortage of #147;spare#148; time.
My thanks to the members, surprisingly too many to mention individually, who offered information on the photograph on page 17 of Journal 99, the primary purpose of which was to show a cask wagon in use. The photograph was taken by Rudolph Haddon, who worked for the NB Loco Company in Glasgow, part of his duties being to supervise the delivery of newly built Southern Railway locomotives from the works to Berwick. The location of the picture is Gorgie and the date 1st June 1925. Any suggestions as to the location of the current cover picture would be welcome, as I haven#146;t a clue!

Ed McKenna. Big day at Junction Road. 6-13.
Czar Nicholas II was eager to visit the United Kingdom in his new yacht the Standart, but the ship was too large to enter Aberdeen - the Queen was in residence in Balmoral. Furthermore, planning was complicated by the newness of the ship, but the port of Leith was selected and the date was fixes for 22 September 1896. It was considered that North Leith terminus was unsuitable for the Czar to entrain and Junction Road on the North Leith branch was selected. Much of the article is concerned with the reactions of the local politicians in Leith an Edinburgh. The train stopped at Dundee, and time lost thereat was regained. The timetable from Junction Road to Ballater is reproduced. The motive power is postulated as Nos. The return journey by the Czar was from Ballater to Portsmouth and did not concern the NBR.

Jim Summers. A model locomotive, the real No. 38. 14-15.
2-4-0

Andrew Hajducki. Elliot Junction - a centenary compilation. 16-20.
Shortly before four o' clock on the afternoon of 28 December 1906 a train headed by 4-4-0 locomotive No. 324 was being driven by George Gourlay, an NBR employee for some forty-six years, when it collided with a train standing at Elliot Junction station on the Dundee @ Arbroath Joint line; in the resulting accident 22 people, including Robert Irvine the fireman of No. 234 and Guard Leslie of the standing train, were killed. On 11 th March 1907 Gourlay was found guilty of cul- pable homicide by an Edinburgh jury on a majority verdict of 10-5 and sentenced to five months imprisonment, later re- duced to three after the NBR Board took the extraordinary step, on 21 st March 1907, of petitioning the Secretary of State for Scotland for remission of the remainder of his sentence. In addition the Company continued to pay Gourlay wages while he was in custody, found him a job on his release and allowed a large sum of money, raised from a sympathetic public, to be deposited in the NB Savings Bank for the benefit of Gourlay and the widows of Irvine and Leslie.
One important aspect of the accident was the legal significance of the action for damages which was raised in the Court of Session by Mrs Elinor Wilson or Black and her four children for loss of society and guidance and the financial loss which they had sustained as a result of the death of a passenger in the standing train, William Black, Writer to the Signet and Member of Parliament for Banffshire. According to the official law report :
"The pursuers averred that on 28th December 1906 the deceased travelled by train from Arbroath to Elliot Junction, where the train arrived some six minutes after leaving Arbroath and here it remained standing for some time; that on the day a snow-storm of exceptional severity prevailed which prevented the signals from working properly and owing to one of the lines in the neighbourhood being blocked the traffic was being worked on a single line; that about fifteen minutes after the said train had been despatched from Arbroath, and in the midst of a blinding snow-storm, another train was despatched southwards from Arbroath, travelling tender first, which did not slacken speed on approaching Elliot junction but, while travelling at a speed of about 30 miles per hour, dashed into the train in which the deceased was seated The pursuers further averred ... "The said accident and conse- quent death of Mr Black was caused by the gross negligence of the defenders and their servants in, inter alia, the following respects: - (a) That the defenders' servants had started the train tender first, which in view of the state of the weather, was a dangerous and unjustifiable method of travelling, (b) That the station master at Arbroath, although he knew that the signals were not working properly and that one line was blocked, had started the second train in a dangerously short time after the first, and without warning the engine-driver to proceed with caution, (c) That the engine-driver of the second train {Gourlay] had driven at excessive speed, had failed to observe the various signals and had failed to draw up before passing the home signal at Elliot Junction and (d) That the stationmaster at Elliot Junction had failed to put fog signals on the line to the north of the Junction, as it was his duty in the state of the weather to do."
Although the family eventually received from a jury rather less than the #163;21,000 which they had claimed, the decision in Black v North British Railway, 1908 Session Cases 444, is still cited in the courts today not only on account of the fact that it settled the form of Issues (the formal questions) that are still put to civil juries in Scotland but, more importantly, because it contains an authoritative exposition of the rejection in our law of the concept of exemplary damages and an upholding of the principle that whereas the suffering of the deceased and the loss suffered by his relatives are relevant considerations in deciding how much compensation should be paid to a widow and children, the grossness of the fault of the defenders is not damages are to compensate pursuers, not to punish defenders.
The sympathy for Gourlay was expressed in three poems by Agnes C. Pringle, handwritten copies of which were found amongst the papers of the late Willie Hennigan, and in this centenary year are worthy of repetition here. Illustrations: Rear view of the derailed locomotive; Front view of the derailed locomotive; Crane clearing wreckage of No. 324

Peter Marshall. The North British Railway in 1907 from "The Railway Year Book 1908". 20-3.

Jeff Hurst. The restoration of Bilston Glen Viaduct. 23-5.
Last train ran over it in 1972. Became an unofficial footpath, but eventually sealed off, but in 1998 it was agreed to restore it as an official footpath and cycleway, which was completed in early 2004.

Allan Rodgers. NBR locomotive liveries 1846-1922: follow-up and amendments to original article published in Journal number 96. 26-47
Introduction
I wrote my original article on NBR locomotive liveries as a discussion document. I was very much aware that, in attempting to describe the NBR livery story in detail, I was putting forward my own views and opinions, based on such evidence as I could find, and that some members may well hold differing views on the matter. It was, therefore, essential to encourage feedback and comment from the Group membership if we were ever to complete our planned Livery Register.
I#146;m pleased to say that quite a few of you rose to the challenge and I received some excellent feedback and my thanks are due to the dozen or so members who responded by letter, e-mail or telephone. In particular, I#146;d like to record my appreciation to the following members who took the time and trouble to give me detailed feedback on the original article: Euan Cameron, Paul Smith and Peter Westwater.
It is important that this follow-up article is read in conjunction with my original one, as this article adds to the debate and, more importantly, contains amendments to the previous article where I now see that some of my original assumptions may not have been correct. I hope that these two articles, taken together, will form the basis of the locomotive section of our Livery Register. However, as I mention in the final section of this article, there is still much to do, particularly in the tracking down and examination of those appropriate colour samples which still exist.
I have included some additional illustrations in this article and, for clarity, I have continued with the original plate numbering system from the Journal 96 article. Accordingly, the illustrations in this text start at plate number 53. In Appendix 1 of the previous article, I attempted to give as complete a summary as I could of the different liveries used by the NBR. Some of the entries have been amended as a result of comments received and, where corrections have been made, these are documented in this article and are summarised in Appendix 5 (continuing from the previous appendix numbering), which now replaces the original Appendix 1. After some general comments, this article follows the same layout as the previous article by dividing the livery information into periods according to the tenure of each NBR locomotive superintendent.
Dating of photographs
In making any deductions from a photograph about a particular livery, the researcher needs to be reasonably confident of the date the photograph was taken. As Euan Cameron pointed out in his comments to me: #147;#133;.if one makes unjustified inferences about dates, one is then prone to pile deduction on deduction until entirely mistaken conclusions are reached.#148; Euan has been immensely helpful in advising on dates and in correcting some of my assumptions about the dates of the photographs used in my previous article. As a general comment, it is well worth quoting his overall remarks to me on the dating of photographs: #147; By the time one gets into the early 20th century some collections of photographs, e.g. the Ken Nunn collection, the R. D. Stephen collection, or the T. G. Hepburn collection, may have sufficient authentic accompanying data to allow one to date photos precisely to a specific day. However, there are very few such certain dates in the case of photos from before c. 1895.
This means that one can only deduce the date of a locomotive photograph from incidental or internal evidence: Sometimes the photograph is one of a batch that are all known to have been taken around the same period, like A. E. Lockyer's hundred or so photographs taken at Cowlairs c. 1893-5, of which the survivors are now in the NRM as LPC collection negatives nos. 19925- 19998. Similarly the photographs taken by S. A. Forbes at Perth in the middle 1890s (scattered around LPC 16400+) can be dated more or less by association with each other.
Works photographs, if they really are works photographs, usually date reliably from the date of building or rebuilding. However, the N. B. R. did not take works photographs of its locomotives consistently, and some of those that were taken have been lost or dispersed.
Otherwise one is forced to work from numbers, where visible (since renumbering often implies a recorded date). Or one works from mechanical alterations, provided that one knows the original constructional details of a locomotive and has access to the builders' drawings. Fortunately the N. B. R. designers were often quite idiosyncratic about things like lamp irons, lubricators, clack valves, safety valves, and injectors. It becomes possible to detect when an engine has been modified in minor but meaningful ways. #147;
Livery specifications
In his feedback, Jem Harrison made a point about my use of the word #147;specification#148; in the headings to summarised details of individual livery schemes. There is the danger that readers will assume the documented descriptions to be official ones, rather than a summary of deductions from research. He#146;s quite right and, on reflection, my use of this word may have been a little misleading. Perhaps a better phrase to have used would be #147;deduced livery descriptions#148;, rather than #147;livery specifications#148;.
I should, perhaps, say that one of my key aims in this review of NBR locomotive liveries is to establish some reasonable guidelines for modellers and artists who wish to depict NBR engines as they were at particular periods. It is for this reason that I compiled the information contained in Appendix 1 of the original article. Whilst I accept that, in most cases, we cannot be certain of the exact colour used, I have attempted, never-the-less, to pinpoint the most likely colour, based on the available evidence. Anyone using the information contained in this article and in the previous article needs to remain aware of these uncertainties and form their own view, having read the details. Please remember, also, that the work is not finished as we still have to track down all potential colour samples for more detailed analysis. The CMYK values I quoted in the original article are very much preliminary and will be subject to change

Alistair Nisbet. The milk thief. 47.
Report in Dundee Courier of 28 December 1906 of trial of NBR driver John Hutchinson and fireman John Davidson of theft of milk from guard's van who were apprehended by PC Drysdale of Thornton. They were found guilty and sentenced to be fined or imprisoned for 21 days.

Issue No. 101 (2008)

G.W.M. Sewell. The Tay Bridge Disaster: a new look at an old engma. 3-8.

Journal 100 cover picture. Allan Rodgers. 8
Photograph was taken just west of Blackford Hill station heading towards Morningside. Also photographs of Royal Train passing the same location iin c1905 and tree lined setting as in c2010

Douglas Yuill. The North British Railway and the coal industry in East and Midlothian #150; a retrospective view. 9-19.
Introduction to Edinburgh Coalfield; its geology and workings. Full accoount of Wallyford Colliery. History coal dug near Wallyford at least since Battle of Pinkie.

Allistair F. Nisbet. The Scott characters. 20-7.
The names of Sir Walter Scott's characters were carried by the Scott class 4-4-0; some of the Reid Atlantics and by the Director D11 class allocated for Scottish service. Some were repeatedv on the Peppercorn A1 Pacifics and on some Great Western locomotives. Illustrations:

Ed McKenna. Alphabet soup. 28-31.
Traders' wagons (private owners' wagons): ABM No. 8 of Dundee: built Hurst Nelson in 1895 for Andrew Boyd McCrae with timber frame, dunb buffers and end and side doors; R. amp; Co. No. 7 of Chirnside (4 plank with end amp; side doors); W.B. of Edrom No. 2 (as previous). Three photographs from Historical Model Railway Society Collection (first also probably available in Motherwell with Horst Nelson Collection indexed by KPJ in his youth). Latter two were merchants on the former Berwickshire Railway and were suupplied by R.Y. Pickering. See also further informattion

Alan Simpson. The Kinnedar Branch. 31
Was in West Fife and to the north of the town of Oakley. It connected with the Stirling and Dunfermline section of the North British Railway and it served the Kinnedar valley collieries of the Oakley Coal Co. Ltd. See also Issue 101.

Issue No. 102 (2008)

G5 0-4-4T No.67248 with brake third and first lavatory composite at Duns with service from Reston Junction. front cover

Douglas Yuill. The North British Railway and the coal industry in East and Midlothian #150; a retrospective view. Part Two. 3-10
Drummore Colliery, Prestongrange Colliery and Northfield Colliery. Illustrations: Morrison's Haven siignal box; Prestongrange 0-4-0ST No. 8 (Andrew Barclay 1881 for Summerlee and Mossend Iron amp; Steel Co No. 5 #151; transferred c1955; J37 No, 4557 near Morrison's Haven with train of empties; Northfield Colliery.plan 1907

Ed. McKenna. Thirled wagons on the North British Railway. 11-20.
In railway terms Lord MacKenzie, in his judgement on the Railway and Canal Commission #147;Wagon Cases#148; hearing in 1910, defined thirled wagons as #147;#133;waggons owned by the railway company but dedicated wholly to the traffic of a particular trader.#148;

John McGregor. Explosives, various. 20-2.
Edward Ristori of the North British Aluminium Company was involved in the promotion of the Invergarry amp; Fort Augustus Railway as it was cosnstructing an aluminium works at Foyers. The competing railway plans all took the northern side of Loch Ness through Invermorriston and Glen Urquhart which was not to Ristori's liking. The Kinlochleven aluminium plant led to proposals for a northern branch from Fort William. The Lochaber Power Scheme of the 1920s involved short deviations of the West Highland line near Loch Trieg and temporary sidings at Fersit.. Finally the project required large quantities of dynamite and Lox and this was handled with great care on the contractor's light raiulway. David Warren of the Glasgow explosives firm of Hunter amp; Warren Ltd wrote personally to James Calder, former NBR General Manager and then Southern Scottish Area General Manager LNER to show how they could cooperate in handling this material

Donald Cattanach. The Queen's Station and Queen Victoria's Journeys on the North British Railway. Part 1: 1842 to 1861. 23-31.
Queen's Station never appeared in public timetables, yet its existence was well known, and it played a prominent role in Royal and State occasions in Edinburgh and in Scotland for over thirty years. Its beginnings, the period of its existence, and its name, have all been the subject of contradictory accounts. Using contemporary newspaper reports, principally from the Scotsman, to supplement other sources, it is hoped that this may clarify matters. In The First Railway Across the Border, George Dow wrote: Soon after the line was opened a station was brought into use at Meadowbank, subsequently known variously as St. Margarets and Queen's. It was located about 100 yards west of the place where the railway passed under the Portobello Road. On the occasion of Queen Victoria's Scottish visit in 1850, when she pened the Royal Border Bridge at Berwick en route, Meadowbank station was specially refurbished, for, being only about a quarter of a mile from Holyrood Palace, the Queen detrained there on arrival from the south. Henceforward usually referred to as Queen's station, it is not known when it was closed, but it had certainly ceased to exist soon after the opening of the present [twentieth] century. Another very early station was Jock's Lodge, situated about a quarter of a mile east of Queen's station. The precise date it was opened is unknown but, on the instructions of the North British Board, it ceased to function as from 1 July 1848. This is not entirely correct. In fact, the station had been specially constructed for the Queen's visit of 1850 and her firstever stay at Holyrood. Part 2..

B1 4-6-0 No. 1222 in green livery with Up Officers Special approaching Corrour on 11 August 1947. rear cover
B1 built by North Britsh Locomotive Co. at Queens Park Works and possibly on acceptance trial. Observation Saloon No. 972002 was former GNR Prince of Wales' saloon No. 2408 built by Cravens. Lasted in service until 1965 when it became a chuch at Gatehouse of Fleet.

Issue No. 103 (December 2008)

Glen Douglas, NBR engine number 256, and its pilot engine, LNER class J37 (BR number 64632) climb out of Garelochhead. on 1 June 1963. front cover
The occasion was the Jacobite Rail Tour, operated by the the Scottish Locomotive Preservation Fund and planned as the last steam run over the West Highland line. It was intended that both engines would make the run from Glasgow Queen Street to Fort William, but, sadly, number 64632 failed at Gortan - see page 26. (Colour Photo: K.M. Falconer) .

Jeff Hurst. Strathmiglo derailment 1949. 3-5
Accident report: nbsp;by Colonel R.J. Walker on behalf of the Ministry of Transport on fatal accident on 27 November 1949 in which Driver Robertson was killed when the ballast train he was driving was derailed: Report was published on the 3rd May 1950.

Allan Rodgers. Classification – a new approach (part 1). 6-9.
A few years ago, I started the development of an electronic database of NBR locomotives designed to contain a detailed record of all NBR locomotive classes and a data record entry for each individual NBR locomotive. The information contained in the database would be extracted from various sources, including existing publications such as the RCTS series of books covering the LNER locomotives and the SLS publication dealing with NBR locomotive history up to 1882. I quickly appreciated that the key to the success of such a database depended on the method chosen to classify the stock of locomotives used by the NBR during its lifetime. I needed a system which would cover, not just the engines which transferred to the LNER at the Grouping, but all engines, including those withdrawn before the Grouping and those absorbed by the NBR through amalgamation with other railway companies, such as the Edinburgh amp; Glasgow Railway and the Edinburgh, Perth and Dundee Railway. Another requirement was that the system chosen should allow the allocation of a unique identification number to each individual engine, regardless of the various running numbers it may have carried from the time of first entering service to eventual withdrawal. I considered adopting an existing method developed by a Group. Contends that copyright might be a problem with adapting an existing system. System proposed is an extension of the well-known one adopted by the LNER (and the only thorough system used by any of the "big four" (or by British Railways). Part 2

Grahame Hood. Journey to Bathgate. 10
Twixt Forth & Clyde by A.G. Williamson was first published in 1942: essays telling of his visits to sites of historical interest in Central Scotland in the 1930s. He usually travelled by car on his trips, but on at least one occasion, he went by train as when visiting Bathgate to see the Torphichen Receptory, and to try to find the site of the castle of Walter Stewart. He described the journey from Airdrie to Bathgate noting the scenery and the effects of industry.

Euan Cameron. Drummond 18 inch goods engines. 11-15
These engines were popularly known as the 100 class, later allocated to class J32 by the L.N.E.R., and now designated class no. J032 under the new classification system described above.
When Dugald Drummond became locomotive superintendent of the N. B. R. in February 1875 he evidently sought to persuade the Board of the immediate need for more locomotives of all types. Drummond came to Cowlairs from Brighton, and it is well known that nearly all of Drummond's early designs derived from identifiable LB&SCR ancestors. The small 0-6-0Ts, the 2-2-2s, the 0-4-2Ts and the 0-6-0s all had their Brighton counterparts: the one class that resembled nothing on the Brighton line, the 4-4-0 Abbotsford, was designed as an improvisation to handle heavy passenger trains in the Borders.
Although Drummond clearly drew on Stroudley's example, one should not exaggerate the Scotsman's dependency on the Englishman. In almost every instance Drummond designed his locomotives to be significantly larger and heavier than their Stroudley counterparts. While he adopted the basic Stroudley design style of deep valances along a 4' 0" high running-plate and unbeaded splashers with reverse curves blending into the plating, Drummond changed nearly all the significant design details on the locomotives' superstructures. His chimneys flared outwards rather than inwards towards the top and had plain metal tops rather than copper caps. While Drummond experimented with the Adams safety valve, he never resorted, as did Stroudley, to the extremely dangerous Salter spring-balance valves that Wheatley had consistently replaced on many 1860s locomotives. Drummond gave his engines a cab roof with a simple arc in cross-section, avoiding Stroudley's complicated moulded roof-lines extruded from a flat-topped spectacle-plate. Having obediently followed Stroudley in fitting his first locomotive boilers with crosshead pump feed and return pipes to carry exhaust steam back into the tanks for condensing into hot water, Drummond abandoned these devices by 1878 at the very latest and used conventional injector feed thereafter.
The 0-6-0s that Drummond designed in 1876 clearly derived many design features from Stroudley's Class C 0-6-0s for the LB&SCR, first built in 1871. On the face of it this was not an obvious choice, since the C class as built had not been a particularly successful design. However, Drummond showed more than usual independence in the inner workings of his big 0-6-0s. The basic principle in each design was the same. On a 15' 3" wheelbase a large boiler was set with a shallow and quite steeply sloping firegrate. The back of the boiler foundation ring reached over the top of the trailing bearings, and the backhead was located 9¼" behind the centre of the trailing axle. The boilers of the big goods engines were subsequently used also on the Abbotsfords, and seem to have given absolutely none of the steaming problems that plagued the more or less outwardly similar Brighton equivalents. There the main resemblances between the two classes ended. The differences are shown in Table 1.
The real difference between the Drummond and Stroudley 0-6- 0s appeared in the cylinders and motion. The LB&SCR engines had slide valves below the cylinders, on a downward-pointing plane from the axles, a layout notorious for producing sluggish locomotives. Drummond instead placed the slide valves between the cylinder bores. To ensure adequate valve faces, Drummond provided each cylinder with double sets of admission and exhaust ports, one above and one below the plane of the motion. The lower sets of exhaust ports were linked to the blastpipe by a duct cast into the cylinder walls, that led exhaust steam around the outside of the cylinder and up to the blastpipe at the top. This somewhat individual arrangement of ports and passages remained unique to Drummond and the railways influenced by him, including the Caledonian and the L&SWR. On the N. B. R. these cylinders continued to be used until the last 'A' class (N15) 0-6-2Ts, delivered after the N. B. R. had been amalgamated into the L. N. E. R. This layout provided for very short steam circuits and ample area in the ports, and required no further development. Although cylinders built to this pattern were nominally 18" x 26" as in the big goods engines or 18¼" x 26" in Holmes's larger 4-4-0s, in operating practice the bores were a variety of sizes within reasonable limits: sometimes the two cylinders were not even identical. As the first locomotives to have this particular cylinder arrangement, the big 0-6-0s were of some historical significance.
As built all the large Drummond 0-6-0s had the Stroudley system where a portion of the exhaust steam was ducted back along the length of the locomotive to the tender, where it was condensed as very hot water to warm the feed-water in the tender. Since injectors would not operate with hot water, the water was fed into the boiler by a crosshead pump aligned alongside each cylinder. This system was intended to re-use otherwise waste heat and economize on fuel. However, it was unwieldy, most particularly because the locomotive had to be in motion in order to fill the boiler. Various suggestions have been made as to how the boiler could be replenished when a goods train was stationary. Essentially the system was not entirely safe, and Drummond evidently came to believe that the economies were not worth the inconvenience.
Building
The locomotives were built in three batches: one was built at Cowlairs and charged to revenue: the engines were given scattered re-used numbers, comprising twelve examples. The remaining two batches were built by Neilson & Co., six in 1876 and a further 14 in 1876-7, taking numbers 454-473 consecutively. There would have been 20 in the last batch, but the final 6 (Neilson & Co. works nos. 2145-6, 2147-2150) were replaced with the two 2-2-2s (474-5) and the first four 4-4-0s (476-9).
Early changes
With such large fireboxes the locomotives were appropriate for 'long road' goods runs that required long periods of running without stops, a kind of work that not all goods engines could manage. Various adaptations were made in traffic. Most important was the replacement of the pumps and condensers with conventional injectors situated close to the firebox foundation ring, fed with steam from the firebox crown. No dates appear to have been recorded for this change, but it was done quite early. The injectors fed the boiler through clack valves located in the same position as the originals, though rather smaller. Additionally, Holmes fitted lock-up safety valves in place of Ramsbottom or Adams valves following the disastrous boiler explosion on No. 465 at Dunbar on 1st September 1882. Holmes bulbous lubricators on the smokebox side gradually replaced Drummond rectangular lubricators on the smokebox front.
Rebuilding
No. 153 of the Cowlairs batch was reconstructed with Morton's radial valve gear in 1890 and carried this apparatus until rebuilt entirely in 1901. The valve gear was quite complex, but the main visible effect was that the weighshaft bearing and the reversing lever were moved towards the rear where the front of the driving splasher partly concealed the bearing. Victorian engineers loved experimenting with steam distribution through different kinds of valve motion, though Holmes wisely restrained his experiments to single locomotives rather than whole classes. No worthwhile benefits resulted.
Between 1899 and 1903 the entire class was rebuilt to Holmes's design, laid out in Cowlairs GA drawing No. 1372B. In this particular case the rebuilding must have been more than usually drastic, since it entailed extending the distance from driving to trailing axles from 7' 9" to 8' 0". This brought the mainframe layout of the Big Drummonds into exact conformity to the Holmes 18" goods engines of the 604 class (later to be the L. N. E. R. 'J36' class when rebuilt). This poses the interesting question of whether the Drummond frames were completely replaced, or simply cut and patched to extend the wheelbase. The General Arrangement drawing of the rebuilds does not appear to show completely new frames, and the frames of the rebuilds were not the same as those of the Cowlairs-built Holmes goods engines, which one would have expected to have been the case if the frames had been new. This cutting and filleting of engine frames sounds alarming but was apparently quite feasible if done properly. G. N. R. Stirling Single No. 1 in the National Railway Museum has reputedly undergone just such a frame extension at some stage in its career.
Whatever the facts of the matter, the rebuilt Big Drummonds were shorter overall than their original form, because Holmes fitted his 18" goods boiler with a much shorter firebox and flat grate, and gave the Drummonds the same cab and trailing end layout as on his own 0-6-0s. The net effect was to shorten the frames by six inches. Boilers were ordered from a variety of contract builders as well as from Cowlairs: the origins of the new boilers are recorded on the data sheet below. Once the Big Drummonds were rebuilt, only the absence of mainframe slots next to the firebox, and the tenders with underslung springs, betrayed their different origins from the Holmes 'eighteen-inchers'. Some time after the locomotives were rebuilt, their Drummond tenders were also refurbished with much more solid axlebox hornplates, heavier, deeper journals, and new spring hangers. The latter were based on Cowlairs locomotive practice, though riveted outside the frames rather than inside the frames as on the locomotives. The crew working-space was more fully enclosed and coal rails were fitted to the tender flares. The feeble wooden brake blocks of the original design were replaced with cast metal blocks with conventional hangers. Since these changes were not applied immediately on rebuilding, they are not shown on my drawing. However, all Drummond locomotives rebuilt under Holmes or Reid eventually had these changes made to their tenders, unless the tender was entirely replaced with a new pattern.
Liveries
The works photographs of the Big Drummonds all show No. 463 in shop grey, but give some sense of the lining. An engraving of one of the Cowlairs-built engines published in The Engineer in 5th January 1877 shows the locomotive with double lining on the panelled areas of the splashers, cab side and tender tank, the double lines enclosing a black band. This engraving also shows the corners as embellished with a double curve meeting at a point, as in Wheatley and Stroudley practice. However, the Neilson works photos show simple 90° curves. It is fairly likely that these engines as built received a version of Stroudley's goods livery, with dark olive green body colour and black lining bands edged in red. (Stroudley only introduced the red when he fitted some goods engines with Westinghouse brake.) The valances and tender outside frames were dark red. The Cowlairs locomotives received a Wheatley pattern numberplate with raised letters and numbers on a recessed ground painted blue; the Neilson engines had a polished brass numberplate with recessed letters and numbers filled with black wax. Neilson numberplates were always slightly different from Cowlairs numberplates in terms of the profile and the dimensions of the lettering.
As rebuilt the locomotives received standard Holmes livery, which did not vary between passenger and goods engines. I believe that the Drummond (and Wheatley, and older) tenders retained the dark red livery on their outside frames long after Holmes had abandoned it for newer engines. However, though this conclusion is based on very careful inspection of photographs, it is a best guess and cannot be regarded as absolutely authoritative. After 1915 the Drummond goods engines received the wartime black goods livery including double straw yellow lining-out, large initials and control numbers on the tenders, and power class plates ('C') on the cab sides. When duplicated, the locomotives received the Wheatley pattern numberplate, which was revived in the last years of the N. B. R. for duplicate numbered locomotives.
Withdrawal
The rebuilt Big Drummonds seem to have given good service alongside the Holmes 0-6-0s, but were not considered for further rebuilding unlike the older Wheatley goods engines. (This may also suggest that the frames were nearing the end of their life, but I should not press this point.) Most Drummond locomotives were placed on the duplicate list and marked for withdrawal in approximately their chronological order of building. Withdrawal policies appear to have been driven more by the calendar than by any detailed assessment of their mechanical condition. By the 1920s they were approaching 50 years old and were simply wearing out. Most survived a few months to two years into the LNER period, but none was renumbered or repainted for their new owners.
All in all the 'Big Drummonds' were very successful goods locomotives, though by their design influence on the concept of the Abbotsford 4-4-0s they had an impact even beyond the work they actually performed.

Allan Rodgers. Ashbury five compartment thirds. 16
Ashbury Railway Carriage and Iron Company of Openshaw, near Manchester, were suppliers of passenger vehicles to the North British Railway during the early part of the 1870s The arc-roofed thirds had five compartments, with the compartment divider only extending to the top of the seat backs, making it, in effect, an open carriage. It is not known whether these carriages were to the manufacturer or NBR design. However, this author believes the basic design concept of a five compartment open third, carrying 50 passengers, was first introduced by Hurst.

Donald Cattanach. The Queen#146;s station #150; part 2. 17-24
Part 1. Following the death of Prince Albert Queen Victoria did not visit, or pass through Edinburgh until 1867 when as part of a visit to the Duke and Duchess of Roxburghe at Floors Castle near Kelso. The Royal Train, including the LNWR, left Windspor on the evening of 20 August 1867 and arrived in Carlisle on the following morning where a hiatus arose as to whether thr Royal Saloon would fit within the limits of certail bridges on the North British. Thus Her Majesty was breakfasted whilst an alternate vhicle was prepared for her onward jorney to Kelso. On page 17 it is stated that Charles Mason, assitant general manager LNWR handed over responsibility to brother Sam of NBR. Evidently fears of Royal saloon being outwith loading gauge were unfounded and onward journey from Kelso was in the Royal saloon (after it had made a trial run to Larbert and back whilst Her Majesty enjoyed the Borders). She departed Kelso at 23.30 on 23 August nbsp;and passed through Edinburgh at about 01.15 where it fell under Calaedonian control. The precautions to be observed whilst working the train are set out. The Queen's Station at Meadowbank nbsp;was enlarged for the Royal visit of 1872. nbsp;This time Her Majesty arrived at the Queen's Station from Osborne via the Wavrley route on 14 August at 08.53; departing on 16 August at 23,30 for Balmoral. In 1876 the journey was broadly repeated to enable Queen Victoria to unveil a bronze equestrian statue of Prince Albert, executed by John Steele, in Charlotte Square on 16 August. The Queen departed from her station on 18 August for the the overnight journey to Balmoral. In 1878 tyhe nbsp;Queen at short notice decided to visit nbsp;the Duke and Duchess of Roxburghe at their residence at Broxmouth Park near Dunbar The Royal Train arrived from Osborne via Carlisle, St. Boswells, the Berwickshire Railway, Dunse and Reston. Drummond was on the footplate from Carlisle: two locomotives were used to St Boswells; then nbsp;2-2-2 No. 474 Glasgow was in the care of Drummond as far as Dunbar where the train had to set back as it slipped past the red carpet In 1879 on the southward journey from Balmoral on 20 June a stop was made at Dundee: thus far the train was in the care of the Caledonian, but Drummond with a North British locomotive tool over to cross the Bridge and onward to Ladybank where the train reversed and traversed the Perth amp; Kinross and Devon Valley lines to reach Stirling where the Caledonian took over. In 1881 thre Meadowbank station was probably used for the last time when the Queen arrived from Osborne on 24 August behind two Drummond 4-4-0s Nos. 476 Carlisle and 493 Netherby with Drummond and Holmes on the footplates. The reason for the visit was aa Review of the Volunteers of Scotland in the Queen's Park, notable for the wet and muddy conditions. The departure was on 26 August when John Brown wiped the window of the Royal Saloon to enable the Queen to respond to the crowd as it passed through Waverley. In 1886 arrived at Waverley station via the Waverley route at 07.58 on 18 August and departed again on 20 August. Thereason for the visit was support for the International Exhibition, when prodigious efforts were made to transport the railway exhibits (Holmes 4-4-0 No. 592 and Caledonian 4-2-2 No. 123) to the Meadows. Her return on 4 November involved a brief call at Edinburgh to view the tomb of nbsp;the Earl of Dalkeith, The Queen complained about the excessive speed and jerkiness on the onward journey to Carlisle. On 19 June 1891 the Queen returning from Balmoral expressed a wish to travel over the Tay and Forth Bridge en route south from Balmoral The train paused in Edinburgh and then took the Waverley route to Carlislenbsp;.See also letter from John McGregor in Issue 104 page 38 nbsp;See also letter from Donald Catttenach in Issue 110.

David Stirling. The railways of Thomas Bouch. 24.
Bouch engineered several lines in the North British sphere of influence: the Edinburgh amp; Northern, Peebles, Leven, St Andrews, Leadburn, Linton amp; Dolphinton, Edinburgh Loanhead amp; Roslin and North British Arbroath amp; Montrose Railways were all his work. He had a successful career with the Edinburgh, Perth amp; Dundee, most notably inventing the train ferries across the firths which made the line viable as a through route. After this he became a consulting engineer, specialising in economical railways. John Thomas, never one to overlook a good story, relates the difficulties the Leven Railway and the St Andrews Railway had with Bouch in Forgotten Railways: Scotland. We get the impression of a bungling incompetent, or at least someone who could not deliver on time. These two were railways built down to a price, for their owners had problems raising capital, and the railways certainly had to spend money later to make up for the cheap construction in the first place. The tale ends with the fairy godmother, the North British, playing an unaccustomed role, stepping in to save the poor little railways and sort out their inadequacies. Well, things were not quite like that. The NB did take over the Leven amp; East of Fife, as it had then become, and the St Andrews Railway in 1877, but it had to exchange their owners' ordinary shares for special lien stock, ranking ahead of North British stocks and paying a fixed dividend of 10#189;%. That was more than three times the dividend the NB ordinary shareholders were getting in 1877, and NBR dividends had been zero a few years earlier. These railways may have been economically built, but they were evidently desirable property. Includes a portrait. See also letter in Issue 104 from John McGregor

14 ton goods brake van. 25
W.P. Reid design of 1905: cokloured diagram (side amp; end elevations) and photograph taken in Cowlaairs paint shop.

Album page. 26
Peebles staion goods yard in snow on 30 December 1961. Rae Montgomery colour photograph
Failed J37 No. 64632 in siding and Glen Douglas awaiting diesel assiutance at Corrour on 1 June 1961. K.M. Falconer colour photograph. See also front cover and letter from Keith Fenwick for further information on further problems.

Andrew Hajducki. Innerwick. 27-8
Photographs of station forecourt with old carriage body; goods porter, station agentt, booking clerk and signalman and signal box and extrract from Ordnance Survey 25 inch map. . See also letter from David Lindsay in Issue 104.

Allan Rodgers. Lamps. 28.
Two photographs of gas platform lamps from Kinghorn station with cast iron ownership "Edinburgh amp; Northern Railway". See also letter from David Lindsay in Issue 104 and from Jim Page in Issue 105 page 37

Douglas Yuill. Coal in East/Midlothian. Part 3. 29-37
The original pits at Prestonlinks were situated on the seaward side of the road between Prestonpans and Cockenzie, where the massive bulk of Cockenzie Power Station now stands. John Grieve of Bankpark, Tranent sunk No 1 Pit about 1833 and No 2 Pit about 1855 to extract clay for his pottery and coal to fire it. The clay was taken to his Bankpark Brickworks on the north side of Tranent by cart and any coal surplus to his requirements was disposed of either by cart or by sea. Grieve had built a wooden pier set on iron pillars, named Britannia Pier on the O S map until its deletion in 1878, extending out into the Firth of Forth to supply small craft with coal, run in hutches on rails directly from the pit head. Grieve also sunk a number of pits in the hinterland of Prestonlinks, but these had a short life and were abandoned during the eighteen sixties. However, his Prestonlinks Pits lingered on until 1883, employing 30 men underground and 8 on the surface when they too were abandoned, gradually filling with water. Prestonlinks lay idle until 1901, when the newly created Forth Collieries Company Ltd., a company formed by the well known mining family the Nimmos from Slamannan, Stirlingshire, acquired the mineral leases of the Bankton and Prestonlinks Estates. They widened the 1855 shaft, retaining the earlier shaft for ventilation purposes, before proceeding to sink a new shaft on the south side of the coast road in 1903. This they called the 'Crown' shaft, as it was intended to facilitate the working of the extensive undersea 'Crown' coal reserves beyond a whinstone barrier one mile out from the shoreline.
Forth Collieries went public in July 1903, with a share capital of #163;200,000 in ordinary shares. Included in their prospectus prepared for potential shareholders was reference to the proposed expenditure of some #163;70.000 on the provision of railway sidings and other works and #163;25,000 for workmen's houses.
As mentioned above, the original pits at Prestonlinks were situated near the shore of the Firth of Forth, about three quarters of a mile distant form the main railway line, so when the Forth Collieries acquired the mineral lease in 1901 one of the early considerations was to construct a private mineral railway linking their new colliery to exchange sidings with the N.B.R. //Prestonlinks Colliery could srend its output by conveyor belt to Cockenzie Power Station which was also served by Merry-Go-Rond trains from Bilston Glen and Monktonhall Collieries. Also Bankton and Prince Charlie Collieries. Riggonhead and St. Germains Collieries.

Book review 38-9
The West Highland Railway: plans, politics and people. John McGregor. Birlinn, 2006. reviewed by Mike Smith
A long review which observes the significance of this addition to the literature on the WHR

Letters page. 39

Portobello Passenger Railway Station (1880-1964). Mike Smith
As many members will be aware, Portobello station, which closed complerely as at 7 September 1964. was built as an island platform, to which access was effected by means of an underpass constructed at right angles to the tracks above between the top of Station Brae and the Christian Path, from which stairs led up to the platform centre. The underpass was filled in with station debris, and each end sealed, during demolition in 1967.
In course of recent researches, it appeared that I should ascertain whether any other NB stations (leaving aside various West Highland examples) were constructed in this manner, perhaps in the Glasgow area, or elsewhere. Can any member assist with advice?. Reply from Alasdair Lauder

NBR Class D' 0-6-0T - LNER Class 'J83'. Locomotive No. 815 - LNER 9815 and 8462. Mike Srnith .nbsp;
40 engines of this class were constructed for the NBR in 1900-1901. 39 members of the class entered BR service in 1948, and were renumbered in the 60,000 series, being withdrawn gradually between 1956 and 1962.
Every so often, I have wondered why the sole exception No.9815. having been renumbered 8462 in April 1946 - succumbed to withdrawal in September 1947. so much earlier than its sisters. Pictures do exist of this locomotive. after withdrawal awaiting breaking up at Inverurie Works. One such, from the Hennigan collection, is illustrated below. It was taken by the late H C Casserley on 16th October 1947.
Can any member enlighten me as to the reason why this locornotive disappeared relatively early. and from which shed it was withdrawn? Unfortunately, there has not yet appeared the appropriate section of the Yeadon Locomotives of the LNER series which might assist in providing relevant information. See reply from Bill Lynn in Issue 104 page 38 and from Archie Noble and Hamish Stevenson and from Mike Smith again

Then amp; now: Longniddry station. rear cover
Black amp; white photographs taken c1900, 1930s and colour image taken in 2008

Issue No. 104 (March 2009)

J37 0-6-0 No. 64577 passing West Ferry station with 13.30 Dundee to Montrose mixed freight on 30 May 1966. K.M. Falconer. colour photograph

Ed McKenna. Small bogie wagons. 3-6.
Attempt to sell off old wagons from Monkland Railway system. Advertisement in The Scotsman on 23 March 1893: notice dated previous day. The Monkland Railway was originally 4ft 6in gauge and the NBR sought to rid itself of these old wagons. No illustration of the original wagons had been found

Mike Esbester. The safety movement. 7-8.
1913 campaign to reduce accidents at work: illustrations from booklet issued to staff in about 1920.

Mike Jodeluk. Female railway clerks. 8.
From East Fife Record of 11 Decenber 1858

Euan Cameron. Holmes " 574" class express engines. 9-13
Drummond had plans for a 17-in short-wheelbase 4-4-0 and the Museum of Scotland has a model of one which purports to be an Abbotsford. The Holmes design as built differs in having a flat, rather than sloping, grate. Illustrations: nbsp;

Allan Rodgers. Ashbury 3rds #150; a follow up. 14-15.
Includes coloured elevations. See also letter from Hamish Stevenson

Jeff Hurst. Loanhead. 16-20
Glencorse branch: detailed diagrams of station and signal box structures

Allan Rodgers. Classification #150; a new approach (part 2). 21-5
In the first part of my three part article, published in the previous Journal, I described a new approach to classifying the locomotives of the North British Railway. In this second part, I explain how #147;As-Built#148; variations within a particular class are handled and also how subsequent mechanical variations arising from re-building are captured within the classification system. I then provide a basic list of those NBR locomotive classes which were transferred to the LNER at the Grouping, together with a separate list of engines built by, or for, the NBR and withdrawn from service prior to the Grouping. In the third, and final, part, I shall list those engines acquired by the NBR through amalgamation, or other means, and withdrawn prior to the Grouping. Note that these lists are grouped according to originating company indicator and the Reader should refer to Part 1 for an explanation of the basis of the classification system. Part 3

Alan Brotchie. Fireman John Allan.. 26
Two photographs which include the remarkable John Allan: as a fireman with Drummond 0-6-0T No. 161 at Methil station and as a greaser with same locomotive c1897. Also concise biography. See also Issue 112 page 17

8 ton open goods wagon.. 27
Diagram (side amp; end elevations) and two photographs of three plank wagons built from about 1875

Allan Rodgers. A livery mystery 27
Film clip from film made in 1897 of train crossing Tay Bridge with passenger brake van in two different colours

lain Chalmers. A tender story. 28
Tenders from withdrawn Reid Atlantics were converted to sludge carriers at Doncaster and were seen in that form until 1957. Some were subsequently converted into mobile fuel stores to service diesel shunters (initially J45) at Whitemoor Yard. One such was still extant in 2008 and is shown in colour photograph at Sutton Coldfield on low loader on 18 October 2008. See also Stuart Sellar in 105 p. 38 and from Euan Cameron

Douglas Yuill, Coal industry in East/Midlothian - Part 4. Line No. 6. Prestonpans to Tranent. 29-34.
Meadowmill Washery and Mine. See also lettrer from Ed McKenna in Issue 105.

Kenneth G. WiIliamson. Fatality at Steele Road. 34
A child Walter Deas was struck by a light engine at Steele Road station on 12 May 1907: see further contribution on this sad event in Issue 108 page 38

Jeff Hurst.. Longniddry 1953. 35-7.
Fatal derailment of a parcels train at Longniddry, on the East Coast Main Line, in December, 1953. See also letter frm Archie Noble in Issure 105 page 38

Letters page. 38

Thomas Bouch. John McGregor.
In 1863 the promoters of the 'Fort- William Railway' engaged Bouch to find an 'economical line' from Newtonmore by Loch Laggan and Glen Spean into Lochaber - a line which might have continued westward to the Arisaig coast or south towards Oban. When Joseph Mitchell first laid out his Perth-Inverness route in the 1840s, he con- templated a branch linking Strathspey with Fort William and Ballachulish; but twenty years later, with the Highland Railway an accomplished fact, he ad- vised that the Highland Company should prefer the Dingwall amp; Skye project, which would being Hebridean traffic safely through Inverness, to any Lochaber-and-west coast feeder line. What if a rival interest were to reach Fort William, via Oban or via Glen Coe, to tap the Highland system via Newtonmore? It would be safer not to take the risk, though no such danger was immediately in prospect. Defence of Inverness and the traffic which concentrated there was already the Highland Railway's unswerving policy - long before direct assault through the Great Glen materialised, first in the Glasgow amp; North Western scheme (1882-3) and then, more ambiguously, in the West Highland (1888-9)
Among the supporters of Bouch's line were three figures later prominent in the promotion of the West Highland Railway - Lord Abinger, Cameron of Lochiel and Fort William distiller, Don- ald MacDonald (of the 'Long John' dynasty). The prime mover was the celebrated parliamentary barrister, Hope-Scott, who had purchased an estate on Loch Shiel. (His successor in the property, Lord Howard of Glossop, would be a West Highland supporter too.) Whether Bouch had dealings with Mitchell does not appear. It is likewise uncertain whether Charles Forrnan referred to Bouch's plans (which may have gone no further than a 'flying survey'), in laying out the West Highland along Glen Spean. (Forman acknowledged that his Rannoch-Treig-Spean rail route closely followed the road from Killin to High Bridge proposed by Thomas Telford at the beginning of the 19th century; but he made no mention of Bouch.)

Kinghorn lamps. David Lindsay: .
Regarding the short article on the station lamps at Kinghorn, I am afraid this needs correcting in the detail on the historical content. This is a rather com- plicated tale of events, and the informa- tion is taken from the Register of British Railway Companies incorporated be- fore 1948, compiled by the late Antho- ny R Warren and published by the Railway amp; Canal Historical Society. Anthony had access to the Acts of Parliament though his work and the list was prepared during his lunch breaks. I detail the Acts:
27th July 1847 [11 Vic cap 239] Act passed Authorising the amalgamation ofthe ENR and ELamp;G and when amalgamated the new company to be named the Edinburgh Perth and Dun- dee on conditions and at a date specified in the Act
However the effective date of amalga- mation of the ELamp;G and ENR was not until 19.02.1848, which then traded as the Edinburgh and Northern Railway. Both companies still traded under their old names [ although many historians say the new EPD name was used in some literature]
lst August 1849 14 amp;15 Vic cap 13 Authorising changing the name of the ENR and ELG to the Edinburgh Perth and Dundee Railway with immediate effect. The Edinburgh and Northern and the Edinburgh Leith and Granton companies were dissolved under this Act.
In Scotland all Acts had effective dates of lst August or 1st February this being, at that time, the financial year.. Many Acts though specified "effective dates" of take over. i.e.. when one company was authorised to take over another after the line was completed by the company being taken over.

J83 No. 9815/8462. Bill Lynn nbsp;
In response to Mike Smith's query regarding the early withdrawal of J83 8462, I see from my notes that this engine was a Dundee loco in the 1930s before being recorded at Kipps on 14 September 1946. At the time, it had been laid up for a long while, stored out of use. with a mileage of 1,351,911 I believe some of this class were subse quently scrapped with less mileage. Photograph of No. 8462 on scrap rioad at Inverurie on 27 June 1947. See also letter from Archie Noble.

Queen Victoria's journeys. John McGregor nbsp;
Regarding mention of Cameron of Lochiel and the Earl of Dalkeith on page.21 of Donald Cattanach's article, members may be interested to know that the North British chairman of 1905 and the new Lochiel, who succeeded his father (the West Highland promoter and director of my note re: Thomas Bouch) that same year, were first cousins, and their correspondence on to 1914 curiously combines the personal and the political. (They both deplored the 'socialistic' legislation of the Campbell-Bannerman and Asquith Liberal Governments.) As a Lochaber landowner and an Inverness-shire county councillor, Lochiel was engaged in two campaigns which embarrassed the North British - expansion at Mallaig and succour for the bankrupt Invergarry amp; Fort Augustus Company.
We find Dalkeith declaring bluntly that Mallaig had been a 'mistake' - one for which government bore much responsibility. The harbour was too small and too exposed. It was for government to find a remedy, by building an outer breakwater and adding wharfs and jetties within the sheltered area thus secured. Only then could the North British be expected to invest further in West Highland fish traffic ...
And Dalkeith reminded Lochiel, who asserted that the West Highland brought him no measurable benefit, that all landowners had suffered three decades of falling income and increasing taxation. Lochiel and other proprietors along the railway had at least found it easier to make sporting lets, since transport and telegraph facilities were generally important to prospective tenants - and for this they ought to thank the North British shareholders who carried West Highland losses ....
Lochiel for his part argued persuasively that taking over the Invergarry amp; Fort Augustus almost at scrap value (with a small sweetener from the county council to win over the Iamp;F A directors) was the best solution that the North British could achieve. Lochiel's tone, like Dalkeith's, was jocular yet barbed. Commenting on an outbreak of scarlet fever in Lochaber, he expressed a wish to infect and then torch the choicer examples of elderly rolling stock which the North British employed on Mallaig 'locals' and Banavie 'boat trains' ...

Bill Lynn. Driving on the North British. 39
Bill Lynn recounts a few amusing tales from the footplate .. "
Barking up to Lauder
When Dick Renwick was driving on the Lauder branch, he used to take his dog along on the footplate.
What's the cleaning time ....
Sam Bruce was a great man for cleaning his engine on the "Newcastle Beer". He had class S No. 139 (see photo) and would sit astride the boiler going up Falahill polishing the safety valves. Once, when double heading, his watch stopped; so he climbed over the tender and along the running plate of the other engine to get the right time to restart his watch. Portrait in Journal 105 page 37.
You've got to hand it to him ...
Jimmy (Paddy) Drew spoke with a strong Irish accent and he used to say when working the Musselburgh and coming out of the station on a wet day "Ye've an awful job - I have one hand on the throttle. one on the brake and the other on the sand .
Beattock beaten .....
Tammy Maxwell once fired on 323, a class K 4-4-0 (LNER D26), from Carlisle to Edinburgh during a blockage and the train went over the Caledonian route via Carstairs. A Caley driver came on to conduct the driver, Bill English, and give him a lecture about the terrors of Beattock. Approaching Carstairs, long after breasting Beattock summit. Bill said to the Caley driver "Whairs this Beattock!"
Alarming experiences .....
One day, Tammy Nichol got 324 (sister engine to 323) to work the Granton fish. As his watch was being repaired. he brought along his alarm clock. He couldn't get the steam reverser to work and reported it to Will Hossack, running foreman at St Margarets. The latter came on the loco and while struggling to move the steam reverser lever, he accidentally knocked Tam's jacket down and the alarm clock fell out. Will Hossack was flabbergasted - "Fancy" he said, "an alarm clock to run the Granton fish!"
LNER class 37 No. 9139 (old 139) passing Saughton with a goods train.Clearly, the safety valves are not as polished as they were in Sam Bruce's time! (Photo: Bill Lynn Collection)

Letters continued . 39
Album Page. Keith Fenwick
Glen Douglas photo If I can make one small correction to the caption on the lower photo on page 26, the train was not awaiting the arrival of the diesel. Glen Douglas struggled on manfully to Rannoch and the diesel, an NB Type 2, came on to the train there. I don't know if that contributed to the failure of Glen Douglas once we reached Fort William, due if I remember to a fallen brick arch. We then had two J37s to take us on to Mallaig, but one ran hot at Arisaig and the other at Mallaig, hence we had a diesel (not an NB) all the way back. No doubt someone else has pointed out that the photos were taken at Gorton, not Gortan. I'm afraid I was misled by the NBR's gradient diagram book when I checked the name spelling' Didn't appreciate the LNER changed the name to Gorton in 1926. - Ed

Innerwick Station. David Lindsay
Re Andrew Hajducki's item on Innerwick. In order to keep the Register up to date it would be helpful to know if Andrew has an actual opening date for Innerwick. It ( did NOT open on 22nd June 1848. Please refer to the NBR Timetable new sheet in the Archives where Innerwick is not mentioned in the list at all. : The only reference to Innerwick is in the Notes referring to the Friday only . Cockburnspath to Haddington train .. The first appearance of Innerwick in timetables is normally quoted as July 1848. Source Railway Passenger Stations In England Scotland and Wales published by Ramp;CHS. It is openly admit- ted that in cases like Innerwick the actual date of a service was notified locally : and it took some months to reach Bradshaw for example Any help here to verify when it did open fully to passengers would be helpful

Alphabet Soup .. Second Helping. Ed McKennanbsp;
Well, Sods Law wins again, or maybe its just serendipity. Whilst searching for something entirely different I came across a reference to James Robertson, the owner of the "R amp; Co" wagons mentioned in my article in Journal No 101. It seems that Robertson became a very successful coal merchant and shipper in Glasgow trading under the name James Robertson amp; Co. from premises in Waterloo Street. However, no evidence has been found to show that he continued to operate his own wagons after he left Chirnside in 1898 He died in 1921. With regard to the livery of the "R amp; Co" and "W.B." wagons a non-NBRSG member who has seen the article points out that computer enhancement of the photographs shows that the main lettering was shaded, presumably black, to the right and below. I am happy to correct the record in that respect.

Then and now: Cupar station. rear cover
West Highland bogie No. 231 (4-4-0) entering Cupar station on northbound passenger train
DMU No 170421 on 11,10 Edinburgh to Aberdeen service on 4 November 2008 (colour)

Issue No. 105 (July 2009)

Markinch station with Hust 2-4-0 on a passenger train c1870 (coloured photograph: postcard?: John Alsop Collection)
See also rear cover and below

Euan Cameron Hurst: 90/341/382 class express engines. 3-10.
Group of twenty four 2-4-0 passenger locomotives built for the N.B.R. by contractors between 1861 and 1867: which really belonged to three different designs by two different builders, though with very similar basic ruling dimensions; two of the three were rebuilt in quite different ways. This complexity requires more illustrations than usual. They served the North British as a regular part of the passenger stock for many years and formed a crucial link between the first batches of locomotives ordered from R. & W. Hawthorn of Newcastle, and the later designs of Wheatley and Drummond.
Were these 'Hurst locomotives'? Although William Hurst was locomotive superintendent at the time, in the 1860s locomotive superintendents were responsible for the care and maintenance of stock ordered, designed and built by others. Thomas Wheatley was the first N.B. loco superintendent to build locomotives in significant numbers at the former EGR works at Cowlairs (and a handful at St Margaret's in Edinburgh). Dugald Drummond was the first to insist that contractor built and railway built locomotives should follow his designs in every detail. Before c.1870 the locomotive committee of the Board ordered the locomotives and the contractors designed them to some basic specification. The customer had some modest input into the final result, usually in terms of general layout rather than details.
This class followed the 2-4-0 pattern of the 'Jenny Lind' design worked out by David Joy in the late 1840s and produced in both 2-2-2 and 2-4-0 versions by E.B. Wilson of Leeds. The carrying wheels rode in bearings on the outside frames only; the driving and coupled wheels (as applicable) were supported on inside frames, to which the cylinder block was also attached. The inside and outside frames were firmly anchored together at the front and rear crossbeams, and by spacers placed strategically along their length.
This arrangement yielded an extremely robust and solid running chassis. It is likely that the N.B. was attracted to this design by the success of the 2-4-0s built by Beyer, Peacock for the E&GR from 1859 onwards. The original builders' drawings of all three locomotives and all three tenders have survived. Thanks to Philip Atkins Cameron was able to inspect these in the National Railway Museum archive. The drawing of the 382 class locomotive as first built exists in a microfilm copy, No. 13112 in the 'Rail Print' series available commercially from the NRM. Though catalogued within the Great Eastern Railway locomotives series, the drawing really depicts the first four, NBR Nos. 382-5. For contractor-built engines usually the original design survives, but the drawing of the rebuild is lost. In contrast most of the Cowlairs General Arrangements of rebuilt Wheatley engines survive, but the drawings of the Cowlairs built originals do not.
So most of the ruling dimensions of the three series were identical; but the boiler barrels were progressively enlarged and raised to higher pitch, and the nominal diameters of the wheels of the last series were minimally different from the others. The real differences lay in the details, which are set out in the following sections. The comparative dimensions of the three classes arre shown in a table (not reproduced, but only minor differences).
Nos. 90-95, built by Neilson & Co. in 1861 Details
The first six 2-4-0 locomotives replaced the Hawthorn 2-2-2s and 2-4-0s that had been purchased for the N.B.R. in the late 1840s and early 1850s. From the mid-1850s iron-foundries acquired the ability to roll iron plate frames of around an inch thick and several feet wide in the extended lengths necessary to build a locomotive frame as a single mass of metal.
Beyer, Peacock exploited this development from their establishment as a company in 1854, and the other builders rapidly followed. There was an obvious similarity in basic design principles between the Beyer, Peacock 2-4-0s and the Neilson engines. Both engines had outside frames for the carrying wheels and inside frames for the coupled wheels. Both had a boiler of approximately 4ft diameter with a bell-mouthed brass-covered dome over the firebox and Salter safety valves on the top. Both designs had two horizontal cylinders, 16in bore x 20in stroke. The valves between the bores were driven by Stephenson's link motion controlled from a weighshaft below the plane of the cylinders and axles.
However, significant technical differences distinguished the Beyers from the Neilsons. The Beyer design, intended for coke firing, required a smaller firebox, 4ft 7in long as against the 5ft 0in of the coal-burning Neilsons. Whereas the original form of the 90 class drawing shows two crosshead pumps feeding the boiler, a later addition in a different ink shows that the 90 class received a large vertically-mounted Giffard injector replacing the right-hand side pump when first built. The works photograph of the class confirms this modification.
Three locomotive types (at least) vied in 1861 for the distinction of being the first to be fitted with Giffard injectors for use on Scottish railways. These were a 2-2-2 on the Glasgow and South Western, one of the last two Beyer, Peacock 2-2-2s for the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, and the six 2-4-0s of the 90 Class. An injector has no moving parts; it relies on fluid mechanics in the interior hollow cones to raise the steam-and-water mix to a higher pressure than that of the boiler itself. The early injectors were large cumbersome objects, difficult to operate and prone to breakdown, but they replaced pumps early and decisively except where feed-water heating was used (as in the case of Stroudley and early Drummond locomotives). The Stephenson's valve gear of the Neilson engines had unusually long eccentric rods (5ft 9in centres) linked to a long launch-type expansion link suspended from the top. This valve gear would be copied almost exactly for the Dübs-built 341 class, but was radically redesigned for the Neilson 382 class. All three 2-4-0 designs, as well as the Dübs 0-6-0s of the Hurst period, were driven from the righthand side of the cab and had the reverser fitted on this side.
The Neilsons engines' running-plate was set five inches higher than the Beyer, Peacocks. The outside frame, a solid iron slab for the whole length of the Beyer, on the Neilson was cut away to form to a shallow valance from just ahead of the driving wheels to the rear dragbox, and thinned on the inside from 7/8 into 3/8 inch thick. On the 90 and 382 class as first built the leading axle springs were concealed behind the outside frames. The weatherboard was bent over to form an angled roof over the cab, linked by stays to the rear of the dome. The tall, parallel-sided chimney ended in an elegantly profiled copper cap.
Livery
The works photograph of the 90 Class was taken with 'photographic grey' wash and only indicates where the metal was left unpainted: the copper chimney cap, the brass dome-cover, non-ferrous fittings such as whistles, clacks and lubricators, and also (curiously enough) the angleiron under the footplate. It is fairly safe to assume green above the running-plate and for the wheels, and dark red for the underframes and sandboxes.
Hurst-era locomotives lacked cast numberplates. All the works photographs from contractor-built locomotives of this period show the builders' works plates in the centre of the box splashers outside the cab. One Hurst-era works photo that shows a cast numberplate depicts the 1863 St Margaret's rebuilding of Hawthorn 2-2-2 No. 35, which carried its original Hawthorn plate (not a new one) along the boiler: the exception proves the rule. A photograph of 390 at Burntisland positively shows the number painted on the cab side beneath the works plate, and this pattern has been followed for Nos. 93 and 382 as drawn here.
Modifications
In the Wheatley era the 90s will have received cast numberplates and lost their copper-capped chimneys for a tapered stovepipe (a much superior design). The cumbersome large injector was surely replaced with a smaller more modern type on each side of the firebox foundation ring. The Salter safety valves were replaced with Wheatley's more tamperproof screw-down type, as later fitted to the 341 class. The hidden front springs were moved to a position above the running- plate.
Rebuilding of 90-95
In 1874 Wheatley rebuilt all six with a new boiler and fittings and a new top section to the cab. The rebuilt form is recorded in A.E. Lockyer's photograph of No. 859 (formerly 91 and 91A) taken at Cowlairs in the early 1890s. The boiler was raised some six inches and fitted with Wheatley's late-period dome with safety valves within the dome cover. A conventional sandbox and sanding gear replaced the curious Neilson hopper arrangement. Some time in the Drummond or Holmes period the locomotives were fitted with Westinghouse brake but no brake gear was fitted to the locomotive itself, which depended on the tender brakes to stop. The engines will have received Wheatley's green, probably Drummond's olive drab and then full Holmes-period livery with lining. The tattered remains of this last livery are visible on the photograph of 859, with lining panels on tender, cab and sandbox.
Nos. 341-346, built by Dübs & Co. in 1865 Details
In 1863 Henry Dübs, following a disagreement with Walter Neilson, founded his own locomotive works at Queen's Park on the south side of Glasgow. He may have carried off with him some of Neilsons' drawings, and possibly some draughtsmen as well. The six 341 Class 2-4-0s were some of the earliest locomotives built by the new firm and took the works numbers 32-7E (for the locomotives) and 32-7T (for the tenders). The detail resemblances with the 90 class were numerous. The front-end arrangements, the valve gear, and the suspension with an equalizing beam between the drivers were all the same as on the 90s. The chimney and dome were almost identical, except that the boiler was pitched 3" higher and was also of a wider diameter, so the chimney was correspondingly shorter. The dome was also raised higher relative to the cab, but the cab roof was stayed from the same point on the dome, with the result that the cab roof was set at a shallower angle from the horizontal. Clearly, the 341 class could only have been drawn up with close reference to the 90 class drawings, presumably purloined from Neilsons.
The 341 class, like the contemporary Dübs 0-6-0s, had a sandbox ahead of and incorporated with the driving wheel splashers rather than below the running plate. They also had one large verticallymounted injector on the right-hand side of the cab at the very rear of the frames, which sent steam and water along a pipe below the boiler to a clack valve just behind the smokebox on the right hand side. The tenders were to a Dübs design, with a straight angled flare to the top of the tank and deep slots above the axleboxes where the spring buckles were linked to the bearings. Similar tenders fitted to the 185 class 0-6-0s had tanks 3in higher and snaphead rivets. There seems to be no contemporary information as to the livery at time of building. Surviving photographs locate the engines at St Margaret's and Cowlairs, also in the Borders.
Modification without rebuilding
The 341 Class ran through to their final withdrawal in the 1880s and 1890s without any drastic rebuilding, but received routine alterations and some random modifications. Two Wheatley or Drummond pattern injectors replaced the large original one. The Salter safety valves were replaced with the Wheatley screw-down pattern, which protruded from the top of the dome. Westinghouse brakes were fitted, again without brake gear on the locomotive itself. The large Roscoe lubricators originally fitted behind the chimney were replaced with more modest equivalents. Stovepipe chimneys replaced the copper-capped and flared originals. 342 retained the double line of brass beading on the splasher, but 343 and 345 did not. 343 received a Wheatley painted dome-cover, still with the safety-valves protruding, and a top section to the cab like those on the 90 Class rebuilds. 342 and 345 retained their weatherboards and brass domes. 345 was repainted in full Holmes livery, as shown on the drawing here, but 342 and 343 may have ended their days in Drummond unlined olive. The distinctive lozenge-shaped worksplate survived on some engines and was removed on others.
Nos. 382-393, built by Neilson & Co. in 1866-7
Details
In 1866 the N.B.R. returned to Neilson & Co. with an order for twelve engines, the company's order No. 322. Four were delivered in November 1866 and the remaining eight between April and July 1867. These engines were completely redesigned from the original 90 Class. The outside frames were re-profiled, sweeping down to the leading wheel bearings in a graceful quarter-ellipse. The inside frames had long slots between the driving wheels. The valve gear had a long locomotive-type expansion link (where the pin-joints to the eccentric rods are aligned with the arc of the expansion slot rather than behind it) and 5ft 3½in eccentric rods. The boiler was enlarged slightly from the 341 class and was domeless: a most elegant brass trumpet covered the Salter valves on the firebox crown. Two whistles of differing sizes were fitted in front of the weatherboard, which had a much smaller top than on the earlier classes. The chimney tapered slightly inwards towards the top and was covered with a delicately proportioned copper cap. The handrails curved continuously around the front of the smokebox. The tenders of the first four had deeply slotted frames, a curve to the rear ends of the tank and a deep, flat angled flare to the top.
Like the 341 Class these engines had a single injector on the right-hand side. On the first four the injector was set horizontally just below the boiler centre line. This arrangement was clearly unsatisfactory, because the later batches had the injector pointing vertically downwards. In a photo of No. 385 one can see that an otherwise barely modified engine has had the injector moved to the vertical position, requiring some strange contortions of the pipework.
Several other changes were made in Nos. 386-393. The driving splashers had no cutaway spaces and the beading was simplified. Smokebox wingplates were added linking the smokebox ornamentally to the outside frames. On the last eight the tender flare was curved as on the 90 Class and the corners of the tank formed a right angle. The lining pattern on the cab sides and tender tanks with an inverted quartercircle was a Neilson house style. A photo of 390 shows the numbering pattern as displayed in the drawing of No. 382. In service the 382 Class experienced similar modifications to the others. Wheatley pattern numberplates were fitted; the leading wheel springs were moved to above the running plate; the chimneys and injectors were replaced. Additionally, several of the class had small hinged side-plates attached to the weatherboard, very slightly increasing the skimpy protection for the crew. These side-plates are not shown on the builders drawing and were not applied to all examples. S.W. Johnson had been working at Cowlairs as Locomotive Superintendent of the E. & G. R. and had been in effect 'demoted' in the 1865 amalgamation with the N.B.R. When he became locomotive superintendent of the Great Eastern Railway in the summer of 1866, he somehow arranged for five 382 Class 2-4-0s, Neilsons works Nos. 1294-6 and 1300-1301, to be diverted to the Great Eastern, where they arrived in February-May 1867 and became that railway's Nos. 125-129. These locomotives followed the pattern of 386-8, but had a top section fitted to the cab with side sheets and a curved roof, in the style later associated with Johnson's work on the G.E.R. and the Midland Railway. NBR Nos. 389-393, delivered June-July 1867, therefore had works numbers much higher than the others, having replaced the ones diverted to the G.E.R.
Rebuilding of 382-393 Matthew Holmes rebuilt 382 and 383 in 1888 and the remainder in 1891-2 into his N. B. R. 'corporate visual identity'. Westinghouse brake gear was fitted with cylinders between the wheels, as on Holmes's own large 4-4-0s, and the springing arrangements were altered. Above the running plates the locomotives were completely renewed. A Holmes boiler of more or less the same dimensions as the originals (but of slightly smaller diameter) was designed for this class, with the usual chimney and dome. With the boiler pitched at only 6ft 8in from rail level, the standard 3ft 4in chimney left the rebuilds well short of the loading gauge. A round-topped cab and splashers were moulded to the shape of the wheels in a series of flowing curves. Most of the detail differences between the various batches of 382s disappeared in the rebuilding, though the tenders largely remained as originally built. 393 had its tender frames reversed so that the springs were located outside rather than inside the frames.
As rebuilt these small passenger engines proved extremely useful all over the NBR. One report claims that Ladybank had an allocation of four for many years. 382 and 383 worked in West Fife, 384 and 389 in the Borders, 386 around Perth and 392/3 in the Glasgow area. One worked the Charlestown branch in West Fife. 383 (or possibly 387 - Ed) actually featured in an early cine film. When an enterprising filmmaker placed a cine camera on a flat wagon propelled across the Tay Bridge in 1897, the first engine to pass the camera was the rebuilt Neilson hauling a local passenger train. This piece of film may be purchased in the Panamint series of DVDs within the title Dundee on Film, Ref. PDC2003. The engines were all renumbered into the 1000+ series of duplicate numbers in 1910 and were withdrawn during the following four years.
In conclusion
These 2-4-0s were sound straightforward locomotives with no oddities and no obvious flaws. They were small engines and as such, like most of the N.B.R. locomotive stock from the 1860s, became obsolete because of the relentless increase in train weights towards 1900. The last survivors fell victims to a large-scale purge of duplicate list locomotives around 1911, documented in the board correspondence analysed by John Thomas in his monograph on the N.B.R. Atlantics. Holmes's canny updating of old locomotives had succeeded almost too well, but the time came when these large numbers of very small obsolete engines could no longer be maintained

Donald Cattanach. The chief officers of the N.B.R. 11-13. table.
John Learmouth 1842-52
James M. Balfour of Whittingham 1852-5
Richard Hodgson nbsp;(later Hodgson-Huntley) 1855-66
John Beaumont 1866
John Stirling of Kippenross amp; Kippendavie 1866-82
Sir James Falshaw 1882-7
Marquis of Tweeddale 1887-99
Sir William Laird 1899-1901
G.B. Wieland 1901-05
Earl of Dalkeith 1905-12
William Whitelaw 1912-22

Hodgson resigned due to financial scandal. Tweeddale overthrown by Wieland cabal

Donald Cattanach. William Paton #150; prince of station masters. 14. illustration.
Stationmaster at Waverley. Retirement presentation took place in Freemason's Hall on 20 June 1905 in the presence of the Marquis of Linlithgow, Duke of Abercorn, Marquis of Tweeddale, Earl of Aberdeen and Lord Elibank. Paton was born in Dunfermiline in about 1837. He joined the Edinburgh amp; Glasgow Railway as a clerk in the Secretary's Office in about 1857. He then went to sea and was purser on the Australasia voyage. On return he became station master at Ratho, then at Portobello, before becoming station master at Edinbyrgh Waverley in 1874.

8 ton medium cattle wagon. 15.
Introduced by Reid in 1914: drawing (s. amp; end elevations) and photographs.

Harry Knox. The Castlecary disaster 1937. 17-21.
The very full accident report is availabe on nbsp;the Railway Archive website: the accident took place on 10 December 1937 and the report by A.H.L. Mount was published on 24th April 1938 before which the unfortunate Driver D. Anderson was charged with culpable homicide (Anderson was driver of the Pacific No. 2744 Grand Parade which ran into the rear of a stationary Dundee to Glasgow train causing considerbale loss of life). The fireman on the Pacific was W. Kinnear. Knox challenges C. Meacher's statement in LNER footplate memories that Anderson never again undertook main line duties. Knox fired to Anderson and told him that he worked the non-stop. The LNER did not intervene when Anderson was charged and it was the Mount report which led to the case being dismissed. [KPJ: Norman McKillop had decided views on Castlecary, but possibly did not publish them]. See also letter from Andrew Boyd in Journal 106 nbsp;and from Robert Campbell

Allan Rodgers. Metropolitan firsts of 1864. 22. illustration, diagram. (colour side amp; front elevations)
Metropolitan Carriage amp; Wagon Co. vehicles bought under W. Hurst

Douglas Yuill. Coal in East/Midlothian #150; Part 5. 23-7.
Monktonhall Junction to Macmerry and Gifford including Smeaton Junction to Hardengreen.

Mike Smith. . Kirkbank station. 28-31.

Allan Rodgers.. Locomotive classification #150; Part 3. 32-5.
The Society's own. In this third and final part, to complete the list of all locomotive classes which saw service during the lifetime of the North British Railway, based on the new classification system. This part covers those engines which were acquired by the NBR from other companies through amalgamation or by other means. Note that the list is grouped according to originating company indicator and the Reader should refer to Part 1 for a complete explanation of the basis of the classification system. See nbsp;also letters from Robert Campbell and Archie Noble

Book review.
Early railways of West Fife: an industrial and social commentary
Well received

Letters page. 37

(Photo: Bruce family collection) # From Jim Harrold:

Sam Bruce #151; driving on the NB. Jim Harrold
Re paragraph about NBR driver Sam Bruce and his engine cleaning habits struck a chord with his grandson's family when I showed it to them recently. They produced the picture opposite which shows Sam Bruce holding on to a kilted youngster and pointing to what appears to be the Worthington feed water heating apparatus, which means the NBR Atlantic in the picture must be No. 9903 Cock of the North. However it is not certain when the photo was taken, most likely early 1930s; so it is possible the engine could have been renamed Aberdonian by that time. The occasion appears to be some sort of railway exhibition at Waverley sta- tion and the taller of the two capped schoolboys in view might possibly be said grandson, also named Sam Bruce. Interestingly, Sam senior is reputed to have forbidden his grandson from ever becoming an engine driver! Perhaps as a result, his grandson's eventual career was in the motor trade. Sadly, he passed away quite recently.
Does any member know what the railway exhibition was and when it took place? - Editor

Station lamps. Jim Page
Re Allan Rodgers contribution on Edinburgh amp; Northern lamp-posts, perhaps the following example may be of some further interest. Some years ago, nbsp;he had in his possession an Eamp;N lamp-post which once stood on the down platform at Wormit station at the south end of the Tay Bridge. Wormit opened with the second Tay Bridge in 1887, forty years after the Eamp;N had ceased to exist! I've heard of materials held in stores for lengthy periods but I rather suspect that this was not one of them. It is a possibility that the post had previously served at a location rendered redundant with the construction of the Tay Bridge, perhaps Broughty Pier? The railway service of this post came to an abrupt end in May 1955 when it was one of the casualties in an infamous accident involving a picnic special from Tayport. The locomotive of this special was deemed to be travelling too fast as it took the curve inside the tunnel to the east of Wormit Station. Once clear of the tunnel mouth at the west end, the special ran up the platform ramp demolishing all in its path, including the lamp-post. The damaged post though sold as scrap, survived and was repaired many years

Driver Sam Bruce points to the feed water heater. (photograph). 37
See letter from Jim Harrold

Ashbury carriage drawing. Hamish Stevenson nbsp;
Your article on Pp 14/15 leaves me in doubt. I've always called such coaches Ashburys after the locality in Manchester close to Longsight, a gun-toting area. Ashburys station remains open today located between Ardwick amp; Gorton/Belle Vue stations.
When I was in N. Wales as a youth there were old Ashburys coaches on the Talyllyn amp; Festiniog, I think. I've never heard them described as Ashbury? So I don't know if every reference to Ashbury should read Ashburys? Perhaps rolling stock experts, like WSS, could rule ...See letters from Peter Marshall; and Keith Fenwick

Mike Smith query - island platforms. Alasdair Lauder nbsp;
There are less island platforms on the NB than he had thought (West Highland excepted)). A Trawl through his photograph and book collections found access to islands from an overbridge or ramp were: Thornton Junction, Cameron Bridge, St. Andrews, Leuchars Junction, Smeaton, Cowlairs, Whifflet, Whiteinch, Victoria Park, Kelry, Kinross Junction, Blanefield, Elliot Junction, Riccarton Junction and Berwick. There were additional island platforms at Springburn, Riddings Junction and Barry Links.
However, the answer to Mike's query appears to be only.- Dumbarton, Camelon and Dunfermline Lower, Three only accessed from an underpass (unless of course you know different... .. )

Longniddry accident. Archie Noble. 38
Re article in Journal 104 about the Longniddry accident: at that time he was employed in the DMPS office at Waverley. He had also worked at St. Margarets Shed previously so he knew most of the men who were involved with the clearing up phase of the work.He visited the site on the Friday and, after being allowed by the Chargehand Fitter directing the work to climb up on to the wreckage, he was able to take some photographs. He went back on the Sunday, the day the engine was recovered; the road was blocked for safety reasons, but nbsp;he was still able to get close enough to take some more photographs. He was able to record the sequence of actions employed from righting 60530 at ground level and then lifting it to get it back on the rails. Although not mentioned as such, two of his photographs were utilised, on pages 36 and 37, to illustrate that part of the work. The other two pictures, from the Hennigan collection, are endorsed 'EEN' in his album. Willie only used the initials of the photographer to identify who took the picture and separately maintained a complete list of these giving the full details of name, address etc. Significantly, the initials EEN do not appear on this list. The photographs are 8-in x 10-in in size and of a very high quality, obviously the work of a professional photographer. It would seem that the initials can onlv refer to The Edinburgh Evening News and were bought from that Newspaper by Willie.
He had doubts about the Eastfield crane being on the scene on the Sunday. He asked one of the men he knew which crane was on the East end of the lift and was advised that it was the Gateshead 45 ton one. He had done some digging into his records and can come up with a good reason for a crane to come all the way from Gateshead. In 1953 the Scottish Region had only one 50 ton (Motherwell RS1054) and one 45 ton (Eastfield RSRS1058) cranes. Next in size was the St Margarets one (RS1062) at 36#189; tons, and all the rest were 30 tons or less, none of these was powerful enough for the job. Consequently, to have brought both the Motherwell and the Eastfield to Longniddry would have left the west side of Scotland especially seriously short of lifting power should another incident take place. Another crane would have to come from another source and the North Eastern was the obvious candidate. Dismissing the Tweedrnouth crane at 36 ton , The nearest 45 ton crane on the Eastern Region was at Gateshead, with equally heavy ones at Thornaby, Darlington and Doncaster. Clearly this was adequate in the North Eastern to cater for any emergency, so it was the Gateshead crane which was used at the East end of the lift of 60530.
It's quite remarkable that they were able to clear the wreckage from both the up and down lines in less than 48 hours allowing trains to recommence running. What a difference from today when it can take anything up to a week to even get a crane on site.

Tender story. Stuart Sellar
It is fascinating to read in the feature by Dr lain Chalmers that the chassis of NBR Atlantic No 9879 survives. Mention is made of the tender that had seen use as an ARP water tank. This tender, which according to the RCTS Locomotives of the LNER Part 3A is "almost certainly that from 9875", could be seen adjacent to the Edinburgh and Glasgow main line at Cowlairs until it was cut up not too long before the works closed. A photograph of the tender appears in Part 10A of the series alongside one of mine of 9869's tender taken at Bawtry on 17 August 1958 which I enclose. Had we been trying to re-create an NBR Atlantic in 1959 we would have not only have had a selection of tenders from which to choose but also two stationary boilers still existed at Cowlairs. Add to this the frames and (all?) wheels of NBR Atlantic(s) which apparentlv were used as boiler carriers at Gorton works and you almost have a locomotive. Confirmation of this would be welcomed though.
The tender from ex-NBR Atlantic No. 9869 photographed at Bawtry on 17 August 1958 - see letter above . (Photo: Stuart Sellar)

Tender story. Euan Cameron nbsp;
Re story on p. 28 of the NBR Atlantic 879 tender chassis that has apparently survived. It seems from the string of correspondence about this vehicle that it may have had a very narrow escape from scrapping in the last few months: see http://www.departmentals.com/photo/ 041957-1 lt;KPJ: not foundgt;. I am copying this to Jim Summers as Jim knows lots of people in SRPS circles (and has been helpful in lobbying for the preservation of carriage relics that might be helpful in future restorations). It would indeed be a pity if yet another attempt to preserve even a part of a NBR Atlantic were to be just too late. Let us hope that those in the SRPS with the power to help may be able to do something.
Jim Summers responded: Having looked at the website suggested by Euan, I find this thing was at Whitemoor. Well, I was there too, from 1964-66 or so, and I never knew of it.

Editor's note: Tender story I understand that Ron Hill, SRPS, has now visited the site and positively identities it as an NBR Atlantic tender. If you are interested in saving this, please write to the SRPS Chairman to urge them to acquire it for preservation. His address: James Robertson, Chairman, Scottish Railway Preservation Society. Union Street, Bo'ness, West Lothian, EH519AQ

J83 no. 8462 lies in the scrap road of lnverurie works on 27th June 1947 - see letter from Hamish Stevenson. (Photo: Homish Stevenson collection)

J83 No. 8462. Hamish Stevenson
Mike Smith posed a good question in his letter included in Journal No. 103, regarding J83 No. 8462. I have not been able to check con- temporary 'Railway Observers', but, certainly, no details appear in the RCTS history Locomotives of the LNER, Part 8B, regarding this locomo- tive's early demise, although it may have been occasioned by a worn-out boiler. All that the enclosed photograph from my collection reveals is that 8462 was languishing on the scrap road at Inverurie Works by 25th June 1947.

J83 No. 8462. Mike Smith
The excellent photograph of this locomotive, provided by Hamish Stevenson from his collection, merely underlines certain unanswered questions regarding the disappearance of 8462, so long before her sisters succumbed to general withdrawal from the late 1950s. Bill Lynn has supplied information already, to the effect that 8462 was stored 'unserviceable' at Kipps shed, earlier in 1947. No further details appear to exist ( at least, so far), detailing what this term comprised. If, as Harnish suggests, the boiler was worn , out, does this assume that no boiler spares existed at Cowlairs, sufficient to allow for overhaul and subsequent return to service? Certainly, as mentioned in Part 8B, a number of extra boilers were constructed for this class at, of all places, St Rollox Works, but these did not appear until after nation- alisation, so, perhaps, this may be the linking clue required. However, Jim Page has advised me that, at least latterly, he understands this locomotive to have been shedded at Dundee Tay Bridge shed, which , could explain its appearance at the closer Inverurie Works, on the scrap road, after a decision had been made regarding its future. What details could have led to the decision to withdraw?
So - certain inconsistencies are apparent already: 8462 could not be shedded in two places simultaneously: if members of this class were generally repaired or overhauled at Cowlairs Works, what occasioned its appearance at Inverurie Works": if stored 'unserviceable' at Kipps shed, why would it have been hauled north for eventual disposal, with Cowlairs Works more or less 'around the corner'?

Engine No. 335 . Archie Nobel
Referring to the photograph of No. 335 on page 5 of Journal 104, in Ed McKenna's article on small bogie wag- ons, some further information about these engines may be of interest. I'm not aware of any other railway which ordered and intended paying for an engine for use by another company. This, however, was what the Edinburgh amp;Glasgow actually did. The engine which became NBR No. 282, was ordered by the EGR for use on the Monkland on the Ballochney section. The two companies were holding talks at that time with a view to a takeover. and the Monkland requested the EGR to purchase an engine for the said duties on the proviso that, should the talks fail, the MR would pay for it. The order was placed on 2nd May 1865 and the engine delivered in the first half of 1866. The NBR ordered two similar engines in December 1865 which were delivered in November and December 1866. As delivered they carried the numbers 335 and 336, as shown in the photograph. However they were immediately re-numbered 209 and 2 I 0 respectively. This begs the question as to why these twonumbers were vacant. There is no record of any engines having these numbers prior to that time and the NB had never previously left any blanks. It can only mean that two ex EGR engines had been allocated the numbers but had been withdrawn before the number could be changed. There are only four engines which could fit the bill, all from the erstwhile Wilson, Morningside and Coltness Railway. Unfortunately they are only shown as withdrawn in 1865, so two must have departed in the early part of the year and the other two survived long enough to be allocated NBR numbers. Unfortunately, we do not know which two.

Coal industry article part 4. Ed McKennanbsp;
I am sure that Douglas Yuill is aware of the facts and did not intend to give the wrong impression but can I just clarify the situation vis-a-vis Edinburgh Collieries Co. Ltd and James Waldie amp; Sons.
ECC did not take over the Waldie firm in 1907; they acquired only Waldie's Tranent collieries in exchange for shares in ECC with Waldie having a seat on the Board of ECC. The firm of James Waldie amp; Sons continued its independent existence and became a limited liability company in 1915. Ironically, however, it fell into the hands of The Coltness Iron Co. and Wilsons amp; Clyde Coal in 1925 following the bankruptcy of James Patterson Waldie the Managing Director who held all the ordinary shares and most of the preference shares. He was forced to resign his directorship of ECC as a result of his bankruptcy. The firm continued to trade under the Waldie name. It was sold to Bruce Lindsay Bros Ltd in 1946 and again traded under its own name until amalgamated into Bruce Lindsay Waldie Ltd in 1965.
ECC did not take over the Waldie firm in 1907; they acquired only Waldie's Tranent collieries in exchange for shares in ECC with Waldie having a seat on the Board of ECC. The firm of James Waldie amp; Sons continued its independent existence and became a limited liability company in 1915. Ironically, however, it fell into the hands of The Coltness Iron Co. and Wilsons nbsp;amp; Clyde Coal in 1925 following the bankruptcy of James Patterson Waldie the Managing Director who held all the ordinary shares and most of the preference shares. He was forced to resign his directorship of ECC as a result of his bankruptcy. The firm continued to trade under the Waldie name. It was sold to Bruce Lindsay Bros Ltd in 1946 and again traded under its own name until amalgamated into Bruce Lindsay Waldie Ltd in 1965.

J83 No. 8462 on the scrap road of lnverurie works on 27 June 1947 (photograph)- see letter from Hamish Stevenson. 39

Then and now. Markinch station. rear cover
Three images: LNER photograph taken in 1930s; colour images taken on 4 November 2008 showing now footbridge, lift tower and in one a Class 158 DMU on a stopping service. See also front cover

Issue No. 106 (September 2009)

Bo'ness on 19 June 2009 with SRPS preserved Cowlairs 0-4-0ST No. 42 with Briggs tank wagons. front cover (colour)
yellowish green colour: Former Y9 No. 68095. See also page 34

Brian Farish. The LNER goes to War. 3-7.
On 16 October 1939 the 14.30 Edinburgh to Stirling was allowed to cross the Forth Bridge whilst a German attack was taking place on Royal Navy ships.See also 108 page 33

David Lindsay. Derailment at Gateside. 7.
From the Newcastle Advertiser of 7 July 1846. NBR train. General Paisley's comments on accident at end of June.

Ed McKenna. More on the Kinneddar branch. 8-11.
See No. 101 for item by Alan Simpson. Fifeshire Main Collieries Ltd., Fife Coal Co. Ltd and its locomotives.

Jules Verne's journey from Edinbugh to Glasgow. 11.
Took steamer Prince of Wales from Granton to Crombie Pier; stayed night at Oakley; took train from Dunfermline to Stirling and thence to Glasgow where he saw aurora borealis in George Square on 30 August 1859.

Euan Cameron. Drummond's "Abbotsford" class. 12-20. 3 diagrams. (side elevations.), 4 col. illus.
The Abbotsfords remained unique in North British practice, the only 4-4-0 tender locomotives with the Drummond cab and sloping grates. Matthew Holmes closely followed Drummond in terms of cylinders and valve gear, running plates, valances, splashers, and many other details, yet left his own indelible mark on every bogie engine that he built. However, Abbotsford influence extended right through the locomotive histories not only of the N. B., but of several other railways, including the Caledonian, Highland and L.S.W.R. The basic design was so sound that Dugald Drummond, and his brother Peter, replicated it in some form on most railways where they served. The last and largest of the traditional Drummond 4-4-0s, the L12 Bulldogs of the L.S.W.R., received superheater boilers under R. W. Urie's care but retained their Drummond cylinders and slide valves. These entirely recognizable Abbotsford descendants lasted well into the British Railways era, as did the smaller T9 class. The North British Railway examples were the first of a long and distinguished line in locomotive design.

Donald Cattanach. Sir James Falshaw. 21. illus. (portrait)
Born in Leeds on 21 March 1810. At age 14 articled to Joseph Cusworth, architect and surveyor. Died 14 June. 1889, Cites John Marshall.

David Lindsay. LNER sleeping vans. 22-3. illus.
Reproduced from Model Rly News, 1943 (February): includes communications from Ian R. Smith, J.N. Maskelyne and George Dow (official photographs).

Douglas Yuill. Coal in East/Midlothian #151;Part 6. 24-8.
Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway, authorised under an Act of Parliament obtained on 26 May 1826, was duly built and opened in July 1831 mainly as a coal carrying line. However, by 1834 the Directors of the railway found that there was also a demand for passenger traffic, and so formal passenger services were introduced in that year. The main line of the E amp;DR bypassed Dalkeith to the west, so it seemed sensible to construct a short branch into the town centre. An Act of Parliament was obtained therefore, on 27 May 1834, authorising the construction of a branch, half nbsp;mile long, from the E amp;DR main line at Elginhaugh (on the south side of the North Esk Bridge, and what later became known as Glenesk Junction in NBR days) to the station or 'depot', as it was called by the Eamp;DR, which was situated on the north side of Eskbank Road, where the Bus Station now stands. The branch was duly built, but the construction cost was met by the Duke of Buccleuch, who then leased it to the Eamp;DR. The branch opened for traffic on 26th November 1838.
Meanwhile, during the previous year (1837) the Duke had established a colliery at Cowden in the limestone coals, about one and a quarter miles southeast of his mansion at Dalkeith Park and then, in 1838, he started sinking a further colliery at Smeaton). To get his coals to the Edinburgh market, the Duke had a tramway constructed from his two pits to Dalkeith, where it could connect into the E amp; DR. The tramway was constructed to the same 4' 6" gauge as the E amp; DR, thus obviating the need to tranship coals at Dalkeith. James Wright, the Duke's colliery manager at Cowden considered himself, in these unspecialised days, to be competent enough to engineer the tramway, but the design and supervision of the construction of the viaduct across the River South Esk was given to J amp; B Green, architects, His Grace being very particular that such structures were sympathetic to their surroundings. The projected route for the tramway was to cross Carlisle Road (now Eskbank Road) outside the station, then pass eastwards through the town, crossing Buccleuch Street en route before crossing New Mills road at its north west end. A siding was subsequently laid into William Mushet's Elmfield Iron Foundry, just after the road crossing. From Elmfield the tramway headed in a north east direction through an area of market gardens before turning south east to cross the South Esk River on a viaduct. Running parallel to the Dalkeith - Inveresk road, the tramway reached Thornybank, one of the Duke's farms, which later became estate offices and work shops. At Thornybank, the tramway diverged, the route to Cowden turning south east and rising almost 200 feet on a 1 in 8 inclined plane, to reach Cowden Coal Pit, beside the London Road. The Smeaton Branch ran in a north east direction to the collier hamlet of Cowdenfoot, before turning towards the north and running almost on the level to Smeaton Colliery, and then to the Duke's Brick and Tile works a little further on. According to notes taken by George Dott from the Buccleuch Muniments, James Wright had levelled the whole line by February 1840 and it was ready to be laid. The bridge across the River South Esk was also well advanced and it was considered that the contractors, Lawrie and Mitchell should finish within the stipulated time. The bridge consisted of six arches, built of the best Dantzick (sic) timber, which rested on stone piers of hewn ashlar. The height from the ordinary level of the river to the roadway was 78 feet and the total length of the viaduct was 830 feet . On completion, the viaduct was named 'Victoria Viaduct' in honour of the new Queen, and the structure was described in the New Statistical Account as being 'of the most tasteful architecture and imparts a highly picturesque character to the surrounding scenery'. The inclined plane down the old road (from Cowden) was also well advanced, and the railway to the No 1 Pit at Cowden was opened at the end of January 1841, allowing 'all our coals to come now down in waggons'.
In October, 1842, the Duke was asking James Wright for an estimate of cost of building a railway to Smeaton. J.W. replies 'not more than #163;800', stating that he has more than sufficient rails and two thirds of the necessary chairs. The line had already been levelled and Wright considered that it should be easily made; and so it was, opening in the early months of 1843, to serve His Grace's colliery and brick and tile works, some five years after they had started production. Eighteen months later. On 19 July 1844, the North British Railway company was incorporated by an Act of Parliament and authorised to build a line from Edinburgh to Berwick and thus started off a process which greatly involved the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway. On 21 July 1845, by a further Act, the North British Railway was given authorisation to purchase the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway, and this, of course, involved the Duke's Branch from Glenesk Junction to Dalkeith. Compensation for the acquisition had to be determined, so James Wright came to the fore again, and his advice to the Duke was that he should claim from the NBR: 1. The cost of your Branch plus 10 per cent, and 2. The value of the land taken George Dott's notes, again extracted from the Buccleuch Muniments, provides an analysis of the costs, viz - 'The sum expended in building the Dalkeith Branch proper, between the main line at Elginhaugh and Dalkeith Station was #163;8813-17-11 (#163;8813.90p) including the value of the land up to the time it was opened, 26 November 1838. It is more difficult to value the part from Dalkeith station to the colliery, because there was no regular system of books kept until 1841. But, from various sources it was computed that the true expense of the tramway was #163;17,733-16-8. However, from that figure #163;3000 should be deducted as the Duke of Buccleuch will retain the branch to the present working pits, including the Cowden inclined plane'.

John McGregor. Invergarry amp; Fort Augustus interlude #151;an Inspector calls. 29-31.
David Reid, Secretary of the line interaction with John Wallace Pringle of the Board of Trade.

Bill Lyn. Sightings at Scotsgap. 32-3.
Signal box train register book covering period 1934-9.

Allan Rodgers. Three NBR veterans on parade. 34-5. coloured illustrations.
No. 256 Glen Douglas, 0-6-0 No. 673 Maude and 0-4-0ST No. 42

Book review. 35.
Back on track. David Blytheway. Reviewed Mike Jodeluk
Describes reopening of Alloa branch: well received.

Letters page. 36-9

McBean's West Highland proposals. John McGregor.
S. McBean was engineer in 1870s of proposed railway between Glasgow and Inverness via Inveraray with a branch from the Great Glen to Kylerhea Ferry on the West Coast. Peter Fletcher of York had traced this information.

Waverley exhibition. Andrew Boyd. 36. illustration
Railway Magazine August 1928 page 165 photograph by C.J.L. Romanes (reproduced herein) of exhibition staged 1 July 1928 of NBR Atlantic No. 9903 Cock o' the North and St. Margarets NBR steam breakdown crane No. 770517 (preserved by SRPS at Bo'ness)

Waverley exhibition. Bill Lynn
As previous plus other exhibits: Queen of Scots Pullman train, A1 Pacific No. 2563 Wiliam Whitelaw and Flying Scotsman carriages; twin sleeping car; railcar No. 21; A1 Pacific No. 2567 Sir Visto; D49 No. 311 Peeblesshire; NBR Atlantic No. 9875 Midlothian; D25 No. 9595; N2 No. 4725; K3 No. 184; O4 No. 6288; J38 No. 1407 and Sentinel shunter No. 9529. The band of the Royal Scots Greys attended with the choir of the North British Musical Association to raise funds for the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary

Waverley exhibition, etc. Ian Chalmers
I'd offer a couple of comments on the letters page in Journal 105: 1) the picture of the Atlantic from Jim Harold was taken at Waverley and at the London/Carlisle end. The item behind the loco is the St Margaret's Crane 770517. Sorry I can't help on an exact date but a picture exists in the North British Album by A A Mclean taken by C J L Romanes from a different angle.
2) Further to the discussion re: island platforms, have we missed Newington station on the Edinburgh suburban with its island platform

Ashburys. Peter Marshall nbsp;
In response to Hamish Stevenson's request for clarification, Chris Sambrook's excellent British Carriage and Wagon Builders and Repairers reveals that John Ashbury founded the business in 1837 at Knott Mill, Manchester before moving in 1841 to bigger premises in Ardwick, east Manchester where the company traded as Ashbury Carriage Company. Larger premises were opened nearby in Ashton Old Road, Openshaw in 1846. Here they built railway vehicles, later under the name of Ashbury Railway Carriage and Iron Company. Ashbury died in 1868, but the company went on to produce for railway companies all over the world until 1902/3, when it joined with carriage builders Brown Marshall and Oldbury amongst others to form the Metropolitan Amalgamated Carriage and Wagon Company of Birmingham. There is no actual place called Ashbury but the nearby railway station was named Ashburys after the company, which built it for #163;175 in 1855.

Ashburys. Keith Fenwick 37
Perhaps he should have referred to 'Ashburies'. The company was the Ashbury Railway Carriage and Iron Company, of Openshaw, Manchester, and was named after its founder, John Ashbury. Chris Sarnbrook's book British Railway Carriage amp; Wagon Builders amp; Repairers" has the details and a couple of advertisements. Ashburys, the suburb, was next door to Openshaw, so possibly named after the company. There is also an Ashbury Railway Carriage amp; Iron Co (2004) at the Welsh Highland Railway in Portmadoe, the name having been revived in 2004. Just to complete the story, there is an station named Ashbury for North Lew, on the Lamp;SWR line between Okeharnpton and Halwill

J83 No.8462. Archie Noble. 37
nbsp;I have been following the correspondence in the Journal (Mike Smith and Bill Lynn) regarding the early withdrawal of 8462 and would like to put forward my views. As every component of a steam engine can be either replaced or repaired, it follows therefore that 8462 could have repaired, either at a main works or at a shed, and returned to service. Obviously, this was not done, more than likely on the grounds of cost. Therefore it should be possible, by a process of elimination, to arrive at a probable reason why it was withdrawn. A steam engine consists of two main components, the boiler and the engine proper which itself consists of the frames, wheels, motion and cylinders. So lets look at problems which could arise in these.
Boiler
The boiler fitted to this engine at the time of its withdrawal was number 1300 built in 4/1924 to diagram 84. It saw service on 9821 and 9806 before being fitted to 8462 in September 1940. In April 1944 it was examined and passed fit while 8462 underwent a heavy repair. In 1947 the boiler was retained for further use and passed on to 9858 in December of that year then to 9860 in January 1953. It was finally withdrawn and scrapped along with the latter engine in November 1958, having run some 673421 miles during its life. So the state of the boiler played no part in the demise of 8462.
Frames
There are rwo defects which these could sustain - bent due to collision or fractured. There is no indication on the photograph to suggest that there is any collision damage of any consequence. which in any case can easily be repaired at reasonable cost. Fractures usually occur at the corners of the axlebox cut-outs and propagate slowly. , The fracture can be repaired by drilling a hole at the end to stop it extending any further then a patch is riveted or welded over it. Low cost.
Wheels
Looking at the photograph in Journal 105, it is apparent that 8462 was moved to Inverurie on it's own wheels. This indicated that all the wheels and axles were in relatively good condition.
Motion
Very rarely is motion damaged. Engines were examined, when going on to a shed, for loose or missing split and cotter pins, which could lead to part of the motion dropping. Coupling rods can get bent. This usually happens when the engine begins to slip and sand is applied to the rail. If the driver is not quick enough in closing the regulator, the leading wheels in the direction of travel run on to the sand which stops them dead. The remaining wheels are still under power and try to keep turning, bending the side rods. If the damage is not too severe it can be repaired at a shed using hydraulic jacks. Otherwise they can be straightened at main works at relatively low cost.
Cylinders
Minor damage such as scoring or ovalness can be rectified be re-boring. Relatively low cost. Very serious damage can be caused to one or both cylinders if either a foreign (metal) object is inadvertently dropped down the blast pipe and left there, or water is allowed to condense in the cylinders. When a steam engine is left for any length of time, such as the crew taking their meal break, the cylinder drain cocks must be left in the open position in order to drain away this water. Even with the regulator in the closed position, there is usually a leakage of steam past the valve faces. Water in not compressible, so if the engine is then moved with the drain cocks still in the closed position - disaster! The cylinder ends are shattered, with collateral damage to the main casting and possibly, the motion bars. A new cylinder would then be necessary, possibly two. Casting and machining a cylinder is an expensive job, even if the patterns are still available. However, in this case, 8462 was built by Sharp Stewart so Cowlairs would be unlikely to have the patterns. Up to 1904 Sharps had built over 5000 engines of many different classes both for home and abroad. They must have possessed a huge amount of patterns. Did they have storage problems and a clear out at some time? Did they have the patterns and priced themselves out of the repair? We will never know.
Conclusion As none of the other repairs men- tioned above would have caused it to be withdrawn on cost grounds. it is my believe that 8462 suffered catastrophic damage to one or both cylinders and the cost of repairs was prohibitive. Bearing in mind the age of the engine it at the time, 46 years and 1,351 million miles to it's credit, this may also have been a deciding factor.
8462 is shown as allocated to Dundee in 1923 and this is confirmed in allocation lists published by both the RCTS and the SLS in 1931, 1936, 1946 and 1947. There are no records of it being transferred to another shed at any time berween these dates, nor of another similar engine sent to Dundee to replace it after withdrawal. It may also have been surplus to requirements due

West Lothian branches. Grahame Hood
Query re railways serving the West Lothian shale industry. Norman Mckillop's Enginemen elite mentions a runaway train incident returning from an "oil refinery half way up a mountain". On the way down he mentions warning a signalman on the branch and pulling up to a halt just before the junction with the main line. Which branch was he talking about? I can think of only rwo that may fit the description: Pumpherston or Hopetoun, both ending at Uphall. As far as I know the former had no intermediate signal box and was worked by Bathgate engines, and the latter was worked by oil company engines, though did have a signal box at Castlehill, controlling two sidings and the level crossing across the main road through Uphall. Can anyone confirm which line Norman was referring to? Response from Harry Knox

Locomotive classification. Robert Campbell. nbsp;38
Re locos acquired from Caledonian amp; Dumbartonshire Railway: the seven locomotives were not acquired by the N B R directly from the C amp; D, as the C amp; D and Glasgow, Dunbarton amp; Helensburgh Railways had been amalgamated with the Edinburgh amp; Glasgow Railway on 31 July 1862. These engines would, therefore, appear to have passed into NBR ownership upon the E amp; G's amalgamation with that company on 1 August 1865. However, the three engines which were mentioned in the C amp; D minute books as being ordered by the company during 1857 for the opening of the G D amp; H line did not ultimately appear in an "Inventory of the Plant of the Caledonian amp; Dumbartonshire Junction Railway as at 31 July 1862" (held at the old B R Historical Records Office in Edinburgh), which suggests that they had in fact passed to the E amp; G prior to the amalgamation. Perusal ofthe E amp; G minute books might well confirm this. Likewise, the six 'Locomotives acquired from the Stirling amp; Dunfermline Railway' would have passed to the E amp; G in 1858, when it absorbed the S amp; D, before being acquired by the N B R.

Locomotive classification. Archie Noble. 38
With reference to the proposed classification system in the last three Journals, many members may not be aware that the group already has a type classification list for engines. The original concept was begun in the late 1980s with a desire by myself to create a definitive history of the NBR engines which was to be held on an early computer By 1989 the concept of the type list was a reality, and at an AGM it was explained to the members present and copies of a draft list shown. They were also advised that it would be given to the group and be available to members for their own use. when completed. Subsequent AGM meetings were kept advised of progress and the first version, for NBR engines only was published in Journal 49, September 1992. The list for absorbed engines took considerably more time to complete due to complexity and confusion in lists published by other people. The list, now including absorbed engines has stood the test of time ever since. It has been used to reference the archive collection, especially the photographs and drawings, details of which were shown in the published catalogues. For its main use, the engine history, there is now a huge . amount of information in detail in existence all based on the Type List.
The assertions is made in the first article by Alan Rodgers that it was necessary to produce a new version due to copyright issues. Any written and published original material is automatically covered by the Copyright Laws. You only need to look at the inside cover of our Journal to see the proof of this. So, yes the Type List is my copyright, and this is retained for two very good reasons As with any copyright, it protects my intellectual property from being copied and published under someone else's name. Secondly there can only one version of the master copy, currently under my control. Should anyone find fault with the list, or believe they have better information and make his own alterations to his own copy without passing it on could lead to confusion when communicating with other members. However copyright does not, in itself, prevent use. There is ample evidence of this in computer programs known as 'Freeware', which, as the name implies cost nothing. Looking at the 'Licence Agreement' will reveal that the author retains the copyright but allows free use of the program. Other programs using the same 'principle include well known ones such as Open Office, Mozilla Firefox, A VG anti-virus and various Firewalls. In the book trade there are also many examples, e.g. Technical manuals, DIY and Recipe books. So Allan is wrong in his assertion, the type list is free for use by anyone, including the group. It would have only taken a phone call to clarify the situation. Over the years, I have actively encouraged the use of the list through the internet and this has proved to be very successful indeed with almost 6000 copies downloaded. Full free copies are available on the following sites #151; The original Group site (now closed) (1000+ downloads), the new group site www. nbrstudygroup.co.uk (1200+), and my own site www.nbrailway.org.uk (3700+). A large proportion of these, from the timing of the downloads, seem to be coming from Universities running railway oriented courses. A free printed version is also available for the cost of the postage.
When creating the Type list I decided that it had to be simple and easily easy to use and, as it was dealing with historical material, it should have the ability to create chronological listings automatically where possible.
I looked at the possibility of using the LNER system, however it was quickly rejected for several reasons. a) There was the slight possibility that it would be assumed to be official. b) There were classes of engines which could not be easily accommodated by the system. c) When an engine was rebuilt with a different wheel arrangement it would entail a different classification number causing confusion. d) It did not allow for easy sorting into chronological order. e) It was too complex when used to create individual engine identification numbers.
That left the only logical method, use numbers, with the lowest applied to the earliest engines and progressing through to the latest ones. The NB engines, for example, run from Type 1 (Hawthorns) to Type 67 (Petrol No 1) The absorbed companies are grouped between 100 and 500 also in chronological order of their acquisition by the NBR and include all the engines ever owned by the respective companies. The type numbers only identify each specific class of engine, the wheel arrangement plays no part in this, although it does appear in the description. At this stage the list can be used on it's own, for example, as a reference number to physically sort documents or photographs relating to specific classes of engines. However, by combining the type number and the original engine number, in a logical manner, a totally unique identity can be applied to every engine. For example, if we take J36 (type 47) No. 673 'Maude', the ID number would look like this 47 673. As can be seen, this is the same format as used in the TOPS system introduced by British Railways. It is also the same as the systems used by German, Austrian, Hungarian, Italian and other Railways for their engines. The EU has recently directed that all existing locomotives include these details within a full UIC international number. On the computer the ID number looks slightly different as it is necessary to standardise the format to enable correct sorting of the data. here a number is less than three digits, non-significant zeros have to be added, a divider between the type and engine, numbers is added simply for clarity, and I finally a letter A or B. So 'Maude' now appears as 047/673A. These letters were found to be necessary in order to I differentiate between the two different builds of the Y9 which carried the same original numbers. The first build examples receive the A suffix and the second the B, these. They are also used for a couple of engines which went through the process of duplicate numbering then renumbered back into the capital list. The ID number is put to good use on my own computer where about, 40,000 records relating to details of individual engines, are all linked together, with another 8,000 records using the simple type number. In conclusion, the Group does not need a second classification system, especially as it is incompatible with the existing one. The proposal is not fully comprehensive, does not allow for chronology, is confusing and creates complex identification numbers making it difficult to use.

Locomotive classification. Allan Rodgers. 39
In responding to Archie's criticisms, I should, first of all. explain more fully my issue with copyright. Several years ago, Archie very kindly gave me a copy of his NBR locomotive history database, but made it quite clear in a subsequent email that it must not be shared with anyone else without his permission. So, I was not really as free to use his work as he seems to imply in his letter. I decided it would be best for me to stop using his database and type list and to develop completely new versions from scratch. This would leave me free to share my work with others, without restriction, as I made clear in the article. In fact, I would be perfectly happy to legally assign copyright of both the classification system and all my databases (locomotives, carriages and wagons) to the Study Group, if asked.
In developing his type list, Archie rejected making use of the LNER's system. I believe this significantly weakens the usefulness of his list as it prevents it from being readily compatible with, for example, the RCTS books on LNER locomotives and all other references to NBR engines by means of their LNER class. There is no need to use the list numbers as a means of sorting data into chronological order, as this can be achieved quite easily by good database design. I am also at a loss to understand I his comment that the unique ID for "Maude" in my system (J036-673) is somehow a much more complex number than his equivalent ID (047/673A)1
My instinct, however, is not to get too embroiled in debating the finer points of Archie's Type List versus my classification system, as I do not believe this to be of great interest to the majority of our members. Each system has its advantages and its drawbacks and I'd rather leave it to individual members to judge their relative merits for themselves. On second thoughts, Archie may have a point in saying that the Group does not need two systems #151; perhaps the Committee should ask for member's views at the forthcoming AGM?

Cairneyhill resurrected. Brian Farish. 39. illustration
"Seen by the roadside". I came across this little "shrine to the NBR" by accident. It is part of the Cairneyhill village in-bloom (West Fife) at the west end of the village on the A994 Dunfermline to Cairneyhill road. However there never was a Cairneyhill Halt #151; just Cairneyhill Station a very long time closed. It was on the Dunfermline to Alloa via Culross line now reopened for occasional freight and even rarer steam specials. It would appear that the residents have not forgotten.

Castlecary accident. Andrew Boyd 39
Re Hany Knox's account of the 1937 Castlecary accident. One of the passengers who was killed in the crash was Hugh Sharp (born 1897) who had inherited the Hill of Tarvit mansion-house near Cupar in 1932 and which was subsequently bequeathed to the National Trust for Scotland by his unmarried sister who later died of cancer in 1948. I first learned of this tragic episode when I took my family round the house quite a number of years ago. The NTS guide-book (the edition that I possess was published in 1994) provides some background information. At the age of 40, apparently a confirmed bachelor, Hugh became engaged to the daughter of a west of Scotland shipping magnate. Only two months later Hugh was on his way to visit his fiancee and at her insistence travelled by train rather than by car because of a snowstorm. The train that he caught would have been the afternoon Dundee to Glasgow train, which would have called at Cupar on its way through Fife (although , I do not have the LNER 1937-8 winter timetable to check this I) and which was to be struck in the rear by the following Edinburgh to Glasgow express.

Castlecary accident. Robert Campbell. 39
Re Harry Knox's account of the Castlecary Disaster of 1937: my father (of the same name) was serving on the footplate staff,at Eastfield shed at that time and he often used to reminisce about it. Many years back I had a cutting from one of the Glasgow newspapers, which had pictures of the wrecked carriages taken shortly after the accident. Lo and behold, a ghostly white figure which appeared at one of the carriage windows could not be found on the film negative I would be interested to know if anyone else has come across this photograph.
When working with BR in the mid-1960s, I sometimes used to visit the I 'glory hole' at the Glasgow North District Office, which then occupied the old 'Wardlaw Kirk' at 14 West George Street, where the SPT offices are now. The 'glory hole', incidentally, was the building's dark and dusty attic, which was stacked to the roof with old LNER, NBR and, no doubt, E amp; G R files, timetables, maps, etc. A veritable railway historian's paradise On one occasion I recall being totally fascinated while leafing through the L N ER's official files on the Castlecary disaster. Alas, I went off on holiday shortly after and when I returned the 'glory hole' had been completely gutted, as the District Office was about to move to new premises. Whatever happened to those files?

Then and now. Aberdour station. rear cover
Southbound ordinary passenger train entering station c1900 (coloured postcard); 08.20 Aberdeen to Penzance Cross Country Voyageur passing on 23 March 2009; southbound Royal Train headed by Class 47 passing in 2002

No. 107 (December 2009)

The building of the Tay Bridge. 3-6.
Reproduced from Dundee Advertiser 31 January 1878 1879 see errata. Albert Grothe was the contract manager. Special pumps were designed by Reeves, oone of the assistant engineers, which could keep sand out of the valve.

The opening of the Tay Bridge. 7-8
Reproduced from Dundee Advertiser 1 June 1878. Colour drawing of Drummond 0-4-2 No. 314 Lochee

Sir Thomas Bouch. 8-9
Portrait from Dundee Courier

Euan Cameron. The Tay Bridge engines. 10-18.
Ilustrations: all photographs except Euan Cameron diagrams and 1921 engine ddiagram

The Tay Bridgre train described. 19-23
Centre spread coloured drawing shows position of each vehicle within the girders.

Allan Rodgers. The Tay Bridge train mystery. 24-5
Position of the first class coach. Illustrations:

Jim Page. A letter's journey. 26
Salvaged mail reached its destinations with remarkable speed: included letter from Banff to Aberdeen which had been sorted in Edinburgh and mail bag pulled from sea at Broughty Ferry. Illustration: scene at Broughty Ferry shore as debris from the disaster is recovered. (Illustrated London News)

Allan Rodgers. Tay Bridge Disaster causes. 27-34.
Metal fatigue of lugs and wind pressure.

Mike Smith. Wormit Station #151; a view from the edge. 35-7.

Letters page. 38-9

Kinnedder branch. Ed McKenna.
At the risk of boring your readership with even more on the Kinneddar Branch I would like to add some amendments and clarifications to my article on the Branch which appeared in Journal No 106. First, a correction to the Table which appears in Column 3 on page 10; the second group of Oakley Collieries Ltd wagon numbers should read Nos 151 to 220. With regard to the new exchange sidings for Comrie Colliery construction of these began on 22 June 1939 with completion just in time to receive the first output of the new colliery in August 1940. Because of the ruling gradient and 5 chain minimum curvature on the branch it was anticipated that trains would be restricted to 20 loaded wagons requiring a service of 40 trains per day to handle the proposed output of 4,000 tons of coal per day and supply empty wagons. These are figures given in Fife Coal Company's file on the subject (NAS: CB3/174, 175) and the estimate of the number of trains required is obviously too high for it implies a wagon load of only 10 tons at time when 12/13 ton wagons were common. On the other hand it may say something significant about the FCC wagon fleet which was not the most modern. The estimated extent of the traffic was a concern to Fife County Council who investigated schemes for carrying the Dunfermline to Alloa road over the branch. However, the cheapest option was estimated to cost #163;40,000 which no doubt encouraged the County Council to reconsider its objections to use of the level crossing. The Council also discovered that it had no powers to prevent use of the level crossing or restrict the amount of rail traffic using it. As a result a new gated road crossing was provided by FCC. This was operated by wheel from a new signal cabin, constructed by the LNER at the south west corner of the crossing, paid for by FCC and manned by its employees. The section of branch line between the new signal cabin and the ground-frame at the entrance to Comrie Colliery sidings was controlled by Tyer's I-wire block instrument. The new branch and exchange sidings were constructed in accordance with a July 1937 agreement between the LNER and FCC in terms of which responsibility for operation of the branch would transfer from the LNER to FCC although the permanent way materials remained the property of the railway company for which they received an annual rent of #163;10. FCC became responsible for maintenance of the branch and paid for its construction. Given these circumstances it is very curious that in September 1939 the LNER Divisional General Manager informed FCC that they were considering operating passenger services between Oakley Station and Comrie Colliery. Perhaps he had forgotten who was responsible for operation of the branch. British Railways has often been criticised for its construction of "white elephant" marshalling yards but the new Oakley yard does not appear to fall into that category. It was constructed to cater for a radical change in traffic patterns in which coal from Comrie Colliery, and the nearby Blairhall Colliery, was conveyed west to the Lanarkshire steel industry rather than eastwards to Methil for export.

Atlantic tender. John Watling.
Thanks to the Journal exchange scheme I, as a GER Society member, have just read the article in your Journal No 104 relating to 961880 and the correspondence in No 105. I photographed this wagon at March MPD, close to Norwood Road, on 31 January 1966. My recollection is that it had been there for many years. My principal query is the suggestion that the tank came from 962033. This wagon was built by the GER in 1896 as a travelling gas reservoir which had a single tank 23ft 9ins long by 6ft 10ins diameter mounted on a 26ft steel underframe. It was one of 41 built between 1891 and 1912 and the tank does not in the least resemble that on 961880. Although I do not have any evidence it seems unlikely that 962033 was rebuilt to accommodate this tank. The ex GER gas wagons were mostly withdrawn during the 1950s the last being broken up in 1962. The 96xxxx prefix of 961880 indicates that it was allocated to the GE Section but does not mean it was of GER origin. It is an ugly looking thing but I am pleased to learn that the underframe has a decent pedigree and may yet have a useful future but similarly the tank, if we did but know it, might also have honourable origins! (John Watling is the President of the Great Eastern Railway Society)

Push-pull query. Michael Dawson
Did NBR or LNER build and or operate push-pull services? Editor replied C15 No. 9135 fitted with apparatus in October 1940 and in October 1950 No. 67475. When this was withdrawn No. 67474 was fitted in September 1954.

West Lothian branches. Harry Knox. 39
Re: Grahame Hood's query in journal 106, I also have an interest in the Scottish shale oil industry and its mineral railways and indeed, have just completed a book on this very subject. In the preparation of this book, I also was well aware of McKillop's story in his book Enginemen Elite, describing in great detail, his train running away with a load of oil tanks "from an Oil Refinery half-way up a mountain". This story has caused me much research as to the possible location and the veracity, or otherwise, of the story, and I offer the following as possible explanation(s).
The highest locations within the West Lothian shale fields (excluding Tarbrax), were Uphall and Pumpherston, sitting, at a height of about 120 metres above sea level, on top of the geological anticline known as the Pumpherston Arch, and with refineries located at both places, but hardly "halfway up a mountain!" The "branch" referred to, would have to have been the Edinburgh/Bathgate railway, between Uphall Junction and Bathgate Junction, a distance of 4 miles, 1000 yards, with the latter located at about 60 metres ASL, giving an average falling gradient of around 1 in 123. There was also, at one time, a small intermediate signal box at the point where the Newliston branch diverged from this line, one mile east of Drumshoreland station.
Grahame is perfectly correct in his assertion that Bathgate shed serviced Uphall Junction and the mineral lines around there, but at the time McKillop was writing about, circa 1910/12, the Haymarket engines for the Broxburn Pilot were out-stationed at Bathgate .Junction/Ratho.
Now we must consider just what shale establishments this Broxburn Pilot, or pilots, for I think there may well have been two engines employed at one time, worked, apart from the usual Broxburn Junction to Broxburn Oil Works branch, and from here on in I am surmising.
The South Queensferry pilot, in course of normal working, serviced the branch line from Hallyards (Kirkliston) to Ingliston Nos. 33, 36 and 37 pits (now all under the main runway of Edinburgh Airport) and the shale mined there I would be brought back to Queensferry Junction for onward transfer to an Oil Works. In addition, as mentioned above, on the Edinburgh/Bathgate line, another branch line diverged to the north east and, running to the south of Westerton Rows, passed under the 36 arch Almond Viaduct (Eamp;G main line) to serve Newliston No.29 shale pit.
Both the Newliston and the Ingliston pits were owned by Young's Mineral, Light amp; Paraffin Oil Company, who, by 1884, had taken over Uphall Oil Company and its works, and it is thus most likely that the shale from these pits would have been taken to Uphall Oil Works for retorting and refining. Ingliston No.33 pit had closed away back in 1871 but Ingliston No.36 amp; 37 pit worked until 1927. Newliston No.29 pit worked until 1937. The NBR had constructed and owned, a number of 16 ton, end-door coal wagons, and some of these were actually branded "Shale Traffic" "Return to Uphall". It was thus likely that they were used for the Ingliston/Newliston shale traffic around this time.
If the Broxburn pilot was thus involved in working the Ingliston shale from Queensfeny Junction, and the Newliston shale up to Uphall Oil Works, it is equally likely it would have been utilised to work any loaded eastbound traffic back out. It is thus possible that this could have been the type of working McKillop referred to, and given the gradient, a runaway would not be an unlikely event given a loose-coupled train and the icy rail conditions described, but, as stated, this is pure speculation on my part.
I would add that this same piece of railway, lying on an exposed east facing slope was very prone to ice conditions, and that, as Area Manager at Bathgate, I was called out one winter's evening to Bathgate Junction to find that the late afternoon Bathgate to Millerhill trip working had approached the junction under a clear branch home signal for the main line, and proceeded to run into Hillwood Quarry sidings. The- branch home signal had frozen in the off position.
So, that's one explanation BUT, one other I could not discount, is that the story of the runaway, embellished as it was by some exaggeration, may just have been a good yarn, rather than based on hard fact. This I say since having just completed research into, and written a book detailing the history of Haymarket MPD, its work and engines, from 1842 till the present day, . (due to be published early 2010), and believing that McKillop's writings would prove a valuable and primary source of information regarding NBR days at Hay- market, I was to be somewhat sadly disillusioned. I actually found that in several instances, what McKillop had written, was either significantly at odds with hard facts uncovered, or he was, as in some instances, just plain wrong. I leave readers to make up their own minds!
Incidentally, if any member can identify the name of intermediate signal box between Drumshoreland and Bathgate Junction, I would be most grateful. It may also be that some members with access to Edinburgh Trip Working documentation for the period circa 1910/1912 can confirm or otherwise if the Broxburn Pilot engines were utilised as I have suggested.

NBR Atlantic boilers. Stuart Sellar. 39. illustration
Photograph of two in use as stationary boilers at Cowlairs Works in 1957.

Dundee Tay Bridge. rear cover
Postcard view

Issue No. 108 (March 2010)

Cowlairs looking towards top of incline with winding engine house and home amp; distant signals. front cover
c1890s or early 1900s

Littlejohn, Charles C. The Glasgow City amp; District Railway. 3-9.
Text reprinted from Railway Magazine June 1914. Illustrations: NBR Class M (LNER Class C15) No. 9102 enters Charing Cross on 12 August 1930; map based on Ordnance Survey one inch (Popular edition of 1925: colour); Class 158 DMU crosses Maryhill Park Junction on 10.52 ffrom Anniesland to Queen Street on 9 June 2009 (colour); C15 No. 67500 at Knightswood North Junction on 24 May 1957 (G.H. Robin); Class M 0-4-4T No. 588 passing Gartnavel Hospital grounds; Jordanhill station in NBR period; C15 No. 7470 at Kelvinhaugh Junction on 15 May 1948

Signal boxes around Cowlairs. 10.
Cowlairs Station Signal Box; Cowlairs West Junctionnbsp;Signal Box; Cowlairs North Junctionnbsp;Signal Box; Cowlairs Centralnbsp;Signal Box; map.

Harry Knox. Cowlairs East Junction collision 1942. 11-14.
Signalman error coupled with failure to comply with Rule 55: report by Inspecting Officer A.C. Trench on 30 January 1942. It was a head-on collision between a light engine (D29 No. 9339 Ivanhoe) with an Edinburgh to Glasgow express hauled by D11/2 No. 6401 James Fitzjames. Eight passengers on the express were killed as was its Driver Robertson. There was criticism of the LNER for failing to place a brake van at the head of the train as had been suggested following the Castlecary accident. The crew and passengers of a troop train off the West Highland line hauled by K2 No. 4700 Loch Lomond were horrified bystanders at the accident. Signalman Clements admitted his error and Fireman Paul of the light engine was criticised for failing to perform Rule 55(b). There were several doctors on both trains who assisted as did the First Aiders from Eastfield. Illustrations: Cowlairs East Junctionnbsp;Signal Box; No. 6401 James Fitzjames. leaving Falkirk High with Glasgow to Edinburgh express in June 1930; nbsp;

Euan Cameron. Drummond amp; Holmes 17" goods. 15-23.
Illustrations: Drummond 17-in 0-6-0 No. 500 as built (photograph); Drummond 17-in 0-6-0 No. 500 as built (Cameron coloured drawing); Holmes No. 524 as rebuilt after Todd's Mill Viaduct accident (Cameron coloured drawing); Dubs Works photograph of No. 500; Holmes No. 524 atnbsp;Todd's Mill Viaduct accident of 28 November 1990; No. 524 as rebuilt (informal photograph); Holmes No. 82 in Newington Yard c1900 (later LNER Class J33); Holmes 17-in No. 81 as built (Cameron coloured drawing); Holmes 17-in No. 140 as rebuilt in dark green livery (Cameron coloured drawing);nbsp;Holmes 17-in No. 140 as built on turntable nbsp;at Berwick pre-1912;nbsp;nbsp;Holmes 17-in No. 9021 on Kipps shed with cut-down chimney for working Gartverrie branch on 13 August 1930. Tables give details of dates when rebuilt and wiithdrawals and extensive notes on the Gartverrie branch.

Mike Smith. Bridgeton Central branch. Part 1: an east end of an (almost) a four minute mile. 24-7.
Bridgeton Central station opened on 1 June 1892. It was a four platform station. It closed in 1979 replaced by the Bridgeton station on the Argyle Line. Text mentions period of Class 303 EMU being withdrawn and replaced by steam services. Part 2 does not appear to exist. Illustrations: Bridgeton Central station with V1 class Nos. 67343 and 67678; No. 9 tram route tram passing Bridgeton Central station with Glasgow Electric logo on 13 April 1961; V1 No. 67622 on 16.08 to Bridgeton Central on 9 August 1956 viewed from Gallowgate Bridge; Bridgeton Central building on 20 January 2010.

Douglas Yuill. Coal in East/Midlothian #151; Part 7. 28-32
Line No. 5 Monktonhall Junction to Macmerry and Gifford: Smeaton Junction to Bog Siding. Dalkeith Colliery.
Text notes development of Dalkeith Colliery and Cousland Lime Works. Illustrations: Dalkeith Colliery pug: Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST of 1912; J35 No. 64532 passing through Cousland Gap on its way to Smeaton in April 1956; plan of Dalkeith Colliery; view of rear of train hauled by J35 from road bridge to Crossgatehall; Crossgatehall Halt (commercial postcard view) which served estate at Carberry which opened in 1913 and close in 1930; plan of cement works at Fordel Colliery in 1914; Cousland nbsp;Old Siding amp; Billyford Farm siding plan 1904

Brian Farish. The LNER goes to War #151; a follow-up. 33-4.
Mrs Jane Roxburgh was a paasenger on the train as a child. Illustrations: Jane Scott as a wee girlie in Dunfermline in 1939 and as Mrs Jane Roxburghon platform at Dalmeny station "recently"

John McGregor. The Cowlairs brake experiment. 34.
Edinburgh amp; Glasgow Railway Minute Book entry of 15 March 1842: Miller and Paton exceeded the speed limit on decent

Lindsay, David. Saved from oblivion. 35.
Photographs of D11 No. 6381 Flora MacIvor at Craigentinny; V1 No. 2908 at Haymarket and D11 No. 62684 at Haymarket.

Obituary. 36
John Burnie, born Glasgow 1946: Scottish Railway Preservation Society; died 20 November 2009. W.C.C. [Bill] Smith. Born 1926 died 22 August 1909. Involved with James Ness in locomotive preservation. nbsp;

Book review. 37

The St. Andrews Railway, Andrew Hajducki and others. Oakwood Press
Published in 2008, this definitive account of the five mile line from Leuchars Junction to St Andrews is the first in a series of histories providing a comprehensive record of the forty mile long coastal railway once linking Leuchars to Thornton via St Andrews. A 288 page book, it has seventeen chapters and three appendices. These not only give an excellent account of the line's development, but set it in the economic and social context of the area. Beginning with four chapters detailing the line's origins, the book goes on to trace its subsequent history under NBR and LNER ownership, before, in 1948, it became a small, but never-the-less important, part of British Railways Scottish Region. The story concludes with a description of the line, together with anecdotes from people who operated it. There are also well researched sections on the RAF Leuchars railway, the Craigtoun Park miniature railway (two miles SW of St Andrews) and the Seggie siding at Guardbridge paper mill. At the end of the book there are three appendices. The first provides a very helpful chronology, the second lists "Station Traffic Statistics 1900-1934", while a third sets out "St Leonards School Christmas 1931 Travel Arrangements". Twenty years after the line closed to passengers in January 1969, a pressure group named STARLINK (St Andrews Rail Link) was set up with the aim of reconnecting the twon. Although it has local councillors MSPs and tourist organisations amongst its supporters, the success of the campaign has so far been mixed. Perhaps, one day, there will be an additional chapter to write in the story of the St Andrews Railway

The Anstruther and St. Andrews Railway. Andrew Hajducki and others. Oakwood Press
In his foreword to this book, John Purvis C.B.E., of Gilmerton, by St Andrews, describes his fascination with the determination and enterprise of our Victorian forefathers. Evidence of such determination is to be found throughout the opening chapters of this 248 page book. For example, until May 1898, when a passing loop was brought into use at Crail, working the line had been severely hampered - there being only one other passing loop, at Kingsbarns. Having traced the line's formative years in chapters 1 to 5, chapters 6 to 8 explore in depth the periods of NBR, LNER and BR ownership. Subsequently, the book details passenger and freight traffic working the line. During its NBR and LNER heyday, it even carried a titled train, the "Fife Coast Express". An account of locomotives, signalling and staff, together with a line description, is followed by a chapter of reminiscences. The book concludes with three appendices, the last of which is a very interesting extract from the NBR working timetable of June 1903. In their preface, the authors apologise for "the quirk of railway geography", by which the Royal Burghs of Anstruther Easter and Anstruther Wester were divided between two separate railway companies. As a consequence, the development of fish and holiday traffic, together with the eastward "push" to Anstruther, is to be detailed in a later book - "The Leven amp; East Fife Railway". This reviewer anticipates its publication with relish. See also David Lindsay letter

Letters page. 38

Fatality at Steele Road. Kenneth G. Williamson
Further information about the death of child Walter Deas in 1907 and about his father and a poem by Phylllis Mary Gordon White about the churchyard at Castleton where Walter is buried.

West Lothian branches. Alan Holt.
Re Harry Knox#146;s comments in Feedback regarding the Scottish shale oil industry. The signal box he is querying was named #147;Newliston#148;. The SRS listing of Scottish signal boxes refers to Newliston closing on 8 September 1940 when it was replaced by a ground frame controlled from Uphall. Unfortunately the records do not indicate when the signal box opened but it was a block post. I agree that Newliston No 29 pit closed sometime in 1937 (exact date not known) so can only assume the ground frame was put in place to effect dismantlement of the operations.1940 when it was replaced by a ground frame controlled from Uphall. Unfortunately the records do not indi- cate when the signal box opened but it was a block post. I agree that Newlis- ton No 29 pit closed sometime in 1937 (exact date not known) so can only assume the ground frame was put in place to effect dismantlement of the operations. I likewise have an interest in the Scottish shale oil industry and its min- eral railways: I look forward to hearing when Harry proposes to publish his book.

Wormit Station. Donald Cattanach
I very much enjoyed Mike Smith's reminiscences of Wormit in the 1960s. Although the North British had signed an agreement in April1879 with Henry Wedderbum of Birkhill House for the erection of Wormit station, the Board delayed a decision to start work until September 1888, despite the opening of the new Tay Bridge on 20 June 1887. The station finally opened on I May 1889. At that time, Wormit consisted of a few scattered houses, but there were plans for its expansion to serve as a dormitory town for Dundee, and a station was essential. One of the devel- opers was none other than the Secretary of the North British Railway, and of the Newport Railway (nominally independent until 1 August 1900) on which line Wormit station was situated - G B Wieland. He purchased land in 1890 from the Wedderbum estate, and developed much of the present-day Bay Road. He feued part of the land to the North British to construct the private Goods Station Road, giving access to the goods yard. He then transferred the title to the remainder to his favourite daughter, Mabel, and one of the last feus was made to Wormit Bowling Club, accessed from Goods Station Road. It had initially leased the land, but in October 1905 it held a Grand Bazaar, lasting three days, in the Kinnaird Hall in Dundee to raise the purchase price. Future Prime Minister, and MP for East Fife, Herbert Asquith, opened the bazaar, which raised over #163;900, more than sufficient to pay the cost of #163;255.50.

The Anstruther amp; St Andrews Railway (Oakwood Press 2009) . David Lindsay. 39 (108)
Re above book and was surprised to find the opening date for the section from Boarhills to St. Andrews quoted as 1 July 1887, rather than 1 June as most other sources (including the NBR Register of Stations, Routes amp; Lines) had quoted. A colleague of mine, Richard Maund, undertook to check this out at the National Archives at Kew and at the British Library's newspaper collection at Colindale. He accessed the Inspector's reports for 1887 held at the archives under reference MT29/48 and two reports, dated 23 May 1887 (folio 108) and 13 July 1887 (folio 146) were identified. The originals of these reports, and related Board of Trade correspondence (archive reference MT6/829/6), were reviewed by him.
The report dated 23 May, which covered the inspection carried out on 21 May, was sent to the company with a cover letter on 26 May 1887 and doubtless the inspector, Major General CS Hutchinson, would have shared the gist of his report with company officials on the day of the inspection. Hutchinson's report concluded: " ... upon receipt of the three undertakings specified in the report, the Board of Trade will be prepared to sanction the opening of the railway for passenger traffic on condition that the requirements referred to in the report are complied with." In other words, the company were to: quickly complete work that could be done in time and confirm it as done; give the requisite undertakings (including one that, where siding work could not be cornpleted in time, the method of freight working would meantime recognise that fact); and agree to a subsequent inspection.
JE Dovey, the A amp; St. A company secretary and treasurer, replied to the BoT on 28 May presenting or promising the necessary undertakings and requesting that: " .... the Board of Trade will favour (sic) me with a telegram sanctioning the opening of the Line on Wednesday next [i.e. 1 June 1887].. and the BoTs papers are endorsed: "Or. Cleghorn [acting chairman of A amp; St. A company] has been told that the Line may be opened tomorrow .... .". This tile note is dated "31.5" [31 May 1887]. A further letter from Dovey dated 2 June 1887 confirmed that the line had, indeed, opened the previous day, Wednesday, 1 June, 1887. This opening to public services on 1 June was further confirmed through checking press articles from the St. Andrews Citizen and Fifeshire Journal.

Editor's note:
Thanks to David and Richard for correcting the opening date. Or course, it is every author's nightmare that, despite extensiue checking and proof reading, mistakes get through to the final print run, as your Editor knows only too well (see below for some examples ... .) Sometimes it's the obvious error that slips through the net, with the brain reading what it expects to see and not what the eye actually obserues. As Scott Bruce says in his review on page 37, these are two excellent books and, not withstanding the above correction, they deserve to be read by all members interested in the history of Fife's railwqys.

No. 264 receives attention in this trackside view taken at Riccarton Junction on 1 June 1907 : photograph. 39

Wheatley 4-4-0s Nos 224/264. Bill Lynn. 39
To add to Euan Cameron#146;s notes on 224/264, and their working after rebuilding:
No. 224: In 1905, No. 224 was sent to Hawick shed to replace 2-4-0 class #147;P#148; No. 141. No. 224#146;s duties were 07.10 Hawick to Edinburgh and back on the 13:25 Waverley to Hawick. When not employed on this turn, its duty was 06.00 Hawick - Newcastle and the 10.55 return.
No. 264: shedded at Riccarton in 1906 and worked the Riccarton passenger turn to Carlisle (06:50. It worked back on a pick-up goods, then
worked to orders (from Riccarton). In April 1917, No. 264 was loaned to Malt Barns, Ladybank, to act as a stationary boiler while the works boiler was being repaired.
No. 232: In passing, I should also mention No. 232, a Holmes#146; West Highland Bogie (LNER class D35) which was also transferred to Hawick shed in 1905 along with No. 224. No. 232#146;s duty at Hawick was 06.00 Hawick - Edinburgh -Anstruther, and back with the 18.40 return. Crews changed at Heriot, day shift to Fife and night shift back to Hawick, serviced loco and returned to Heriot crew change, etc. This turn was noted in East Fife as #147;The Hawick#148; (12 hour shift).

Corrections to Journal 107. Editor. 39
Errata:
The cover photograph caption on the inside front cover should read " .. .December 1879 disaster."
2. Editorial text on page 3 should read " ... events of 28th December 1879."
3. The drawing of engine No.224 on page 15, showing the locomotive as rebuilt by Holmes in 1897 should show the NBR company crest on the leading driving wheel splasher.
4. The "W" irons on the centre wheel of first class carriage No. 414 illustrated on page 21, should be on the outside of the underfrarne.
5.. The illustration of third class carriage No. 650, also on page 21, is missing the footsteps at the carriage ends.

Then and now. Shettleston station. rear cover
Views taken in Edwardian periiod (coloured postcard) and (colour photograph) on 9 June 2009

Issue No. 109 (June 2010).

Drummond 0-4-4T No. 167 at Broughty Ferry station within period 1894 to 1900. front cover
See letters from Mike Smith; and Jim Page in Issue 110 and from Brian Farish and from Jim Page in Issue 111 and from Ian Terrell in Journal 121 p. 51

Harry Knox. Broughty Ferry level crossing. 3-6.
Opened with the railway under the terms of Dundee And Arbroath nbsp;Railway Act of 1836 and powers from later Acts concerning level crossings. The crossing with Gray nbsp;Street was heavily used as much of the linkage had to below road level and the railway was on a slight curve. Thus the capstan wheel was difficult to work. When it was decided to modernise the crossing in the mid-1980s with lifting barriers, but Dundeed Corporation was obstructive and listed it without consulting British Rail. In the 1990s Dundee District Council was equally obstructive nbsp;until an accident involving an HST abolishing the gates when being driven under clear signals precipitated action and a modern CCTV controlled was installed. The Author left when Railtrack was formed..

Brian Farish. Gorgie tales:. 7-9.
Began work as a booking clerk at Gorgie in 1950

Euan Cameron. Drummond tanks #150; Part 1: 0-6-0s. 10-15.
Includes 4 colour illustrations. Drummond 165 class (LNER J82):: Design showed similarity to Stroudley Terriers and was constructed between 1875 and 1878; and shared many features in common with the 4-4-0Ts of 1880-1884. Illustrations:

See letter of apprciation and note on specific locomotive from Bill Lynn)

Douglas Yuill. Coal in East/Midlothian #150; Part 8. Line No. 5 Monktonhall Junction to Macmerry and Gifford: Smeaton Junction to Bog Siding (continued). Bellyford Colliery. 16-21.
Illustrations: Edinburgh Collieries Company locomotive No. 8 at Fleets Pit branch (outside-cylinder 4-4-0T built by Hudswell Clarke in 1878 for Lynn amp; Fakenham Railway: sold by the Midland amp; Great Northern Railway to War Department which sold it to ECC in 1925. Elphinstone Colliery. Illustration of R. amp; J. Durie end-door wagon with Elphinstone Colliery and illustration of NCB No. 9 at Fleets.

Carriage livery puzzle. 22-3.
A two tone livery appears to be visible in ssome photographs taken in about 1908 and in a very early photograph taken at the east end of Waverley station

Allan Rodgers. Ashbury pasenger brake vans. 24-7.
Of the 1860s and 1870s: includes coloured elevations. See also No. 139 page 18 et seq

Alan Simpson. A visit to the Auchmuty Mills branch. 28.
Visit to Tullis Russell#146;s paper mill and the Auchmuty Mills branch in Fife on 2 June 1992, along with other members of the NBR Study Group and Angus Railway Group. Illustrations: Auchmuty Mills branch passes under main Kirkcaldy-Dundee Road (restricted clearance obvious in 1992 colour view; Map extract from OS One Inch 1921-30 Popular edition Sheet 68 Firth of Forth

Jim Armstrong. "Abbotsford" goes to Newcastle. 29-31..
Use of the North Eastern Railway dynamometer car for trials of Atlatic No. 879 Abbotsford between Edinburgh and Newcastle in June 1907. Illustrations of train at Berwick in 1907 and dynamometer car in NRM. Tables show coal consumtion and speeds.

Willie Hennigan. Relieving the non-stop. 32-3.
The South Leith goods shunter where crew signed on at Portobello: normally worked by Class A 0-6-2T (N15) No. 9020 later No. 9186.

Bill Lynn. Wartime diverted goods trains. 34
Because of congestion on the esat coast main line freight traffic was diverted over the Waverley Route and Border Counties line between Edinburgh, Riccarton Junction and Hexham to Low Fell: locomotives noted on these services which ran in 1941 and 1942 included J37, J39, D29, D32 and K2.

Donald Cattenach. William Fulton Jackson. 35-6.
Very full biography which relates both his working life, the longest serving General Manager, some of the devious manoeuvres involving Wieland and his considerable ability as a photographer.

Bill Lynn. Working on the North British.... 37

Good Lord!
Driver Davie Moffatt was a very religious man and when climbing Eddleston bank on No. 270 he stood back from the controls and said "The good Lord's drivin' this engine" to which his fireman replied "He's maybe drivin' it but he's no firing the bloody thing"

That stumped him.
The coal link at St. Marfarets had a few passenger turns, one being the 17.31 Waverley to Polton. Jock Dow asked when his turn came round the whereabouts of the stopping point at Lasswade. The information was a big tree on the off-side of the platform. Unfortunately the tree had been cut down and Dow was onto the viaduct before stopping. Also photograph of Lasswade station.

The bogie man...
Sandy Watt lost a leg in an accident and had a wooden leg and was known as Corky Watt and his engine was a small Drummond 4-4-0T No. 104 (photograph shows locomotive at nbsp;Waverley) which worked the Granton passenger. There were different grades of lubricating oil and Corky said to the storeman "Gimme No. 1 ile" to which the storeman replied "Ye canny get No. 1 ile, it's just for bogie locos". "Weel" said Corky, " No. 104's a bogie loco is it nea?"

A telling tale...
Railway photographer, R.B. Haddon attended Moffat Academy and coming back from his home to Stobs, he described to a fellow puupil how he had spent most of his time in the signal box at Stobs camp. The fellow pupil was the son of Mr. C. Stemp, Suprintendent of the Line, and reported this fact to his father.

Letters page. 38-9

Accident at Torryburn. Robert Lockhart. 38
Photograph captioned Torrie, NBR 1907: signal box controlled access to Valleyfield Colliery on coast line between Dunfermline and Alloa:involved two trains one of which was a coal train. See letter from Bill Lynn

Monkland Railway rolling stock. Ann Glenn.
Her grandfather, born in 1837, may have travelled fourth class on Edinburgh amp; Glasgow Railway. He remembered seeing work on rock cutting at Croy.

NBR locos at Hawthorn Leslie. Peter Howell.
Following WW1 St. Peter's works overhauled following NBR locomotives:
Order Nos. 5936-7: No. 404 (LNER Class D31)
5938-9: No. 599 (D25)
5940-1: No. 732 (D31)
7533: No. 1134 (J31)
7670: No. 1148 (J31)
7705: No. 531 (J34)
7707: No. 575 (D31)
7709: No. 779 (J36)

Cardrona station. Rae Montgomery. 39
Photograph probably taken during LNER period. In 1960 writer issued Special Stop Order on 18.20 ex-Waverley to detrain a seaman on leave wishing to alight hereat.

Forth Bridge Raid, Kenneth G. Williamson.
Blank ticket inviation to opening of Forth Bridge on 4 March 1890.

Dalmuir station. rear cover
Views taken in Edwardian periiod and (colour photograph) on 9 June 2009 whilst station was being rebuilt with train from Larkhall terminating there

Issue No. 110 (September 2010)

Holmes 0-6-0 No. 673 Maude as No. 65243 with brake van on South Queensferry branch heading for Dalmeny on 22 March 1963. Ken Falconer. colour photograph, front cover

Brian Farish. Gorgie tales: trouble with pigeons.. 3-5
Racing pigeons used to be sent in hampers for release. One tale relates to a hamper which should nbsp;have been sent to Newcastleton, but failed to be on board and were released from nearer at home after a calculated wait and pigeons which were released at Haymarket into the path of an Aberdeen express which led to many corpses. Illustration: LNER pigeon van preserved on North Norfolk Railway (teak livery: colour). See also Andrew Boyd contribution

Alistair Nisbet. There's no smoke without fire. 5.
Border Advertiser 15 April 1856. Galashiels station. Smoke nuisance from locomotives and action by the police. Editorial in Hawick Advertiser of 20 December 1856 on nuisance of coal smoke.

Euan Cameron. Drummond tanks #151; Part 2: 4-4-0s. 6-10.
Drummond 4-4-0T built between 1880 and 1884. nbsp;72 class (D51) shared many components in common with 0-6-0T. nbsp;In LNER period four were fitted with pilots (cow catchers) and worked Frazerburgh to St. Combs brabch. One lasted until 1933. Illustrations:

nbsp;See also 0-6-0T Class 165.

Harry Knox. Queensferry tunnel derailment. 11-14.
11 March 1954: train slipped backwards due to locomotive nbsp;(A4 No. 60024) slipping on new rail and lack of lights in the tunnel: Inspecting Officer C.A, Langley recommended installation of lights in tunnel. See also letter from Jeff Hurst

Kippen signal box. 15
As was in NBR period with level crossing and as extant remains c2010

Douglas Yuill. Coal in East/Midlothian #151; Part 9. 16-24
Line No. 5. Monktonhall Junction to Macmerry and Gifford: Bog Siding to Pencaitland. Ormiston Coal Company pits. Oxenford Colliery, Tynemount Colliery and Woodhall Colliery. Illustrations include Ormiston station and signal box; siding layout plan at Ormiston Colliery in 1907; siding layout plan at Limeylands Colliery in 1906; view from carriage window of C16 No. 67492 hauled SLS railtour over Lothian Lines passing remains of Limeylands Colliery; D53 4-4-0T No. 10459 at Bog Siding on a freight train inn August 1929; Ormiston Coal Company Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST WN 2146/1942 No. 2 in NCB liivery; Ordnance Survey map of Bellyford Colliery; unusual water tank at Ormiston station; map Ormiston Station Colliery; D51 No. 10458 at Ormiston on 21 May 1929; Ormiston station with SLS tour train in June 1960; preserved Ormiston Coal Company wagons at Prestongrange Mining Museum in 1970s (colour); Woodhall Colliery map; preserved nbsp;Woodhall Colliery wagon at SRPS Falkirk (colour)nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;

Allan Rodgers. Ashbury composite carriages. 25-33.
Four wheel and six wheell composite carriages built in 1873-4. Illustrations: as within George Washington Wilson photograph of the east end of Waverley station (and much more); enlargement from above to show coach; diagram (side amp; end elevations); coloured diagrams of four wheel and six wheell composite carriages; photograph of No. 148 at Carlisle and coloured diagrams produced from it; 4-4-0T No. 33 with Lauder branch train at Fountainhall (train included an Ashbury coach. See also Issue page 112.

W. Rhind Brown. The magic of a name. 34-5.
Nos. 903 and 2001 shared Cock o' the North. Notes article by J.W. Rattray in Rly Mag for 1935, 76, 37. Name came from Sir Walter Scott. Author also wonders if the name Silver Link (A4 No. 2509) from Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel was a memorial to his wife.

The guard is last but not least. 36.
Dunfermline Press: goods guard.

Letters page. 37

A Tay Bridge disaster survivor? Jim Page
The recently refurbished Dundee Central Museum in the city's Albert Square finally re-opened to the public earlier this year. One exhibit of particular appeal to those with an interest in the NBR and in particular carriages, is a section, or quarter, reputedly salvaged from the remains of the 1st class carriage removed from the bed of the Tay following the disaster of December 1879. At first inspection the exhibit is far from familiar and appears to display a number of anomalies but if it is assumed genuine and I have little doubt it is, the first point of interest is the livery. The finish is carriage lake, albeit having endured the passage of 130 years of contrasting fortune and therefore resolves any lingering doubts as referred to in Journal 107.
At some point, perhaps soon after the disaster, the quarter has had some attention from someone with either little knowledge of carriages or with another intention in mind. The configuration appears to be, window- panel (over compartment partition) - window, from that part of the carriage above the waist and below the top quarter. The original glass would have been smashed on impact with the river if not before and it is likely that the central panel would also have been destroyed at this time leaving only the frames. The centre frame width is in keeping with that of adjoining first class compartments. The restorer has replaced all three apertures with glass hence the misleading appearance. However, if the centre aperture was indeed a wooden panel, this would not explain the secondary panelling as can be seen in the accompanying photographs. The reverse has two joint checks in line with what would have been the compartment partition. Further, I suspect the exhibit may in fact be upside down! Regrettably, confusion does not end there for a grab handle has survived and has been placed above the centre aperture. To place the handle in this position would have involved boring two new holes. A brass plate inscribed, This frame is a portion of first class carriage removed from the river, has been added at an early date. From my admittedly limited knowledge of antique brass plates, it looks to be of a type commonly found prior to WW1. The plate has been well polished over the years to the point where the surrounding paintwork has been rubbed away, revealing the primer or undercoat, a fairly bright reddish bauxite.
I made some enquiries with a helpful member of the museum staff in an effort to find some provenance but with only limited success. An acquisition number, 1979-898 has been allocated to it but this is a replacement reference, the original having been lost. Records show that it had been removed from a former museum at Dudhope Castle, Dundee, closed in the 1950s. I should add that if restoration had been carried out in modern times by restorers at Dundee Museum, work would have been carried out to exacting standards leaving no doubt as to what was displayed. The exhibit is intriguing and a rare survivor from this early period. I would be interested to hear from anyone who may be able to comment further.

Part of an NBR first class carriage reputedly recovered after the Tay Bridge disaster and now in Dundee#146;s Central Museum. nbsp;37
Colour photograph: See Jim Page#146;s letter above and Bill Sewell's opinion.

Obituary: Derek Lovell 37
Mike Rudkin only had the pleasure of Derek's acquaintance since March 2008, and when he most helpfully replied to my Newsletter request for information, and generously offered the loan of his material. I soon found that Derek had an all round wealth of railway knowledge but his passionate interest was the Waverley Route, in particular St. Boswells, which he modelled. He had walked the lifted trackbed of the Waverley Route in full in 1979, and was looking forward with great anticipation to the forthcoming partial re-opening. He gave talks/slideshows on the Route to various Societies in his local Northants area and even further afield, and was an active member of the RCTS. As I had already moved to Ireland our contact was predominantly by email, and I shall certainly miss his ready wit and sense of humour. He passed away on 20 May 2010 after a long fight against cancer.

The Queen's Starion . Donald Cattanach nbsp;38
In my article on the Queen's Station (alias St Margaret's or Meadowbank) in Journals 102 amp; 103, I said that 1881 appeared to have been the last year of service for the Queen's Station in Edinburgh. However, a report in the Glasgow Herald of 28 December 1883 indicates that the station was used again in that year, but for an occasion that was anything but Royal:
"The Glasgow Dynamitards #151; The ten men [Irish 'Fenians'] convicted at Edinburgh on Friday of conspiracy and of complicity in the explosions on the 20th January last, at the Tradeston Gas Works, Possil Bridge, and the Caledonian Railway Shed, Glasgow, were yesterday removed from the Calton Jail, Edinburgh, to Chatham Prison. The removal was conducted with the utmost secrecy. About nine o'clock in the morning the convicts, all manacled, were placed in the prison van and driven to St Margaret's Station, a side station hitherto used almost solely by Her Majesty on her visits to Holyrood. In order to avoid attracting notice the prisoners wore their ordinary clothes and the warders in whose custody they were removed were also dressed in plain clothes. At St Margaret's Station the prisoners were placed in a third-class caniage ... The carriage was run by a special engine back to the Waverley Station, where it was attached to the "Flying Scotsman" train, just as that express was about to start. The transference was effected very quietly and expeditiously ... while a number of policemen in plain clothes patrolled Waverley Station until the train was des- patched." It was reponed that the convicts, five of whom had received life sentences, and five who had been sentenced to seven years' penal servitude, 'looked careworn and dispirited'.

Forth Bridge Raid. Bill l.ynn. 38 nbsp;
A few weeks ago I purchased a DVD titled The Borders at War. In the DVD a tale is told that in the raid on the Forth Bridge, one of the spitfire pilots was called Albert Barton, from 602 squadron. Also in the raid was a Dornier 88 crew member called Fredrick Hanson who, with Albert Barton had attended the same school at New- stead, near St Boswells. Frederick's father had come to work in Scotland at St Boswells in the early thirties, but as war was approaching he went back to Germany with his Scottish wife. Frederick enlisted in the Luftwaffe on the outbreak of war. His aircraft was damaged in the raid and managed to reach Holland, but crashed in Holland and Frederick was killed. A view in the DVD shows his headstone, "A tale of two border lads". In passing, Frederick's nickname at school was "Sunny".

Two tone carriages. lain Chalmers
I was flicking through Peter Westwater's book North British Postcard Album Vol 1 recently and came across a picture on page 17 that may be relevant to the on-going discussion in .Journal 109 re: NBR coaches in two tone livery. It looks possible there is evidence of two tone livery in this c.1870 view.
Editor note: The picture lain is referring to is reproduced below. What do other members think7

Photograph of what is believed to be a factory outing special at Sinclairtown around 1870, hauled by Hurst 0-6-0 No. 370.
See letter from Dr lain Chalmers above. John Alsop collection

Shunter's steps amp; banking engines. Peter Groom 38
I am (or was!) an enthusiastic steam locomotive photographer and have a few shots of NB locomotives in BR days. There are two points on which I would like to know more. They are: 1) Many, but certainly not all, shunting tank engines of NB design carried a wooden 'platform', linked to the steps to the cab. This, I have been told, was for the use of shunters and a horizontal hand rail was provided on the side of the bunker to further aid the work of these lowly workers. It could be that this was not unique to the North British, but it carried on through the LNER days and right through to the end of steam.
A recent article in the railway press claimed that this practice was only introduced to the NB in the last years of the railway #151; after the first world war. I have very few photographs (in books) of NB shunters and certainly not enough to know whether this dating is correct.
It could well be that this is such a well-known aspect of the NB that you know the approximate date when the platforms were introduced - and possibly the reason why. (It is obvious that the platforms made the work of the shunter easier, but could there also be a 'health amp; safety' aspect as well?)
2) On many railways in Great Britain, when trains were 'banked', the banking engine was not connected to the train and, when the summit was reached, the banking engine simply stopped 'pushing' and the train continued on its way.
On the North British, the banking engine was attached to the rear of the train and, when the summit was reached (e.g. Cowlairs incline), the connecting 'link' was broken using a 'wire' #151; passing over pulleys #151;which was 'pulled' from the cab. As with the platform above, this method of working continued through LNER days on to the end of steam. In BR days, these cables could be seen on some members of Gresley classes#151;V3 and D47 #151; as well as the older NB 0-6-2 tanks.
Do we know whether the North British introduced this method of working after an 'incident' on its own lines or was it introduced after the well-known accident in Ireland ? Do we have a date when the 'breakable link' was introduced to the North British?
If any member is able to shed some light on Peter's questions, please write to the editor.

Broughty Ferry cover picture. Mike Smith. 39 (110)
Having spent some time mulling over the photograph adorning the front page of the last Journal, purporting to illustrate a view, featuring NBR 0-4-4T No. 167, taken at Broughty Ferry station, I suggest that this picture was taken elsewhere.
Admittedly, there is a certain superficial resemblance to the present west facing view at the west end of the station, where the Fort Street road overbridge crosses the main line on a fairly steep incline. This overbridge, together with approaches from Brook Street and Queen Street respectively, built at a right angle to the main line, were provided in or about 1887, superseding the Fort Street level crossing, and adjacent controlling box - not the box shown in the picture.
Further examination of the picture displays a background which I cannot reconcile with the local railway layout existing at any time. As far as I am aware, construction of the Dundee amp; Arbroath Railway at that location, prior to being opened in 1838, necessitated the line being cut through along the south side of that part of Queen Street still known as 'Post Office Brae' (at least, since 1905). This operation involved the provision of considerable retaining walls on each side of the line, boundaries which can be seen to this day, the north facing example buttressing, inter alia, the curtilage of the nineteenth century Episcopal Church, which sits atop the brae.
This latter wall would be evident, beyond the overbridge, were this a picture taken at Broughty Ferry, instead of which, quite plainly, there is shown a block of (probably) Victorian tenements, beyond which there appears to be a refuge siding, on which is situated a tender first locomotive. The continuing existence of said retaining wall precludes any thought either of tenements or refuge siding ever having existed at that location.
Hopefully, Group members may be able to identify the locale (or to prove that my ideas are incorrect!) - the Drummond locomotive sports Holmes-style independent lockup safety valves, which would provide at least a post 1882 date for the photograph - perhaps the locomotive's shed identity, if known, might assist in determining the correct station location.
Editor note: I#146;m afraid I didn#146;t think to question the location given on a caption to this image. Can any member identify location?

Broughty Ferry cover picture. Jim Page
When Mike Smith made me aware of his doubts as to the location of the cover picture in Journal 109, I had a good look at the uncropped image. I regret to say, it is not Broughty Ferry. There are three clues which collectively more than prove this to be the case. There was no structure next to Fort Street Bridge where a gable features on the far left of the scan. The locomotive in the distance is either in a siding or at a junction and on the other line, a turnout can just be seen. Neither were a feature of Broughty Ferry. That said, I can well understand why it has been assumed to be so as it has more than a passing resemblance to the west end of the station at Fort Street. (Fort Street, not Forth Street, something to do with the Napoleonic Wars.)
No 167 though named Dundee, left this area in the early 1890s presumably before the Holmes livery was applied. It returned to this area certainly by the early 1920s as I spoke with a retired driver many years ago who could recollect a turn or two driving it between Arbroath and Dundee. A really splendid photograph wherever it was taken and a good choice for the cover. It will be a bonus if anyone can come up with the location as this would fill a gap as to its whereabouts following its departure from the north bank of the Tay.

Drummond tanks. Bill Lynn:
nbsp;I found Euan Cameron's recent article on the Drummond tanks to be superb, with some excellent drawings. Members may be interested to know that in November 1910, for a very short time, J82 No. 20 Haddington was transferred to Northumberland, at Reedsmouth, as a replacement for D51 No. 72 while it was in shops at St Margarets. It was employed at Reedsmouth on the the Bellingham-Reedsmouth-Scotsgap local services.

Accident near Torryburn. Bill Lynnnbsp;
Looking at the print of the accident near Torryburn in Journal 109#146;s letters page, I suspect the engine is a D27 (looking at cab and tender). I have a note of engine No. 491 in an accident at, Penton on 4 Septrmber 1898; No. 488, St Margarets, 4 February 1902; No. 492, Dunbar, 3/ March 1898; No. 491, Dumbarton, 22 July 1912; but I have no note in the records of the Torryburn accident. I note a passenger brake next to locomotive and cattle wagons, etc in the print. Could this have been for the use of the drovers?

Then and now. Ladybank station. rear cover
The view above, taken on 4 November 2008, shows Ladybank station, on the original Edinburgh amp; Northern Railway line from Burntisland to Cupar in Fife. Lady bank was opened to traffic on 20 September 1847 and the view at the bottom of the page shows the station in its heyday, around 1911, with what appears to be engine No. 187 shunting mineral wagons. If it is, indeed, No.187, then this 0-6-0 locomotive was built by Dubs in 1865 and is shown as rebuilt by Holmes in 1894. It was to be withdrawn not long after this photo was taken. Note also the less common example of a goods/cattle van in the bay with its number painted on the van end. In the modern day photo, the station building is obscured by vegetation and the bay is no longer in use. The middle inset image shows a close-up of the station building looking pretty much the same today as it did in 1847. Ladybank was the junction for the line to Bridge of Earn and on to Perth (via the Caledonian) and this line can be seen above heading north as the main line curves to the right. (2008 images: Allan Rodgers 1911: A. Brotchie collection)

Issue No. 111 (December 2010)

Westcraigs station c1910 with Glasgow bound passenger train approaching. front cover
John Alsop collection.

Harry Knox and Allan Rodgers. Bathgate: the railway story 1849-2010. 3-17.
Harry Knox was former BR Scottish Region Area Manager for Bathgate Area. For a considerable time the Bathgate area was dominated by the shale oil industry. Later British Motor Corporation brought in to relieve unemployment, but now an electrified railway is seeking to increase personal mobility. In 1961, Bathgate, was designated a Special Development Area as a consequence of the demise of Scottish Oils, the collieries and a general contraction of the tradition heavy industries thereby associated, and the ensuing significant unemployment problem this had created. The new British Motor Corporation's (BMC) Truck and Tractor Division Factory, which had been planned for the traditional Midlands heartland of the motor industry, was, under pressure from the Government of the day, re-located to Bathgate and constructed on the south western side of the town between there and Blackburn. From the start, the factory was to be rail-connected, this being achieved by restoration of part of the former Riddochhill Colliery Branch, running into the factory proper. The railway was to gain much traffic from the new factory and very quickly, a daily freight service was established between Longbridge (King's Norton) Birmingham and Morris Cowley, (Oxford) for the transport of finished trucks and tractors back to the traditional markets for this commodity. However, these services were also to spawn a new traffic incoming to Bathgate, and Bathgate indeed became a centre for receiving block trains of new motor cars from not only the BMC factories in the midlands, but also regular services from the Ford (Dagenham) plant and the Vauxhall (Luton) factory. These inwards train services quickly increased to bring in imported motor cars from such places as Felixstowe, Tilbury, Sheerness and Harwich. Indeed, a new daily express air-braked freight service was started, running between Harwich (Parkeston Quay) and Glasgow (Sighthill) via Bathgate, serving Bathgate mid-morning daily, and running in reverse from Sighthill through to Parkeston Quay in the late afternoon, and again serving Bathgate. This service connected with the Harwich/Zeebrugge and Harwich/Dunkirk train ferries and soon, BR at Bathgate were loading trucks and tractors on continental railways (SNCF and DB) fitted wagons for direct service to the continent via the train ferry. This was a most successfu Perhaps In 1974-75 shale oil blaes from bings near Bathgate was moved by train to Shieldhall in Glasgow to be used in the extension of thee M8 westwards. nbsp;The new town at Livingston developed commuter traffic into Edinburgh. See also letter from Keith Fenwick.

Colour images taken in 2006 and 2010 by Allan Rodgers

Bill Sewell. Tay Bridge disaster: train brakes. 18.
Follow up: train involved was probably only partially fitted with Westinghouse brake.

Euan Cameron. Reid 0-6-2 tank engines. 19-29.
A high degree of standardization was incorporated. The boiler was employed in 315 locomotives in addition to 0-6-2Ts: it was employed in 4-4-2T, 0-4-4T and to rebuilt J36 type 0-6-0s). The class was employed as bankers on the Cowlairs Incline when rope haulage terminated. The class became LNER N14 and N15. Liveries are considered at length. The first twelve 0-6-2Ts built were fitted with Westinghouse brake, and several of those banked passenger trains out of Queen Street Station in Glasgow. The design proved so useful that in total a further 93 engines of the same basic design were built, nearly all with steam brakes only for goods work nbsp;although the brake options later became more complicated. The cylinder blocks for the 18-in x 26-in cylinders were to a design basically identical to those used on the Drummond and Holmes 18-in goods, with double sets of ports horizontally divided, as also found on the Drummond and Holmes bogie passenger engines with 18-in cylinders. The valve gear was also the same as that used on the Drummond 1818-in engines: it had 4-ft 7-in eccentric rods and an unusual quirk in its layout. The forward eccentrics were angled at 103.5 degrees to the driving cranks, while the backward eccentrics were set at 104 degrees in the opposite direction. This reflects some remarkable consistency in the development of the N.B. 18-in locomotives. The 4-ft 6-in coupled wheels were set at the same wheelbase intervals as on the Holmes 0-6-0s and 0-6-0Ts, but with a radial axle added at the rear. Radial axles offer a compact means to help a long locomotive chassis to round curves without a pony truck. The axles are carried in guides that are radiused to provide a set turning curve: in the case of the Reid 0-6-2Ts the nominal radius was 7-ft 6in through the centre of the bearings. The radial guides formed a continuous casting across the rear of the frames, controlling the axle by horizontal control springs. The axleboxes travelled vertically on the insides of the radial guides. All N.B. engines were solidly constructed, but the 0-6-2Ts more so even than usual. The boiler designed for the 0-6-2Ts was identical to that built in the same year, 1909, for W.P. Reid's large 0-4-4Ts (the later G9 Class) which were in turn enlargements of the Holmes 586 Class. The lengthwise dimensions of the boiler were similar to those of the Holmes 18-in goods as built, with one slight modification: the front tubeplate was 1/8-in thicker. The cross-section of the boiler barrel was identical to that on the large boilers of the 729 Class and the rebuilt Abbotsfords, though with a less deep firebox. The external diameter over the cleading was the same. This boiler proved astonishingly useful. Not only was it fitted to the 105 0-6-2Ts and the 12 Reid 0-4-4Ts; it was also used for the 30 saturated 'Yorkie' 4-4-2T passenger tanks of 1911, and then for the rebuilding of the 168 members of the Holmes 18-in goods engines (later J36). In total 315 locomotives used basically the same boiler (LNER diagram 81) representing a significant level of standardization. See also letter from Keith Fenwick

Donald Cattanach. George Simpson amp; John Martin. 30-2.
Includes portraits of both men. Simpson was born at Heriot (Midlothian) on 26 March 1833 and was the son of the village schoolmaster. He joined the NBR as a clerk in the Cashier's Office in October 1854 under J.P. Lythgoe, the General Accountant. Lythgoe and Thomas K. Rowbotham, the General Manager, were dismissed for financial irregularities performed at the behest of the Chairman, Richard Hodgson. Simpson was promoted to be General Accountant from January 1867 reporting to the Secretary. David Anderson was appointed as Audit Accountant reprting to the General Manager: each received #163;300 per annum. He retired on 30 September 1905 and died in his holiday residence at Burntisland on 19 May 1910. John Martin who succeeded him was the son of a gamekeeper and was born at East Lodge on the Hopetoun Estate on 1 April 1856. In 1871 he became an apprentice clerk at South Queensferry Station and following service at other stations was moved to the Secrtary's Office in November 1874. Wieland retired in 1892 and joined the Board; John Cathles became Secretary and John Martin Assistant Secretary. In August 1901 Martin became Secretary to the West Highland Railway and became involved in the dispute involving Henry Grierson and the government funds received for the Mallaig extension. Martin replaced Simpson as General Accountant and was involved in the protracted negotiations with the Ministry of Transport for compensation for services provided during WW1. He retired at the last meeting of vthe Board on 2 March 1923. He retired from being Secretary of the Forth Bridge Company in February 1931. He had married Elizabeth Young, daughter of James Young, railway contractorn who had business dealings with Wieland and the NBR. He died in Edinburgh on 8 August 1931.

Douglas Paul. Closure of the Waverley Route and its effect upon railway employees. 33-4.
When the Minister of Transport did eventually decide to close the line, the first the employees knew of it was when they read it in the newspapers. There was no official communication to confirm the decision to local management until six weeks after the announcement had been made. Even then, it came indirectly from the Financial Accountant at Scottish HQ in a letter concerning budgets for the coming year! Unsurprisingly, local employees felt they had been left in the lurch. When closure came, a reasonably generous railway redundancy scheme and a buoyant local economy helped to soften the blow for the job seekers but there were also cultural and structural characteristics in the railway workforce which exacerbated the pain, Illustration: class A3 locomotive No. 60052 Prince Palatine pauses to take water at Hawick on a northbound freight in December 1965

Two Riccarton poems.... 35.
By Robert Nixon, formerly relief signalman at Newcastleton

Andrew Boyd. Pigeon traffric: a follow-up. 36.
See Brian Farish Gorgie tales. Illustration: LNER bogie brake pigeon van No. 70494 (4721) preserved at Scottish Railway Museum, Bo'ness. Built at York in 1940. In the latest episode of his Gorgie tales we were reminded us of another traffic no longer handled by the railway; namely racing pigeons. The article was illustrated by a photograph of a restored LNER 4 wheel brake van on the North Norfolk Railway. No. 6843. According to Michael Harris Gresley's Coaches (David amp; Charles. 1973). this van was one of a batch of 21 such vehicles built in 1929 for pigeon traffic. the order being divided between York and Stratford Works. However what may have been forgotten is that there is an unrestored brake pigeon van (BGP) in the Scottish railway museum collection one of a batch built at York in 1940. According to the SRPS rolling stock catalogue compiled by the late John Burnie and published in 2007. these vehicles worked as main line full brakes when not required for pigeon traffic.
This set me wondering when pigeon traffic first started on the railways and the extent of such traffic handled by the NBR. Did the company have any vehicles specifically allocated to such traffic? I would also be interested to know when this traffic ceased to be handled by BR.
In 1966 he had summer job as a parcels porter at Waverley station based in the parcels compound between what were then platforms 17 and 19 and which provided some opportunity to watch for interesting workings in the station. He could not remember seeing any pigeon traffic: however a BR Scottish Region weekly special traffic notice (SC3) in his possession from that time details the running on Friday 19 August 1966 of a special working at 21.10 from Prestonpans to Edinburgh Waverley for Racing Pigeon Traffic. booked to convey two BG's for Northallerton and connecting into the 00.15 (early Saturday morning) retimed Edinburgh to York parcels. He also possess a North Eastern Region weekly special traffic notice for the previous week which he must also have acquired in the course of employment. This mentions the running of several special workings on the evening of Friday 5 August 1966 which although not strictly relevant to the NBRSG does throw some light on the extent of such traffic on the railway at that time. The workings included a pigeon special at 20.00 from Bedlington to Newcastle conveying two BGP's and the retiming of the 18.55 Parcels Berwick to Newcastle to call additionally at Acklington and Widdrington and to convey two BGP#183;s. These vans were transferred at Newcastle to a pigeon special at 23.25 from Newcastle to Retford and Worksop. See also letter from Bill Lynn
However pigeons were not the only interesting special traffic that Friday. Even more interesting is that the same NE Region notice discloses the running on 5 August 1966 of what must have been one of the last passenger trains on the former NBR line through Scotsgap, which closed two months later at the beginning of October 1966. This was a troop special (I F76) from Kirkton Lindsay (on the Gainsborough to Barnetby line in Lincolnshire) to Woodburn. booked to be loaded to 12 gangway vehicles conveying 25 Officers and 525 Other Ranks. Presumably there was a return working a week or two later to bring the troops back from the army camp that I understand was located nearby. Did any more such trains run before the line closed or was that the last passenger or military train on the line apart from the special excursion organised by Gosforth Round Table that ran on 2 October (see photograph in Neil Caplan's Border Country Branch Line Album. lan Allan 1981)?

Letters page. 38-9. (111)

J35 No. 64505 approaches the north portal of North Queensferry tunnel. The run off from the catch points can just be seen on the right. See letter from Jeff Hurst. (photograph). 38

North Queensferry tunnel accident. Jeff Hurst nbsp;
Following Harry Knox's article on the North Queensferry Tunnel Accident, I remembered that I had the enclosed undated photograph of I J35 64505 on an up passenger train approaching the tunnel. Just visible in N the bottom right hand corner is part of ! the 'longer catch siding with a substantial sand drag' which had been recommended by the Inspecting Officer, Brigadier Langley.

Signal boxes. David Kirkhouse
Further to the article on Kippen signal box in Journal 110, members may be interested to know that five former signal boxes still survive on the old Border Counties Railway in rural Northumberland. They are Wall, Wark, Reedsmouth Juncton, Belling- ham Gust the locking room) and Falstone. All have found new uses except Wark, as can be seen in the photograph below. Image Image The surviving Wark signal box, on the old Border Counties line between Reedsmouth and Hexham Junction, stands disused. See further letter from David Kirkhouse.

Broughty Ferry or not? Brian Farish. 38 (111)
Following recent correspondence regard whether or not the picture on the cover of Journal 109 is Broughty Ferry or not, I got in touch with a railman who belonged to B'ferry. This is his reply. "Well it looks like Broughty Ferry with the Forth Street Bridge in the background just behind the loco. BUT nowadays the background to the bridge is wrong as there is a deep cutting there with stone walls. However this may have been altered when the post office at the top of Fort Street was built/extended in 1910 and the cutting may have deepened when Queen Street was 'Widened (running parallel to the railway to the north)." "The signalbox behind the loco is a problem though as the SB that I knew was at the other end of the platform. As it is a SB (rods going to it from the points) then if it is Broughty Ferry, and I think it is, it must have been before 1887 when the "new" box was built". "The second overbridge is 'right' for Church Street. The platforms would then be behind the phtographer, they were later extended and steps up to the bridge at Fort Street were provided. The "hill of trees" in the distance behind the loco is also RIGHT for this location. There seems to be a made-up path from the crossing at the SB that would lead back to the up platform where the station buildings were to allow staff access to the box." So there you have it, not entirely conclusive, however this chap is steeped in the railway history in and around that area.

Broughty Ferry or not? Jim Page. 38
Regarding the continuing Broughty Ferry saga, can I re-confirm my view that the Journal 109 photograph is definitely not Broughty Ferry. I've known this station well for more years than I care to remember. I've travelled to and from it for decades and I worked there for a time on relief in my railway days. None-the-less, I've looked at the O/S plans for both the 19th and 20th centuries and there has never been a configuration of buildings as featured on the photograph nor has there ever been a siding/junction as depicted in the background.

Dundee museum carriage panel. Bill Sewell nbsp;39
I make no claim to be an expert in these matters but have made a study of 19/20th century coach construction in I general and NBR carriages in particu- lar. Based only on the photograph in Journal 110, my opinion is that it may; well be part of an NBR 1st class car- iii riage of Drummond origin. Whether it came from the Tay train is anyone's guess. Having said that, it has been so much altered as to be virtually useless as an historical artefact. The NBR had no standard length for compartments but if the exhibit measures 4ft 10#189;in overall then it is likely to have origi- nated from a Drummond 6 wheel 1st of relevant date. The solid part of the centre panel (the upright panel) may well be original but the glass could never have been original and one may suppose that the original intention was for part of a garden shed or similar use. So far as the window light go the panelling is there but the bolections are not and the glass has been secured (on the outside) by the screwed wooden fillets which should have been used to secure the glass on the inside. The bolections secured it on the outside and these would have been sealed to the wood by white lead and to the glass by putty. [ would agree with Mr. Page in thinking that the unit is dis- played upside down. This is partly because the bottom light rail was heavier than the top light rail. The crucial parts of any coach "quarter" were the standing pillars #151; usually oak #151; and these were carefully selected for the wood grain to match the line and any tumblehome. The jig built quarters were carefully rebated and morticed into 'the bottom sides and the cant rail to form a very strong - and resilient - structure. Doors were hung onto the standing pillars (on the left of the door) and latched and locked on the right. The right hand standing pillar should therefore bear hinge marks at waist level and around to top of the windows; the exhibit does not. On the other hand the unit does bear the mark of the lock recess - in the correct place but the "wrong" pillar. The exhibit is therefore displayed upside down and this, of course, must have originated when the brass plate was applied. The marks on the reverse of the display, and in the centre, should be consistent with a partition one inch thick and probably secured by knees. The grab handle might be NBR but was certainly never mounted in the ludicrous position shown. If from the Tay train it would be about 16in. long #151;those of the Reid era being an inch shorter.

Banking engines. Harry Knox. 39
Regarding the letter from Peter Groom in Journal 110, and in particular, the coupling of rear-end assisting engines, whilst I cannot accurately comment on NBR practice, I believe it would have been the practice adopted subsequent to the grouping by the LNER, and perpetuated, on ex LNER lines, until the end of steam traction. Firstly, I think the oblique reference to the Armagh accident can be discounted. Had a standard arrangement for rear- end assistance been devised by the Rail- way Clearing House (RCH) following this accident, then this would have applied to all railway companies in the UK. The fact that the LNER did one thing and the LMS, for instance, had other (dissimilar) instructions and practices, does, I think, rule out a national requirement. The LNER requirements for engines assisting in rear of trains was contained in Table J of the General Appendix and basically fell into five categories, as fol- lows:-
A Assisting engine must be coupled to train.
B. Assisting engine must not be coupled to train.
C. Assisting engine must be coupled to train by engine coupling and uncoupled by Guard with shunt- ing pole from the end of the van.
D. Slip coupling must be used which Driver will uncouple when detaching. (If the assisting engine is not fitted with slip cou- pling the Driver of the assisting engine must advise the Driver of the train engine accordingly.
E. During fog/falling snow the slip coupling must not be used, but the engine attached by means of the screw coupling.
The table then contained a detailed list of locations/conditions.
However, with regard to the working of the Cowlairs incline, special instructions were issued in the same Appendix. Basically, this required all trains to be assisted, but if the load was in excess of 300 tons, then rear end assistance by one pilot engine was mandatory. If the load exceeded the maximum load for rear-end pilot and train engine, another engine, no larger than a D11, had to be coupled in front of the train engine, However, there was further twist in that if the train being assisted in the rear was not calling at Cowlairs (booked stop) the slip coupling was employed, but if the train was booked to stop at Cowlairs, the screw coupling was used.
The LMS conducted assisting in a much more cavalier fashion merely requiring Drivers of assisting engines not to lose contact with the train. Coupling was only employed by special instruction on a location by location basis and passenger trains, where assistance was authorised required that the vacuum brake pipes were also connected. This latter requirement appears to have been applied in the Northern Division and stories abound of, for instance, Lickey Bankers losing contact with their trains.
I am fairly certain, that with the working of the Cowlairs incline undoubtedly focussing minds on safety, the NBR got it right and adopted the slip coupling as the most expeditious means of balancing delay with operational safety. Allowing that rear-end assistance without coupling was a high risk activity, I think that the NBR probably minimised the number of locations where this was perpetuated and the LNER followed suit. Indeed, I am fairly certain that the LNER Appendix (Scottish Area) merely reflected, and regularised, old company procedures. I also think that the slip coupling (breakable link) was probably devised following cessation of rope haulage on the Cowlairs incline in 1908.
BR did little to regularise this situation until an accident on Beattock bank in May, 1969, when the locomotive working the 21.30 Euston Perth became overpowered on the bank. The 22.15 Euston Glasgow, with banker coupled in rear, was brought up to get the Inverness underway by giving rear-end assistance, but was not coupled to the front train. The Inverness, on getting underway, began to accelerate and the assisting train lost contact, however, the Inverness then lost way again and the 22.15, only some 10 yards in the rear, was unable to stop and collided sharply with the rear of the front train. The Driver of the 22.15 died of injuries received. This led to serious rethinking of rear end assistance and brought about a requirement to couple using both coupling and brake pipes but only in the case of assistance being given to a failed train. Rear end banking (uncoupled) where this was permitted by instruction, was not to be altered.
Hope this helps but assistance in the rear over the years, was anything but a simple, standard procedure.

Then and now: Armadale Station. rear cover.
c1901 platforms
During LNER period
Two colour views taken from Armadale to Whitburn road bridge looking in both directions on 10 November 2010 with electric catenary in place

Issue No. 112 (March 2011)

Jim Summers#146; completed 4mm scale model of NBR No. 185, a Hurst 0-6-0 goods engine, as it awaits its next turn of duty on the East of Scotland 4mm Group#146;s #147;Burntisland 1883#148; layout. (Jim Summers). front cover

Jim Summers. A Hurst 0-6-0 for Burntisland. 3-4.
Model locomotive

Euan Cameron. Hurst#146;s goods engines. 5-18.
It was suggested that, as this issue of the Journal features an article on Jim Summers's excellent model of the Duuml;bs goods built for Burntisland 1883, I should take the occasion to describe the class on which the model was based. After reflection it seemed best to devote a single article to all the short-wheelbase goods 0-6-0 locomotives built for the N.B.R. from 1861 onwards and thus to lay out the genesis of the Duuml;bs goods. From the mid-1840s until the early 1850s the North British had bought its locomotives mostly from R. amp; W. Hawthorn of Newcastle upon Tyne. These had the sandwich frame devised in the 1830s, where longitudinal strength was provided by wooden baulks sandwiched between short pieces of iron plate riveted together. Although sound by the standards of contemporary design and materials, these locomotives pulled themselves to pieces with terrifying speed, and their failings drove more than one locomotive superintendent to desperation, drink, resignation or dismissal (or a combination of the above). In the mid-to-late 1850s techniques of rolling iron plate developed such that single sheets of metal 25 to 30 feet long and 1 inch thick could be rolled out as single pieces. That provided for greater simplicity, flexibility and durability in mainframes and running gear. The change to continuous 'slab' frames allowed for the replacement of the entire locomotive stock of the North British Railway. From the early 1860s the company began to acquire new locomotives based on the materials and designs then available. In the case of goods engines, the process began with the 0-6-0s ordered by the company during the superintendency of William Hurst between 1861 and 1867. In some literature it has become conventional to describe these as 'Hurst goods locomotives'. In later years superintendents designed locomotives down to every last detail, and contract builders then carried out the order. At this earlier period the relationship between contract builders and their clients was more complex. The customer supplied basic design specifications, which were then interpreted with detail variations by various builders. Only in the mid-1860s did a clear pattern for these particular 0-6-0 classes emerge. Nevertheless, the last series built by Duuml;bs amp; Co. of Glasgow proved successful and versatile as local and branch line locomotives, and lasted until the culling of older locomotives in the years just before WW1.
William Hurst was the first N.B.R. superintendent to build locomotives from new at St Margaret's Works. Before that point it was assumed that locomotive building and locomotive operation were separate activities, and that operating companies should not try to build engines. With limited facilities and resources Hurst built only a few locomotives, mostly tank engines but also the four 0-6-0s of 1860-1. Little information survives about these locomotives in their original condition, and what does may be suspect.
Sixty two goods engines were built for the NBR at St Margarets, and by outside contractors, between 1860 and 1867, under the superintendency of William Hurst. Hawthorns of Leith,. Robert Stephenson amp; Co. 1862-4 and Duuml;bs amp; Co. 1865-7 contributed to the total

Footnote 1: According to notes on the back, this photograph shows Hurst 0-6-0 goods engine number 173 with its ballast van, location and date unknown, although likely to be no later than the early 1870s. The engine was built by Robert Stephenson amp; Co in 1863 and is shown prior to rebuilding by Wheatley. The photo notes also indicate the engine worked the Granton-Carlisle express goods return trip with driver Brunton and fireman Murdoch; so it was probably based at St Margarets at that time when still relatively new. The late Willie Hennigan#146;s notes record it as used on local Carlisle-Silloth trips with driver Robert Scott during the 1879-81 period; so it appears it had been transferred to Carlisle by that time. (Allan Rodgers collection)
Footnote 2: rare photograph worth including despite the slight damage to negative.
Footnote 3: At this time it was employed as the Falahill pilot, with driver Jimmy Hay in charge assisted by fireman Peter Gardiner
Footnote 4: Note the original NBR type gradient post, no doubt installed when the Edinburgh suburban line was built in the 1880s.:

Trevor Jones. NBR lines in retrospect. 19-23
Very much an appreciation of former North British lines as seen in the 1950s, when much of their distinctive character, especially their motive power, still remained. Perceived from a Dunfermline to Dundee axis with Broughty Ferry mentioned, but fortunate in heving seen something of the lines in the Borders and the West Highland. His father was a Scottish Jones. Illustra tions from Bill Thorburn photographs

Douglas Yuill. Coal in East/Midlothian #151; Part 10. Line No 5 Monktonhall Junction to Macmerry and Gifford. Bog Siding to Macmerry Winton Mine. 24-30.
Pencaitland Colliery: Andrew G Cuthbertson, who already had the lease of the St Germains minerals, took the lease of the Winton minerals about 1835 and began sinking pits on the Winton Estate. Ironstone was subsequently discovered below the Panwood coal in the Penston Field. The Baillie family leased the minerals to J C amp; A Christie, who commenced working them around Penston village about 1850. Initially, the iron ore was sold for use in the blast furnaces of west central Scotland, possibly being taken down from the pit to Seaton (sic) Siding on the N.B.R. Edinburgh - Berwick main line using Cuthbertson's Wagonway. The Christie Brothers, however, decided about 1854 to build their own blast furnace, Gladsmuir Iron Works., something hitherto unheard of in this part of Scotland. Illustrations:

Keith Fenwick. Naval trains of World War 1. 31
Extract from the Railway Magazine of January 1919 highlighting the wartime trains to/from naval bases in Scotland

An accident at Bathgate. 32-3
On 18 January 1866 when Bathgate station was a terminus: Captain Tyler reported on it. The report brings into question when the terminus was replaced by the though station and the nature of the former terminus

Brian Farish. Gorgie tales: carpets amp; old rugs#133; 34-5.
Error committed as booking clerk when he rubber-stamped the incorrect number onto a batch of weekly season tickets and the passengers to whom they had been issued had them confiscated; also the removal of rugs from the first class compartrments of visiting sports excursions (mainly rugby) by the station master to furnish his office and his house.

Allan Rodgers. Ashbury composites: follow-up. 35. (112)
Following publication of article on composite carriages built for the NBR by Ashbury, which appeared in Journal 110, comment was from received from Euan Cameron who doubts that the 3'-1" wheel diameter shown on the NBR diagram for the four wheel carriages is correct. I thought at the time I was drawing these carriages that the wheel diameter didn't look right, yet it is as per the NBR diagram. Euan's doubts made me check through the other Ashbury diagrams from both the 1908 and 1921 carriage diagram books. Apart from 1908 diagram 109 for the 4 wheel composite, the only other diagram with 3'-1" wheels is 1921 diagram 134, for a 4 compartment third #151; but this is, in (act, the 1908 diagram 109 carriage down-rated to all third. Apart from these composites, other Ashbury carriage diagrams range from 3'-4" diameter (1921 diagram 90 four wheel 5 compartment 3rd #151; originally 2nd) to 4'-0" diameter (1921 diagram 31 five compartment 3rd and also 1908 diagram 32 PBV). Apart from NPCS, the only other passenger carriages I came across with 3'-0" or 3'-1" wheels were ex- Eamp;GR vehicles build in the 1840s. I did also come across and ex-EPamp;DR saloon with 3'-0" wheels, built in the late 1850s. Drummond and Holmes appear to have standardised on 4'-0" wheels for their 4 and 6 wheel stock. All in all, the comparison with other carriages of the 1870s and later period show these 4 wheel composites as having unusually small wheels; and so, I'm minded to agree with Euan that the 3'-1" wheel could be a mistake in the diagram #151; perhaps the draughtsman should have written 3'-9" or 3 '-10"? But, there again, why does the later diagram also quote 3'-1 "? Perhaps the original diagram was just copied into the later book without checking. We'll never really know. However, I think a 3'-9" diameter would make more sense as it is the same as the six wheeled composites and these vehicles were built at the same time. I should also correct my assertion that the Ashbury composites did not last beyond 1921. From the foregoing diagram review, it is clear some of the four wheelers did survive into the later twenties as all thirds to 1921 diagram 134.

Montrose North signal box. 36
Upper photograph shows refurbished cabin at Montrose North on 19 September 2009. This now covered the section as far south as Inverkelllor as both Usan and Montrose South boxes had been made redundant. The lower image shows Montrose South signal box as it was on the same day, before its demolition - see letter from Andrew Kennedy. (Both photos: Allan Rodgers)

Wark Box. Bill Sewell. 36
David Kirkhouse's letter evoked memories of Wark Box as it was still in occasional use (possibly by a Scout troop) when I was researching my Border Counties book some 20 years ago. It was then in good repair and, although the steps to the entrance lobby were removed, entry could be made at ground level #151; into the locking room -by a door/window on the south side. What is not apparent from the photograph is that the box is built into an embankment so that on the west, chimney, side it is some three stories high.
The box dates from the early 1890s as part of the move to the "absolute block" system of signalling; the previous arrangement having been ground frames worked by the signalman / porter #151; with the instruments in the station office. Most of the NBR Northumbrian boxes were sited on or near the station platforms but a few, including Wark and Plashetts, were some distance away. Plashetts is, of course, long demolished and under Kielder Water. Wark box was built about 190 yards north of the station and about half way along the lengthened refuge siding which was created as part of the new track layout. This siding, well over 300 yards long and able to accommodate the longest permitted goods train, could be entered from either direction and did away with the earlier need for lengthy "setting back" manoeuvres. Given that Wark was a block post and that the tablet instruments needed to be under the signalman's control, delivering the tablet to a southbound goods standing in the siding would have entailed a fair hike; perhaps the fireman got some exercise.

Montrose south signal box. Andrew Kennedynbsp;
All fittings and glass had been removed from Montrose South Box prior to its demolition over the weekend 29th/30 January. This was of course the third last North British box before the winning post in the races of 1895 the others being Montrose North and Hilllside. Montrose North, now listed, has been fitted out to deal with the new extended sections which to the south stretch to Inverkeilor, as Usan Box has likewise been made redundant.

Border Counties signal boxes. David Kirkhouse
Further to my letter published in Journal 111, I thought members may be interested in a few more images of the stations and signal boxes still extant on the former Border Counties Railway in Northumberland. Wall signal box has been sympatheti- cally restored by the previous owner with the front of the locking room, which at one time used to serve as a barn, now rebuilt in matching stonework. The entrance lobby and steps have also been repaired, as can be seen in the accompa- nying photograph. Moving further north towards Riccar- ton Junction, is the former station at Falstone. Again, the signal box still exists although now with a later addition which necessitated an alteration to the roof profile at the rear, where it is flush with the rear wall. I understand this modifica- tion was carried out when the Forestry Commission used the buildings as office accommodation and, when the current owners applied to re-instate the original roof profile, this was refused as it is a listed building. Interestingly, the token exchange platform at Falstone still exists and I believe this may be the only surviving one on the former NBR lines in Norhumberland. Sadly, there are no surviving signal boxes on the Wansbeck or Rothbury lines, although the lever frame cabins dating back to before the lines were resignalled, still survive at Scotsgap and I believe also at Knowesgate.

The signal box at Wall, showing restoration work. (photograph: David Kirkhouse). 37
see David Kirkhouse letter

Falstone signal box with its altered roof profile. (photograph: David Kirkhouse). 37
see David Kirkhouse letter

Wark signal box. (photograph: G.W.M. Sewell). 37
see letter from Bill Sewell

Banking and the Bathgate Line. Keith Fenwick. 37
The article on the Reid 0-6-2 tank engines in Jounal 111 mentioned that at least one of the engines was fitted with incline equipment for working out of Queen Street but was not fitted with continuous brakes. While continuous brakes were not of much use banking up the hill, what about getting the stock into the platform? Continuous brakes would have been essential if bringing empty stock down the incline. Presum- ably some stock was shunted from arrival platform to departure to release the incoming loco and place the banker at the rear, but again continu- ous brakes would be needed. So an engine not so fitted could not have been used for any of the shunting moves.
One point which I do not think was brought out in the articles on the reopening of the Bathgate line is just how poor the service was in the years before closure. On weekdays, there were just three trains eastbound, as 6.40am, 7.50am and 5.14pm in the summer 1953 timetable, plus a short working to Caldercruix at 5.36pm. Westbound just had two trains, at 7.57am and 4.48pm from Waverley, plus one from Bathgate at 7.40am and one from Caldercruix at 8.16am, which provided the only morning service from Clarkston. The Saturday service was a bit more generous, includiing late evening trains from Glasgow.
There were also five non-stop services on Saturdays and one on Mondays westbound to Glasgow Queen Street only during the summer peak, mainly through holiday services from places such as Tynemouth and Saltburn. These trains worked eastbound from the High Level and westbound to the Low Level at Queen Street. It would be interesting to know the reason for operating this way. I suspect that it was easier to handle the arriving passen- gers at the Low Level. I remember arriving at Queen Street in the summer of 1960 for the Fort William train which was due to depart from platform 2. That was occupied by the London service which was due to depart about 9.30am, but the train was so long that it had been split and loaded at two platforms. The portions had to be joined before departure, which I think was delayed. While it would be possible to do the same with other departures, splitting an arrival would not be easy. Was that the reason for using the Low Level? Already our memories of these operational variations during steam days are getting shorter, so now is the time to record them.

Bathgate railways. Charles Davidson. 38
Further to the Bathgate area article in Journal 111, I would advise that there were one or two mining related items on the Area map (page 5) with which I could take gentle issue (and maybe add some information) although I make no claim to having all the answers #151;only an upbringing and family history steeped in coalmining around Armadale).
If I may start at the West end of the map, the colliery marked on the branch from Westcraigs situated to the N of Harthill was Blairmuckhill. Woodend Junction was to the E of where it is marked and from where branches ran N to Woodend Colly (as marked) and also NW to the unnamed colliery which was Blackrigg No 3. Westrigg colly was located to the S of the main line between Westcraigs and Woodend Jct. I believe that the line shown running S from this point was a United Collieries line which ran to Southrigg colly, the lower terminus being the site of pits 3 amp; 4 with Netherton colly at the terminus. of the upper line shown which ran W the Southrigg line.
The colliery shown as Barbauchlaw was in fact Armadale No 15 (the Buttries pit) and in turn the colly shown as Hardhill colly is Barbauchlaw. Hardhill is I believe on the High road to Armadale from Bathgate and whilst I cannot recall a colliery at that location there was a brickwork in the area where Boghead is shown. Boghead coal and clay mines were strung out on the branch which terminates at the location shown as Torbane pits. The pit at the end of the short branch running SW from Boghead Jcnt was I believe Northrigg No 2 where after the colly closed the shell of the washery building lasted into the 1960s and maybe later (and was the site of many a cowboys and indians battle played out by young Armadale schoolboys around that timel)
The Bathville area was a hive of industry with engineering works and brickworks on land where in former times there were blast furnaces belonging to the Monkland Iron Co. Interestingly there was a row of cottages in Armadale called Monkie row presumably owned by the Monkland Iron Co. to house their workers.
Editor's note: Mr Davidson is not a member of the Group but purchased a copy of Journal 111 at the recent Glasgow show. He took the trouble to write to me and I am grateful to him for offering these corrections and additions from his local knowledge of the area.

Pigeon traffic. Bill Lynn. 38
Further to Andrew Boyd's article in Journal 111 on the subject of pigeon traffic, members may be interested in the following extracts from my notes for the year 1931: Wednesday 29 April: Waverley (dep 04.50am) to Longtown (arr 07.26am). Included 3 vans from :1 Larbert and 3 from Hyndland. Dropped off 2 vans ex-Dundee and 2 ex-Waverley at Riccarton. Thursday 28 May: , Waverley (dep 11.28pm) to Carlisle (arr 02.50am). Consisted of 11 vans,5 ex- Dundee, 3 ex-Thornton and 3 ex-Burntisland. Friday 5 June: Carlisle (dep 05.15am) to Waverley (arr 07.40am) This train started from Stoke and travelled via the ex-Midland section of the LMS to Carlisle carrying 4 vans for Arbroath and 4 for North Berwick. Also on this day a similar train originating from Derby and Nottingham travelled via Carlisle (dep 06.00am) to Berwick (arr 08.16am) via Greenlaw, Reston and Thursday 11 June: Waverley (dep 11.28pm) to Carlisle (arr 02.50am) with 9 vans originating from Dundee, Montrose, etc. Friday 31 July: Waverley (dep 11.28pm) to Longtown (arr 01.57am) with 8 vans originating from Dundee, Thornton and Waverley.

Troop specials. Bill Sewell
Andrew Boyd's recent article contains an error in that the starting station #151; given as Kirkton Lindsay #151; was, in fact, Kirton Lindsey which served the village of Kirton in Lindsey and, during the war, a nearby satellite airfield. The station does indeed lie between Gainsbrough and Barnetby which is a junction en route to Grimsby on the old Great Central line. The station was remarkable for being about half way along a 9 mile stretch of dead straight track and there were four private sidings; three for local cement works and one to Gleadell's Malt Kilns. Unusually for a rural station there was a 5 ton crane.
The movement recorded may well have been the last rail carried intake to the Otterburn ranges and the origin and numbers suggest a Territorial infantry unit rather than the usual artillery. A search of the September 1966 Special Trains register would show if it was the last. The drill was usually for a return journey in two weeks followed by a one week gap before the next intake. Most intakes were by rail as the . distances could be substantial but from the 1940s some were by road. I did my two weeks there in 1945 #151; arriving with our own guns and vehicles by road. My recollection of troop trains is that anything booked as "refreshments" turned out to be a delusion; troops were under strict orders not to leave the train and in this case the overall journey time was reasonable. Phonetic misspellings of place names were not uncommon in railway publications and probably resulted from clerks taking details over the telephone.

Token exchange platform at Falstone station (photograph). 38
Survivor from the days of the Border Counties line: see the letter from David Kirkhouse

Ex-Edinburgh amp; Glasgow Railway 0-4-2 number 84, built at Cowlairs in 1864 and shown as rebuilt by Holmes. (photograph). 39
Then carrying NBR number 330. This was a sister engine to no. 334 which is now believed to be the engine shown in the photo which appeared on page 7 of Journal nbsp;111 see letter from Euan Cameron.

Bathgate line locomotive identity. Euan Cameron nbsp;
I have one alternative suggestion regarding the identity of the locomotive on the charming photo from a Valentine's postcard of Bathgate Lower station on page 7 of Journal Number 111. It seems unlikely to be a Longback because: (i) I do not think any of those goods engines had Westinghouse brake (ii) there is no sign of the outside springs above the running plate on the leading axles and 'Ill (iii) in most (though not all) of that j class the leading sandboxes were incor- porated into the front splashers and spectacle plate. It would make more sense if the photo was of No. 334, the last of the six 329 Class 0-4-2s, as built by the Eamp;GR in 1864 and as rebuilt by Holmes in 1892. You can just see the small coupling-rod splashers outboard of the leading and driving axles, and the top of the plate spring above the trailing axle. This class as rebuilt received a new miniature version of the Holmes tender, with four wheels and a smaller tank but with typical Holmes flares on the tank top, which you can see behind the locomotive. All were Westinghouse fitted ; and, although technically mixed traffic engines, the 0-4-2s nearly all worked in local passenger service. The passenger brake behind is of course typical Holmes with the ducket shortened below the roof-line.

N14/15s. Hamish Stevenson.
The photograph of the rail tour with an N15 shown on page 26 of Journal 111 was, in fact, organised by the Stephenson Locomotive Society and not the Branch Line Society and the engine was No. 69163 of Eastfield shed and not 69153 which was out of use at Thornton by November 1958. No. 69163 was much photographed and I recall being advised that any profits . from the rail tour would go to a fund to preserve an N15, but I'm not at all sure #183; who might have promoted such an appeal at that time. As many members may know, the SRPS produced a good wee appeal booklet for N15 No. 69138 of St Margarets shed around February They were great engines.

Troop trains. Bill Lynn. 39 (112)
Re Andrew Boyd's article in Journal 111 troop trains ran from Morpeth to Woodburn right up to the week before the Gosforth Round Table special on 2 October, 1966 (although not every weekend). They ran to Woodburn and Knowesgate right up to 1959, via Hexham and Reedsmouth. For example, on 21 June 1959, the following troop specials were run:
Leicester-Woodburn (arr 15.28)
Nottingham-Woodburn (arr 17.30)
Worcester-Woodburn (arr 18.41)
It is interesting to note that the timetable for that day also shows an excursion from Newcastle to St Boswells and return. A week later, K3 No. 61878 worked a Galashiels amp; Hawick excursion to Newcastle via the Border Counties and return.
On the 30 October 1957, a troop train ran from Woodburn to Elgin via Reedsmouth, Riccarton, etc. It was a 10 coach hauled by K1 No. 62030 (52C) from Woodburn to Reedsmouth where it was joined by K3 No. 61936 (68E) to Hawick. At Hawick, the K1 came off and B1 No. 61359 came on to assist the K3 to Edinburgh. The K1 later returned to Blaydon light engine.

Credit where it's due .... Allan Rodgers. 39
Your Editor was not as vigilant as he should have been when compiling Issue, 111, as a number of credits for photographs were omitted or were incomplete. The following missing credits should be noted:
Front page: The photograph of Westcraigs station should be credited to John Alsop's collection.
Page 9: The image of N15 No. 69163 should be credited to W.S. Sellar
Page 24: The photo of N14 No. 862 at Queen Street is believed taken by R.D. Stephen.
Page 25: The photo of N15 No. 9227 at Parkhead was taken by the late W.H. Whitworth
Page 25: The image of NI5 No. 69150 shown at Methil should be credited to J.L. Stevenson
Page 26: The photograph at the bottom of the page shows, in fact, NI5 no. 69163 and not 69153, as captioned. This image should also have been credited to W.S. Sellar.

Inverkeithing station. rear cover
Two views from overbridge south of the station: first in late NBR or early LNER period (John Alsop Collection); second of 170 type DMU on 23 March 2009 and another looking south showing Rosyth branch and two DMU passing (both latter: colour images ffrom Allan Rodgers)

Issue Number 113 (September 2011)

Holmes 7ft 4-4-0 No. 590 under signal gantry near North Central signal box at Waverley c1900. frant cover
E. Pouteau; John Alsop Collection. See also letter from Jim Hay in Issue 114

Euan Cameron. Holmes' seven footers. 3-11.
Twelve 4-4-0 express engines designed by Matthew Holmes with seven foot driving wheels and built at Cowlairs between 1886 and 1888: Holmes first passenger locomotives designed specifically for express service. These remained the premier express engines on the N.B.R. for over a decade. To clear the larger coupled wheels the barrel was narrower than on the 6ft 6in engines. It was the same diameter as on 17in locomotives, with a front ring of 4ft 4in external diameter and the rear ring 4ft 51/8in external diameter (RCTS Locomotives of the LNER volume 4 is untypically mistaken in this respect). The external cleading at 4ft 7#188;in diameter was 1in less than was standard for 17in engines. Also to clear the wheels, the boiler was pitched at 7ft 5in from rail level, 2in higher than on the Abbotsfords. Correspondingly the cab roof was set at 7ft 2in from the running plate inside. These engines were known as the 592 class and were classified D25 by the LNER.

Harry Knox. Granton accident 1953. 12-15
Occurred on 24 April 1953 and involved telephone working without fixed signals and two locomotives: D30 class No. 62421 Laird o#146; Monkbarns driven by Alexander Lumsden at excessive speed and J35 No. 64528. J.L.M. Moore investigated. See also letter from Hamish Stevenson with photographs in 114 page 36.

John McGregor. Espionage? 15
Rev Archibald MacLeod, minister of Acharacle United Free Church. Whilst a divinity student, he had found employment during several summers as a temporary purser with the North British Steam Packet Company, on the vessels operating out of Craigendoran. MacLeod's loyalties remained with the North British Railway and when he learned that the Caledonian Railway was attempting to capture the mail traffic for Strontian and Arnamurchan by using the Ballachulish branch rather than via Loch Shiel the NBR was informed.

H.H. Meik. The Edinburgh amp; Dalkeith Railway. 16-21.
From the Railway Magazine 1923, March with both original photographs and additional ones, mainly of St. Leonards Yard and tunnel. See also letter from Bill Sewell in Issue 114 page 37 and from John S, Wilson on page 38. and page 39 from Jim Hay

Brian Farish. Gorgie tales: football, dogs and more:. 22-4.
Tynecastle football ground during Hearts v Glasgow Rangers matches. See also letter from Sturt Seller (Issue 114 page 37) on banking engines,.

Cadder marshalling yard, 25-7
From the Railway Magazine 1920, May

Alistair Nisbet. 19th century rail services in Fife. 28-9
Complaints about poor service from Fife Advertiser in 1880

A West Highland Memorial. 30-1.
Railway workers who died during the building of the West Highland Railway are remembered at Ballyhennan church cemetery. See also letter in 114 page 36 from John McGregor

Berwick station reconstruction. 32-4
From the Railway Magazine 1927, May

Saved from oblivion. David Lindsay. 35
Photographs: N15 69219 passing Portobello station with a freight; V1 No. 67630 departing Leith Central station with a local train near April 1952; C15 or C16 at Polton. See also letter and further photograph from Rae Montgomery in Issue 114.

Alistair Nisbet. Staffing arrangements on the NBR. 36-7
At Dundee Tay Bridge in 1920 where positions are listed (but names not mentioned: hence no Frank Jones) and at Wormit, Tayport and Newport where names are listed

John Allan. A lamp-lighting circus act. 38
Article originally published in the Dunfermline Press: oil lamps

Newburgh amp; North Fife Railway. 39-42.
From the Railway Magazine 1909, March

Alan Simpson. Two divers at Kirkcaldy harbour. nbsp;43-9
Two accidents where locomotives fell into harbour: Wednesday 10 April 1901 nvolved NBR class G 0-4-0 saddle tank locomotive No.40 (later Y9 by LNER). and on Friday 12 November 1954, which involved ex-NBR class F (LNER class J88) 0-6-0 tank locomotive No.117, then BR number 68341. Both show photographs of crabbing for locomotives, See also Journal 134 page 43.

Letters page. 50

NBR single bolster wagons. Bill Blackwood
Model vehicles

#147;Pioneers of the Highland Tracks#148;. Norma Christie
Biography of two railway engineers, William and Murdoch Paterson, written by Anne-Mary Paterson and published by the Highland Railway Society

Bathgate Upper opening date. Harry Knox:
Airdrie Advertiser recorded that: "On and from the 1 June 1871, the dead-ended station at Bathgate was replaced by a new through station on the line to Coatbridge.

Queen of Scots Pullman. Keith Fenwick. 51
Page 20 of Journal 112 contained a photograph of A1 Pacific No.60127 Wilson Worsdell hauling the Queen of Scots Pullman, which you suggested was taken in the 1950s. It must have been after 10 April 1961, however, as the train is made up of the Metro Cammell vehicles introduced on that date on the Queen of Scots #150;see Keith Parkins British Railways Mark 1 Coaches. The exception is the leading vehicle. No new brake vehicles were built at that time, so 1928 built Brake Seconds continued in use until withdrawal of the Queen of Scots in 1964. If someone knows when diesel haulage took over the train, it would be possible to narrow down the date further.

Lenzie station. then and now. rear cover
In NBR days, date thought to be 1915, with a Glasgow bound local train approaching headed by an unidentified Drummond tank engine and early evening on 9 June 2009. Text notes nbsp;renamed Lrnzie Junction in 1867, but the Junction was dropped in 1890, but see Sym Taylor Isue 114 page 39

Issue Number 114 (December 2011)

B1 4-6-0 No. 61354 crosses Glenesk Bridge at Elginhaugh on way south over the Waverley Route with the 06.25 (Saturdays Only) Millerhill to Carlisle goods on 22 May 1965. Rae Montgomery colour image

Ray Kitching. Holmes period locomotive liveries. 3-13.
In the early 1980s Kitching became fascinated by N.B.R. livery and did much research at the time to try and build a better picture and record a more accurate timescale than the description (which was virtually all there was) in E F Carter's railway livery book of 1952. Kitching wrote a number of articles for the Study Group Journal on the subject of NBR locomotive liveries during the period 1980 to 1986: e.g. see Issue 8 page 16; Issue 10 (no page numbers) and Journal 29 page 11. Having read the more recent article on locomotive liveries published in Journal 96 and the follow-up article in issue 100, I thought that the feedback on the Holmes period was not quite right, particularly on the subject of claret frames. In this article, I hope to share the results of my own researches into this interesting period of the NBR's locomotive livery development. Having spent some 33 years as a photographer at Durham University, I became a dab hand at copying pictures to a very high standard and analysing detail long before the days of scanners and other ultra-modern gear, etc. During the summertime of 1994, I spent nearly two days looking at Holmes period NBR loco pictures which I had laid out all over the darkroom benches. Finally, after careful study and the integration of available period observations, I thought I had put the jigsaw together and slotted most of the photos into a date order along with livery changes. At first, I decided to place the Holmes era, 1882 - 1903, into three 'periods' but things I felt were not quite right - some pictures did not fit in. A little later, after more careful examination, it looked like there was a small change around 18861888; and so I altered this to four 'periods', each of which I shall describe in more detail.
Period I 1882-1886
At this early stage of his superintendency, Holmes basically continued Drummond livery. I believe that engine and tender frames for inside framed locos were olive - for outside framed they may have been claret. It is very noticeable on some pictures.
Plate 1 shows Holmes 574 class, No. 579, built in July 1884 and painted in Drummond olive style with black and white lining. The tender frames and loco valances are olive. Another example is that of ex-Eamp;GR 0-4-2 No. 60 which was renumbered 247 by the NBR and rebuilt by Holmes in 1885. It is shown on page 25 of Hamilton Ellis' book on the NBR (and also as plate 26 on page 25 of NBRSG Journal 96), in its rebuilt state, adorned in fresh Drummond style livery; so Holmes was still using the Drummond style during 1885. I believe Drummond used to put a white/black/white band around the buffer casings; but the Holmes repaints, in Drummond style, didn't have this. Plate 2 is a photograph of Hawthorn single No.36. taken during either the Drummond or Holmes period - bulb lubricators would indicate that this is more likely the Holmes period but the loco could of course still have been painted while Drummond held the chair. Personally I think it's a Holmes repaint. Plate 3: Wheatley 2-4-0 No. 427 at Dundee, c. 1889, in Drummond style livery. Plate 4: Drummond 4-4-0 tank No. 111 at Dundee (taken on the same day as plate 3) in Drummond style livery.
Period II 1886-1888
At this period, things become a little clearer with the 592 Class. I would think it would be around, April 1886 (when 592 itself entered traffic), that the first major change occurred with Holmes finally turning to his own style for this engine which was to be exhibited at the Edinburgh Exhibition from May to October 1886. Perhaps this was a good excuse to promote a new livery image with a new locomotive. Holmes' new livery is shown in plate 6 with this picture of No. 593, built in September 1886 and still in overall olive green. (Although, interestingly, the 'press' described the engine as 'brown'!) However, it now has much more definite dark olive borders and the locomotive lining is red/black/white. Although somewhat plain, there is a difference in tone on photographs between white and yellow it is sometimes obvious - and sometimes not. Lining style can assist in identifying this. Note no wheel/balance weight or frame lining (frame between bogie wheels). This picture is probably around 1892/3 (due to coal rails) but NB locos often went many years before being repainted. They were just 'bodged' up and varnished if the paint work had been cared for. Notice here it has a replacement leading bogie wheel with what is probably a yellow line around the axle end. It should also be noted that there is no lining on wheels or frames (frames between bogie wheels) just black axle ends. I do not believe that this style lasted for long and, of course, there is always one photo which makes you think again. Valences and tender frames are body colour, not claret. Photographic emulsions of the period, especially the orthochromatic type, can effect a true grey tone reproduction quite badly. A classic picture of Drummond 4-4-0 No. 486, taken at Carlisle, is shown in plate 7 and well illustrates the first style of Holmes livery. Plate 8: Wheatley 4-4-0 No. 421 at Dundee c. 1889, shown following its rebuilding in 1887, with Holmes early livery style. Plate 9: Drummond 4-4-0 No. 479 at St Margarets c. 1889 in early Holmes style livery.
Period III 1888-1893
At this time, Holmes introduces a slightly more elaborate style and it is my guess that when the second Batch of '592' class engines appeared (February, 1888 nearly two years after the first one) there was a further and more lasting change to Holmes' livery style. Lining became red/ black/yellow instead of red/black/white using the same olive body colours and wheels and frames were lined as well, with yellow lining now on wheel spokes, frames, valances and buffer beams for certain passenger types. Not all engines had this elaborate style, and it seems to have applied only to certain 4-4-0 passenger locomotives and some 0-4-4 tanks. The yellow lining did appear on intermediate engines however, and goods locomotives were also painted in the same style, but without elaborate wheel lining and they always had red valance and frame lining. Plate 10 illustrates the more elaborate style and shows 592 class loco, No. 599, built in February, 1888. Notice yellow wheel spoke lining, with the balance Buffer beam is olive green with the centre vermilion panel, buffer shanks are also olive green. An important picture in the context of white or yellow lining is shown in plate 12 which illustrates royal train engine no. 602 at Lennoxtown on 11th March 1890, without coal rails on the tender. Notice how the white of the Prince of Wales feathers differs in tone to that of the yellow lining and that the 'yellow' lining could easily be mistaken for 'white' until you see it alongside something that is 'white'. I have several other pictures of this engine showing the same tonal difference. Again, the wheels are lined and there is yellow lining along valances and framing. Plate 13 shows the same engine at a later date, this time with tender coal rails. The difference between the white and yellow is clear to see, although the engine has probably been repainted between the date of plate 12 and this one as the style of the 'feathers' is a touch different. Here's another interesting point. Period sources sometimes describe the colour as yellow, a dark yellow or a mustard colour. However, if it were at this stage, after 1888, why would the company use a yellow line next to a yellow body colour? Would it look right? There would be little contrast between the line and the body colour in black and white photographs. Surely the locomotives must be olive, brownish olive or a dark yellow brown for the lining out to work. Remember, in 1886 the newspapers described the livery as "brown".
Plate 14 shows Wheatley 2-4-0, No. 426 following its rebuild during September 1890 and is an example of an engine which was not a 'top link' type by this time; so no elaborate lining style on its repainting. Never-the-less, there is red/ black/yellow lining and olive green frames and valances. Clear definition between body and edge colours and without a doubt no claret frames! A final example for this livery period is plate 15 (on page 10) which was taken outside Cowlairs shed by the railway journalist, A E Lockyer, in 1892/93. In February, 1894, he published an article in The Railway World magazine about Cowlairs works and North British engines. This was eventually turned into a small book. I believe he took his NBR photographs (a number of which are used in this article)
Period IV 1893-1903
In 1893, Holmes changed his livery style for the final time by introducing his brownish olive colour, still with red/black/yellow lining. The contrast between body colour and edge colour is now reduced and he includes the company crest on splashers and tank sides, with the buffer beam, footplate and valance now being lined in red for passenger locos. The actual date of the change is uncertain but the first evidence of the new livery can be traced back to May, 1893, when 2-4-0, No. 38 appeared at Cowlairs after its overhaul and repaint, as shown in plate 16. The engine appeared in a much darker colour scheme and the marked difference/contrast between the main and border colours is now gone. Note the introduction of the company crest and the change to red lining for valances and frames. The body colour was a brownish olive but still with the dark olive green border which (although still slightly visible) now generally blends into the grey tones of black amp; white photography. In this photograph, the engine is fitted with its original tender although later on it was coupled to a Wheatley six wheel example which was still olive. The colour difference was noted in Hamilton Ellis's book on the North British Railway. The film used in this image was, I think, orthochromatic and although the engine is very dark (the film has overdone this), we still have the crest and red lining to point to the change. The West Highland bogies were the first to display the darker colour and crest from new and some passenger tanks, the class P 0-4-4s, had lined spokes and balance weights, for example engine No.90, shown in plate 17. There could also be a fine red line around the crank boss and the outer hub/boss of the pony wheels this seems just faintly visible but is not visible (where it should be) on the front driver. Axle ends are black with a yellow line. Loco lamp is also engine green with the loco number, '90', painted on. Plate 18 shows Holmes class C goods engine No. 687, built by Sharp Stewart in February, 1892 and obviously very new and without coal rails. Note how dark this loco is. Is this the very beginnings of the dark era or just an outside manufacturers rendition of olive? The lining appears as a dark tone as well; so this could be an orthochromatic type film playing tricks and overdoing the dark paintwork. Nevertheless, I believe this loco has been done in a darker shade. Passenger locos and goods locos were painted in the same colours and up to 1893 with only the colour of lining below the footplate differing. (See plate 15.)
Plate 19 illustrates Holmes 4-4-0 loco No. 218 built in July, 1895, although this picture was taken a little later (due to fitting of front footstep). Now well into Holmes final livery period showing a belted crest with red lining below footplate / tender frames / buffer beam. Note that this engine has a 2500 gallon tender with 7#189; inch or 9 inch initials "N.B.R." This too will change for some locomotives. No real measure of contrast between body colours and due to the similarity between tones of the red and yellow lining and overall darkness this was probably exposed on orthochromatic film. No. 633 is shown in plate 20 as fitted with a 3500 gallon tender in 1896 for services from Berwick to Perth. Note the revised 12 inch N.B.R. on tender (more space). The engine still has no front footstep so probably dates this picture between 1896-99. Still dark with little contrast between colours. This is a copy photo done by Real Photographs. By way of concluding my look at this period of Holmes' livery development, I include a couple of photographs of Drummonds handsome Abbotsford class engines. Firstly, No. 477 (plate 21), now in brownish olive livery and taken in the late nineties (it was rebuilt in 1904) - note the coal rails. Red lining on valance and buffer beam; crest on splasher; wheel spokes lined with yellow. The image was taken with panchromatic film - better overall tone proportions. Lovely photograph and very nice piece of machinery! To finish with, No. 493, is illustrated in plate 22, a favourite picture of mine.

Douglas Yuill. Coal in East/Midlothian - Part 11. 14-23
Line No 12: Portobello East Jcn to Carlisle Canal Jcn.

Euan Cameron. Holmes 317 class 4-4-0s. 24-9.
With outside admission piston valves: class of 12, looking forward to Reid designs. Illustrations

Alistair Nisbet. Whytemire Junction accident 1879. 30
22 May 1879 taken from press reports: colission between an express and a coal train near Dunfermline

Brian Farish. "A dead man's penny'. 31-3.
Author's uncle William John Farish died in the Dardanelles during the Gallipoli campaign of WW1 during nbsp;May/June 1915. He had served in the Royal Scots Regiment and had trained in Leamington Spa before departure. He had been a junior clerk in Waverley Goods Station since 1911 when he left Tynecastle school. His father was a signalman at Gorgie Junction. The author worked in the Parcel;s Office in Princes Street station following National Service, but moved to the Time Office in Waverley nbsp;where he heard that there were plans to remove the North British Railway War Memorial. This led to a campaign involving the Royal Scots Regiment, the British Legion which resultred in the Memorial being place on the South Wall.

Wm. Marshall Shaw. obituary. 34-5
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 3 October 1933; died 15 August 2011. Educated Rutherford Grammar School. Following National Service in RAF joined family businesss in Newcastle. Appreciations by P.A.T Collar, Paul Smith and Euan Cameron. Model railway builder.

Letters page. 36-9

Granton Junction accident. Hamish Stevenson
Questions whether J35 No. 64528 could still hvve been out of service in September 1954. Two further photographs of same locomotive: at Eastfield on 11 August 1948 (with cylinders exposed); and at Polmont on 18 October 1958. Also No. 62421 following repair at Inverurie at Kittybrewster in July 1953.

West Highland Memorial, John McGregor.
Most of fataliities occurred between Tarbert and Ardlui rather than between Glen Douglas and Tarbert

Edinburgh amp; Dalkeith Railway. Bill Sewell
Rails supplied by Bedlington ironworks were similar to those supplied to the Stockton amp; Darlington Railway except that the latter were made from malleable iron to John Birkinshaw patent and could b mass produced. The Dalkeith rails were only suitable for horse traction. The original passenger service was provided by a private contractor Michael Fox. Statistics quoted for horse haulage on Edinburgh Street Tramways in 1876, noting tonnage limits, speed potential and stamina.

Gorgie tales: Morningside Road. Stuart Sellar.
Picture of C16 at Morningside Road: not the Duddingston pilot, but was a Dunbar filling in turn which banked a freight up the hill from Duddingston,

Portobello and Polton photographs. Rae Montgomery
I offer the following comments in relation to the photographs from David Lindsay's collection included in the "Saved from oblivion ..... article in the last Journal:
The top photo at Portobello depict- ing 69219 shows the N15 not trundling by on a freight as stated, but working as Portobello yard's West End Pilot, probably around the mid-1950s. This three-shifted job worked the sub-yard which marshalled traffic bound for the west from Portobello. To provide further evidence that this is not a through train, there is (as far as one can see) only one man on the footplate, and I would suggest that this is#183; either a passed fireman giving his driver a spell of forty winks in the bothy, or else it i2 the driver who has sent his fireman down to the bookie's in Portobello with his betting slip'
It may also be interest to note that the single-storyed building on the left of the photo was, at the time of being photographed, the Yard Master's Office (I worked there 1958-60) and the Telegraph Office, but prior to that had been an early Control Office coupled with the Telegraph Office as well as the Y.M.O. Originally, however, it had been the Edinburgh amp; Dalkeith Railway's Portobello station on its Leith branch.
The signal box in the middle distance is South Leith Junction which controlled the double-line branch to South Leith, the west end of Portobello Yard and the western entry/exit for the Lothian Lines whose single line system was operated by the Sykes "Non-Token Block System" of 1916. Thefence in the foreground separated Portobello west end yard from the up main I line.
In the bottom photo, which I am fairly certain depicts a C16 at Polton (compare with the C16's chimney in Stuart Sellar's photo on page 22), the vans behind the platform fence are on the siding which crosses the main road through Polton on an ungated level crossing to serve the Springfield Paper Mill (closed 1967, three years after the Polton Branch closed to freight).
The single manned Portobello west end pilot - see Rae Montgomery's letter above. (Dovid Lindsoy collection) 37 t'I #149;

Innocent Railway. nbsp;John S Wilson. nbsp;38
If otherwise reliable, though not exhaustive, the article by H.H. Meik in the Railway Magazine, March 1923, on the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway, reprinted in Journal 113, must be in danger.of perpetuating error in stating that 'the railway acquired the name of the ''Innocent Railway" as it has been averred that during its existence as an independent company no human being.had ever'been killed on the line'
John Thomas, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain - Vol VI, Scotland: the Lowlands and the Borders, states:
Dr Robert Chambers reflecting on the Eamp;D trains jogging their leisurely and profitable way round the southern outskirts of Edinburgh and comparing them with trains on more sophisticated railways, wrote: 'In the very contemplation of the innocence of the railway you find your heart rejoiced. Only think of a railway having a board at all the stations forbidding the drivers to stop by the way to feed their horses" The name The Innocent Railway entered the history books and the legend grew that the line was so called because it never killed or injured a passenger: In fact, injuries, whether to passengers alighting from trains in mation or to pointsboys taking chances at loops.were numerous ... "
C.J.A Robertson, The Origins of the Scottish Railway System 1722-1844, 1983, states (pages 64-65) of the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway that "its familiar and dffecti6nate soubriquet of the 'Innocent Railway'" was due "to an air of old-fashioned unreality which stood by the leisurely horse-drawn tradition long after it had been abandoned elsewhere". He writes: "Robert Chambers, who coined the nickname, gently enjoyed himself at its expense: By the Innocent Railway you never feel in the least jeopardy; your joumey is one incident and adventure; you con examine the crops as you go along; you have time to hear the news from: your companions; and.the by-play of the officials is a source of never failing amusement"
P.J.G. Ransom, Iron Road; the Railway in Scotland, 2007, pages 38-39, I says that Robert Chambers [giving the source as Robert Chambers, Select ' Writings, Wamp;.R Chambers, Edinburgh, 1847] wtote in the early 1840s:
Wbile the railways in general are the scene of so many dread{ul accidents, it is pleasamt to know there is one which neuer breaks bones #150; namely the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway. A friend of ours calls it The Innocent Railway, as being so peculiar for its indestructiue character, and also with some reference to the simplicity of its style of management ... On arriual at St Leonard's depot ... you are at once ushered into a great wooden carriage, where already perhaps two or three young families, under the care of their respective mammas, haue taken up their quarters. But probably you. prefer an outside seat ... and so you get mounted up beside the driuer, or else upon a similar seat behind. Your companfon is perhaps a farm-seruant, or a sailor... An open carriage, full of fisherwomen from Fisherrow, is placed judiciously in the rear; and there they sit, smoking their pipes or counting their money ...
The passengers land .in a place like a farm-yard, where ducks and hens, and a lounging dog, and a cottager's children, are quietly going about their usual avocations ... And so ends the journey of exactly four miles and three quarters by the Innocent Railway. On consulting your watch, you find it has required exactly forty minutes."
Ransom adds: "The Edinburgh amp; Dalkeith was still being run in this informal manner in the early 1840s." Although three authors quote different parts of what Chambers wrote, the reason for the name which emerges from these quotations is the "leisurely" travel and style of management. Ransom's comment that "the Edinburgh amp; Dalkeith was still being run in this informal manner in the early 1840s" suggests a view that the quoted description was referring to the earlier years of the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway.
The Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway was absorbed by the North British Railway in 1845-47. That absorption had already occurred by the date of publication (1847) of Robert Chambers' Select Writings.

Early 20th Century innocent days on the Port Carlisle dandy car - just like the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway 70 odd years earlier. See letter from John S Wilson. (photograph)

Possible examples of shop parcel labels - see John Roake's letter below. (Chris Tennant)

Shop parcel labels. John Roake. 38
Researching the use of shop parcel labels by various pre-grouping railways and I wonder if NBR Study Group members may be able to help. These labels were used as part of a system in place on all the Scottish railways, whereby one's purchases at a shop in the town would be parcelled up by the shop and delivered to the railway station for you to collect on your way home. The details of the service appears in the public timetables of the various railways in the 20th Century, but I cannot trace any mention in 19th Century timetables. The label examples accompanying my letter are courtesy of Chris Tennant and may be examples of shop parcel labels or they could just bereft luggage labels. I wonder if Study Group members can help identify them and possibly shed some light on the use of such labels by the. NBR in the 19th Century. I Editor's note: The joint NBR and E. amp; GR .label is particularly interesting as it appears it may haue been in use at Waverley station prior to the amalgamation of the NBR and Eamp;GR in 1865.

Nine sample tickets from Lenzie and other local stations - see Sym Taylor's letter. (Sym T aylor collection). 38

Lenzie or Lenzie Junction? nbsp;Sym Taylor. 39
I was interested in the article on Lenzie in Journal 113 and attach some scans of tickets issued at the station over the years. Tickets 6455 (Parliamentary single to Glasgow dated 13 June, year uncertain) and 628 (single to Stirling dated 17 July, again year uncertain) come from the post 1849 period and are clearly printed before the E amp; G was merged with the NBR in 1865, my guess is that the tickets were issued in the early 1860s. I have also scanned the highly decorative back of a ticket similar to 628 which shows the company's initials in a unique "thistle' motif. The back of 6455 is blank. I believe that both of these are from the hoard of old tickets that was discovered in Queen Street station over 50 years ago. I also attach a scan of NBR ticket 6433 from Queen Street dated 2 October 20 to show the style of the period. I also attach scans of some tickets which imply that for a brief period, probably around 1952-60 or so, Lenzie reverted to Lenzie Junction. To set the scene, ticket 4307 from Lenzie is an apparent LNER ticket, though as it is printed in the former LMSR style it was probably printed immediately post Nationalisation, it is dated 11 April 50. The Z fare scale indicates that it was printed after October 1947. Ticket 6667 from Lenzie Junction for the same journey is in the standard BTC style and is dated 30 September 59. Similarly 0618, also from Lenzie Junction is dated 18 July 59. The Back O' Loch (0042) to Lenzie Junction is in the short lived style where some Scottish printed BTC tickets were printed with the top line (2nd-Single 2nd-Single) partly reversed from the standard and thus dates originally from about 1957. This ticket is dated 14 March 64. Ticket 4048 (dated 22 May 54) is in Railway Executive style from Queen Street to Lenzie Junction and as it has the H fare scale, it was printed between May 1952 and 1953. I have similar later tickets from Queen Street to Lenzie Junction dated 1959 and 1960 however by late 1962, the station had certainly returned to plain Lenzie on newly printed tickets.
I have often wondered why the station reverted to its earlier name - I initially thought that that it might have been done on a whim by the booking clerk who ordered new tickets and as I think Lenzie probably also ordered the Back o' Loch tickets, this seemed a pretty good assumption until I realised that tickets from Queen Street also used the Junction suffix. Does anyone know the real reason?

Journal 113 cover etc. Jim Hay
Regarding the rolling stock in the background of the front cover picture in Journal 113, I would comment as follows, but first note that the signals on the gantry have "short" arms which together with the balance weights being smaller the combined weight was reduced hence the lighrweight gantry construction.
The vehicle immediately behind the engine is the North Eastern Railway postal sorting van No 291 which was used on the extended Newcastle-Berwick postal run which was extended to Edinburgh Waverley in the mid 1880s. The bulge was to accomodate the sorting racks, while the pick up/drop facilities were on the opposite side. Also note offset corridor connection which was unique to all postal sorting vehicles.
The coach behind the loco is Midland and North British Joint stock 3rd class coach No. 128 to Midland Railway diagram 473 and was no doubt part of a complete train, including dining facilities which ran daily between Waverley and St Pancras.
On a slightly different note Great Western coaches were seen on alternate days on the NB when the Glasgow/Edinburgh-Penzance through coaches were seen, those being brake composite and full third. The NB used their own coaches on the alternative days of the same composition. It must have been a very interesting time as regards other companies rolling stock being seen as through coaches on the NB; other examples being Lancashire and Yorkshire, London and North Western, Midland, North Eastern, Great Northern as well as East Coast Joint Stock as well as NB, all on a daily basis.
Regarding St Leonards depot, I have a selection of photos I took in 1962 which includes views looking in the opposite direction towards the tunnel. One interesting comment is that in front of the arched opening was a wagon turntable but both the arch and table had been removed by then.

Issue Number 115 (March 2012)

Holmes 4-4-0 express locomotive number 318 (LNER class D26) pauses at Haymarket station with an express train. fnbsp;ront cover
Probably for Aberdeen, date unknown, but prtobably c1906, j

Frederick Stotton. Edinburgh amp; Glasgow main line. 3-8
Reprinted from Railway Magazine 1919. Illustrations:

Nicholas Oddy. The NB locomotive that never was.. 9-12
Model live steam locomotive built by Sampson George Goodall-Copestake, for his son, John Goodall-Copestake, to run in the grounds of #147;Elmwood". The model (7#189; gauge) is probably painted with the bronze green paint being applied to full-size locomotives for the NBR in 1895. See also letter from Stuart Sellar

John McGregor. Queen Street - what might have been. 13-15
Proposals to alleviate the approach from Cowlairs by new lines involved James Keyden, a Glasgow solicitor and Formans amp; McCall, engineers. A further proposal involved John Strain, another solicitor.

Euan Cameron. Wheatley#146;s 0-6-0 goods engines. 16-27

Douglas Yuill. Coal in East/Midlothian - Part 12. 28-35

Allan Rodgers. Eamp;GR four wheel firsts of 1857-59. 36-9,

John McGregor. Eamp;GR directors#146; meetings 1860-65. 40.
Relationships with other companies, notably the Scottish Central Railway and the North British (latter could be tetchy prior to amalgamation). Loan to Dunblane, mDoune amp; Callander Railway. Cocern about financial difficulties of Blane Valley Railway. Complex arrangements for livestock sent to Battersea Agricultural Exhibition in 1861. Coking plant at Falkirk closed. Loss of traffioc to Ireland through Solway ports lost to Glasgow. Appointment of Canvasser at Grangemeouth where railway was owned by Forth amp; Clyde Canal.

Brian Farish. Waverley tales #151; Part 1. 41-3.
On release from National Service Farish was sent to the old LMS parcel office at Princes Street where the work was dull and used antiqauated methods. He was so disolutioned that he wrote directly to the Station Master at Waverley asking if there was a vacancy for a Grade 4 clerk. There was and the station master Thomas (Tom) Arnott took him on. He was small, but extremely smart, especially in his morning suit and top hat in which he watched the departure and arrival of the Flying Scotsman as announced by Winnie. Illustrations

Harry Knox. Polmont derailment 30th July 1984. 44-7.
Serious accident involving a push amp; pull being propelled by a Class 47 locomotive hit a cow whilst travelling at 85 mile/h.

Book reviews.. 48

Haymarket Motive Power Depot, Edinburgh: a history of the depot, its work and locomotives 1842 - 2010. Harry Knox. Lightmoor Press. 208pp.
Reviewed by Jeff Hurst.

Country railway routes: Hexham to Hawick. The Border Counties Railway. Roger R. Darsley and Dennis A. Lovett. Middleton Press.nbsp;93pp.
Reviewed by Jeff Hurst.

Issue Number 116 (July 2012)

Riccarton Junction. front cover
Photograph taken at time opening of Border Counties and Border Union lines on 1 July 1862

Robert Cochrane, Hawick branch beginnings.... 3-10
From Railway Magazine, 1899 (April). Act 31 July 1845 to extend from Dalkeith to Hawick. Opened in stages for which the official dates are given, but The Scotsman noted that there were passenger and mineral trains running to Galashiels and St. Boswells from February 1849. The dates for the subsequent extension of the Border Union Railway to Carlisle are also recorded and there is a plan of the changes made at Hawick for this extension which may not be in the Railway Magazine article. Most of illustrations are "new material"

Denis R. Muir. A #147;Wandering Willie#148; footplate trip. 11-12
Writing in the mid-1990s, recalls a 1960 childhood trip home to Longtown from Carlisle on the footplate of Scott class engine No. 62440 Wandering Willie. Originallly published by Liddlesdale Heritage Association. Illustartion: No. 62440 Wandering Willie. at Carlisle.

Euan Cameron. Reid#146;s #147;Intermediates#148;. 13-21.
W.P. Reid#146;s 4-4-0 mixed traffic locomotives, the Intermediates#148;, 24 being built at Cowlairs 1906-1910. These engines were allocated to classes D32 amp; D33 by the LNER. Also popularly referred to as the 882 and 331 classes in NBR period. Both classes were fitted with superheated boilers of approximately the type used on the superheated Scots and Glens, though with some variation in internal arrangements. There were considerable variations in the tube arrangements between boilers built at different times, and those who are interested can follow such details in the RCTS Locomotives of the L. N. E. R., volume 4. I have opted not to transcribe the variations in tube numbers and the calculation of heating surface to decimal points which this tends to encourage - such calculations add little to our understanding of how the engines worked.
Illustrations:
No. 865 pilotred by Holmes 0-6-0 No. 679 at Glenfinnan in July 1914 (painting based on photograph nbsp;page 13)
No. 882, at Eastfield about 1907. page 14 (left)
No. 888 in original NBR livery: Euan Cameron coloured side elevation drrawing. page 14 (right)
No. 888 leaves Edinburgh Waverley on 20 September 1910 with the 14.02 train to Berwick. (K.A.C.R. Nunn)
Engine diagram for LNER class D32 Page 15 (lower)
No. 865 at Haymarket, page 16 (left);
No. 865 in later NBR livery : Euan Cameron coloured side elevation drrawing.nbsp;page 16 (right)
No. 9864 at Haymarket shed with the coaling tower in the background. (J.J. Cunningham) ,page 17 (upper)
Engine diagram for LNER class D33 page 17 (lower)
No. 888 calls at Seton Mains Halt with 13.53 Edinburgh-Berwick service on 14 July 1928. (J.T. Rutherford, page 18 (left)
Reid #147;Intermediate#148; no. 9891 in LNER green livery nbsp;: Euan Cameron coloured side elevation drrawing. page 18 (right)
Reid #147;Intermediate#148; (LNER class D32) no. 9891 waits to depart from Corstorphine station on 24th February 1927. (W.E. Boyd) page 19 upper);
No. 331 passes Stobs Camp in 1919 with 14.30 Edinburgh-Carlisle express. (No. 331 was first of second batch, classified D33 by the LNER. (R.B. Haddon) page 19 (lower)
No. 62451, but with N.E. still on tender at Dunbar shed. Driver Willie Wilson, ex-Riccarton, looks out from the cab. Note the slip coupling on the front of the engine. page 20 (left)
No. 9864 in LNER black livery: Euan Cameron coloured side elevation drrawing. page 20 (right)
No. 62457 (ex-NBR No. 866) at Perth shed in full BR lined livery (but tender lettered BRITISH RAILWAYS. (J. Robertson) page 21

Riccarton #150; an out and out railway colony. 22-3.
From Railway Mag., 1912 (May)

Donald Cattanach. James McLaren. 24-5.
Career of McLaren, for twenty years, 1873-93, was NBR General Superintendent. Born Polmont on 5 May 1829; died from heart failure in train approaching Waverley on 30 October 1893. Joined the North British Railway at age of 17, as a booking clerk at Haddington for the opening on 22 June 1846 . From Haddington, he went to a similar post at Berwick. He was promoted to Station Master, first to the small station of Belses (between St Boswells and Hawick), then to Dunbar, and finally, in March 1851, to Berwick. McLaren#146;s next move was to Edinburgh in December 1852, as Assistant to the General Manager, Thomas K. Rowbotham. In August 1857, McLaren was appointed Passenger Superintendent. The NBR in 1857 was still a relatively small concern, but 1862 saw amalgamation with the Edinburgh Perth and Dundee, and West of Fife, Railways, and the Company#146;s re-incorporation. This was followed three years later by amalgamation with the Edinburgh amp; Glasgow. In March 1873, McLaren#146;s post was re-designated as General Superintendent #151; equivalent to Superintendent of the Line in some other companies. The duties of the post were considerable. McLaren was the chief operational officer, now responsible for all operating matters and for all operating staff. McLaren lived in the elegant Mount Lodge at the top of Windsor Place, Portobello, set in several acres of its own land, and owned by the NBR. He tended to travel on the footplate of the locomotive when Royalty were being conveyed nbsp;He was a stern disciplinarian but appears to heve been honest. He was a Freemason.

Border Counties - in the beginning... 26-9.
Riccarton Junction on the Waverley route was near the summit of the Cheviot and was the beginning of the Border Counties Railway which led to a junctiion with the Newcast]le and Carlisle line at Hexham and to a branch to Morpeth. The line opened on 5 April 1858 and fully on 2 May 1862. Riccarton lacked road access and was dependent on the railway for supplies. Illustrations:

Douglas Yuill. Coal in East/Midlothian #150; Part 13. 30-7
Lady Victoria Colliery some 2500 tons per day. To handle this increased output from Easthouses and to centralise the grading, washing and despatching of coal from both Easthouses Mine and Lingerwood Pit at Lady Victoria it was decided to replace the endless rope tub haulage system between Easthouses and Lady Victoria by a 3' 6" gauge diesel loco hauled surface system. Instead of coal being hauled to the surface in 18cwt tubs, the coal was to be loaded underground from the tubs into trains of two 9 ton capacity cars. No 2 mine, which was the original main airway, was considered to be the most suitable incline for hauling the cars to the surface and so was enlarged to accommodate the new cars. At the surface the mine cars were drawn on to a gantry and the coal was discharged into a 40 ton capacity hopper from where the coal was conveyed to the surface Transport Loading Station. Tubs of coal and redd continued to be hauled to the surface in tubs up No 1 incline. On the surface the coal and redd were separated, the coal discharging on to the belt conveyor between the 40 ton hopper and the Loading Station, while the redd was conveyed to a 110 ton capacity reinforced concrete hopper from where it was discharged into 6 cubic yard capacity dump trucks to be taken to the bing about 1 #189; miles away. The newest mine, Simpson's Incline, was used for man riding trains and as the Main Return Airway. A The first three locomotives were an unnumbered 0-4-0 ST purchased new from Andrew Barclay in 1880, No 2, probably a 0-4-0 ST built by the Falcon Engine Works at an unknown date, and No 3, a 0-4-0 ST built by Hawthorns of Leith also in 1880. Within the first twenty years of the Lothian Coal Company's incorporation, a further six locomotives had been acquired. uuml; No 2, a 0-4-0 ST in 1902 which had come from the Company's Polton Colliery to replace the original No 2. uuml; No 4, a 0-4-2 ST purchased new from Andrew Barclay in 1907. uuml; No 5, also a 0-4-0 ST, purchased new from Grant Ritchie in 1908; this locomotive was rebuilt at Newbattle Workshops in 1933. uuml; No 6, a 0-4-0 ST purchased new from Andrew Barclay in 1910. uuml; No 7, a 0-4-2 ST purchased new from Grant Ritchie in 1914.oduuml; No 3, which replaced the first No 3, a 0-6-0 ST which had been built by Andrew Barclay but was purchased from the Ministry of Munitions in 1916. uuml; No 1, which replaced the first No 1, a 0-4-0 ST which was built at Newbattle Workshops in 1927 These seven locomotives acquired by the Lothian Coal Company served the company until Nationalisation on 1st January 1947. Newtongrange gas small gas works had been established by the Marquis of Lothian in 1873 at Newtongrange to provide gas for not only the pits but for the properties in the rapidly developing village of Newtongrange as well as the neighbouring communities of Lothian Bridge, Newbattle and Gowkshill. Gas was made in horizontal retorts from coal mined in the company's pits, and two gas holders were provided. In 1914 the mains pipes from the works extended to 6 miles in length and there were 933 customers. By 1938 the number of customers had increased to 1320, and by 1946 to 1400. The Newtongrange Gasworks was originally vested in the National Coal Board as were the gas undertakings at Rosewell and Arniston, but on the formation of the Scottish Gas Board in 1949 negotiations took place between the two organisations which resulted in these Works being vested in the Scottish Gas Board as from 1st April 1951. As part of the Scottish Gas Boar

footnote: NCB Lothians Area 0-4-0ST No. 17: Andrew Barclay (WN 2219/1946 shunting. (G. Norman Turnbull, colour).

Allan Rodgers. Early NBR goods brakes. Part 1. 38-42.
Hurst introduced a standard goods brake van in 1856 and this is depicted in contemporary photographs and in coloured diagrams (side and end elevations). There are no firm records for prior practice except from fuzzy photographs and reference to an accident to a luggage train when the ubfurtunate guard was blown off together with the roof of the vehicle down an embankment near Cockburnspath on 20 November 1848. Illustrations:

Brian Farish. Waverley tales - Part 2. 43-8.
Tales about Tom Arnott, Station Master, at Edinburgh Waverley including his involvement in buying fruit and Christmas trees (and in the case of the latter causing delay to train from Carlisle. Illustration of long nbsp;queue for diesel trains to Glasgow with author walking against tide of humanity. See also letter from Andrew Boyd. and another from Harry Knox

Book review. 48

British locomotive catalogue. Volume 6. nbsp;Great Eastern Railway; North British Railway; Great North of Scotland Railway; Midland amp; Great Northern Joint Railway; Remaining Companies in the LNER Group; compiled by the late Bertram Baxter; edited by the late David Baxter and Peter Mitchell. Kestrel Railway Books
Explains history of publication: notes that NBR material accounts for about one third of text and on the somewhat strange typography.

John A. Smith: obituary. nbsp;50
Died on 22 December 2011 aged 84. Born in Glasgow and trained as an engineer at Weir Pumps in Cathcart, then joiined British India Steam Navigation Company and worked on RMS Dwarka on Indian Ocean crossings. Joined NBRSG and edited Journal. Robin McHugh

Letters page. 50

Galloping Gertie Project. Donald Cattanach. 50
Recently, a friend of mine alerted me to a current project being undertaken by a group of enthusiasts from the Swindon amp; Cricklade Railway to build a full size working replica of ex-Midland amp; South Western Junction Railway 2-6-0 locomotive No. 16, which was the second of two built for the Mamp;SWJR by Beyer Peacock at Gorton Works in the mid-1890s to an earlier 1880s design of which Beyer Peacock had built 70 engines for export to Australia. No. 16 was based at Andover and used by the Mamp;SWJR to assist with goods train workings between Cheltenham and Southampton.
Following post-Grouping modification by the GWR in the 1920s, engine No. 16 became known locally as "Galloping Gertie" and after service with the GWR was withdrawn in the 1930s. The project group wish to replicate No. 16 as it was when built by Beyer Peacock and have already sourced information from the BP archive. However, they need more information and their attention has been drawn to No. 16's sister engine, No. 14 (see photo), which was the first of the two to be completed in 1895, and had an interesting connection with the NBR.
Mamp;SWJR No. 14 was based at Cheltenham and performed similar duties to No.16. In 1910, she was found to have a serious crack in her frames and by 1913 it was decided to sell the engine for scrap. Fortunately, the government intervened due to the shortage of locomotives at the outbreak of the War and it was decided to resurrect No. 14 by sending her to the NBR's works at Cowlairs for repair. Her boiler was found to be beyond repair, however, and the NBR decided to rebuild the engine with an NBR boiler and cab, plus a second-hand tender. In her new guise, No.14 was sent to the Royal Naval dockyard at Rosyth where she worked the exchange sidings between the dockyard and the NBR main line. At the end of the war, the loco was surplus to requirements and was sold off to the Cramlington Coal Company where she was re-numbered as their No. 15. When the Hartley Main Colliery Company was formed in 1929, the loco became that company's engine No. 16 (not to be confused with her sister, Mamp;SWJR No. 16!) and worked the colliery sidings until 1943, when she was finally withdrawn from service (see photo).
I have been asked by the "Galloping Gertie" Project if I can find out more information about the history of ex- Mamp;SWJR engine No.14 during her time in Scotland, particularly the location of any drawings or records that may exist in the NBR archives detailing her rebuilding and subsequent war time service. So far, obtaining a professional drawing of the loco boiler has eluded the project team and they hope that, in the NBR archives, there may be an original drawing of the boiler fitted at Cowlairs to No. 14, the team's assumption being that, in wartime, it is quite likely a standard NBR boiler was sourced and fitted. From these drawings they would hope, in time, to construct a new boiler for the replica, which should fit the frames, assuming they can locate the BP drawings for the frames. Both Mamp;SWJR engines had the same frame and boiler dimensions so it is assumed that the NBR boiler (for No. 14) would have had similar dimensions to the original Beyer Peacock boiler. They would also like to locate any NCB records concerning her time at Hartley Main.
I would be most grateful if Study Group members who have knowledge of these things could kindly advise me via the Editor. Knowing which type of boiler would be a step forward and perhaps expert members may be able to recognise the type from the photo of the rebuilt engine accompanying this letter. See also Journal 117 page 51 letter from James Armstrong

Waverley notes. Alistair Neill.
I worked one Christmas (probably 1951) in Waverley for the Post Office. Most university students did house delivery but I applied to be at Waverley, partly with my interest in railways-I had won a book prize at school and I still remember the puzzlement on the head- master's face when he found himself giving the three John Ahern model railway books to me rather than the academic or great literature that others had chosen!. It was 3 shifts and I on was on 2pm to 10pm. We unloaded mail bags from the trains and took them to the bag room near platform 1 where they either went up in lifts to the GPO next door or were taken to another train. One ploy was to say you would go to platform 21 for the Leeds train knowing that it was running very late and have a rest and smoke, but I didn't smoke and it was pretty cold. The incident I particularly remember was on platform 19 when a trolley which should have been immobilised ran away and bounced off a passing empty passenger train before I managed to catch it. If the train had not been there it would have been a real crisis. After my spell at a dirty smoky Waverley my mother said she had spent more on washing powder than I had earned and I was not to apply next yearl A few years later I was an apprentice actuary in St Andrews Square and commuted from Craiglockhart on the suburban line. For 22 journeys a week#151;I went home for lunch (there were few eating places in town then) and we worked Saturday mornings, the season ticket was three shillings and eight pence! Quicker and cheaper than the trams. One problem was if the train was late#151;one was disciplined if you were more than 2 minutes late more than twice in a month, so often I was out of breath running from platform 20 to the office.

NBR loco model. Stuart Sellar. 51.
Includes colour image: writer had been given a 4-4-2 model locomotive made by Carette, a German firm, in 1912 named Highland Chief. North British livery?

Hassendean station: then and now. rear cover
Closed as part of Waverley route and not reopened as part of semi-reopening as between Galashields and Hawick. Postcard view and colour photograph of as private house and architect's office as on 2 May 2005

Issue Number 117 (November 2012)

Drummond 0-4-4T No.95 at St. Margaret's on 27 June 1921. front cover
See also Euan Cameron artcle

Preservation of an NBR Atlantic. 3-
From the Railway Magazine, May 1938: No. 9875 Midlothian. which stated repainted in NBR livery, but photographs do not confirm this: No 9875 passing Haymarket Central Junction in June 1939 and No 9875 at Haymarket West with the Queen of Scots Pullman

Trevor Jones.. Railways and the Law #150; part 1. 4-5.
In the opening paragraph, it has been stated that railways have been subject to legal conditions from the earliest days. These conditions are due to a combination of Common Law, Statute and in Scotland the effects of the institutional legal writers such as Stair, Erskine and Bell. However, the carriage of goods and people has been subject to these conditions since the Middle Ages as illustrated by the early English case of Bukton v Tounsede (1348), which is perhaps better known as #147;The Humber Ferry Case#148; Here John Bukton paid Nicholas Tounsede of Hessle a ferryman at a crossing of the River Humber to carry his mare over the river. Tounsede overloaded his boat with horses and Bukton#146;s mare was drowned. This is a seminal case of the law of contract as it established a duty of care on the part of the carrier, and in Coggs v Bernard (1703) a carrier#146;s liability received the fullest treatment, where the court ruled the only limits by Lord Holt were #147;Acts of God and The Kings Enemies#148;.

Drummond 4-4-0T No 10459 at Granton on 30 September 1925 [photopgraph]. 5

Frederick Stoton. Methil Docks. 6-7
Development of the docks, from the Railway Magazine, April 1908. Includes maps and coal export statistics

Rae Montgomery. Granton branch collision 1970. 8-9.
August 1970 between Bonnington South and Trinity Junctions involving two Type 40 diesel locomotives, both train crews (two drivers, two second men and two guards, all based at Millerhill) escaped with comparatively light injuries, this, in the view of the Inspecting Officer (Railway Employment Inspector C.H. Hewison from the DoE, who had been, I understand, a BR Shedmaster) being due to the noses of the Class 40 locomotives acting effectively as "crumple zones". The final paragraph of the Inspector's report reads: "The accident illustrates, however, that the signalling of trains by telephone messages on a single line such as this cannot be relied upon to operate safely and in my opinion a better and more positive means of working the branch should be sought which will ensure that it will not be entered by more than one train or locomotive at a time". See also letter from Harrry Knox on this, and a later accident caused by more than one locomotive working on a single track under telephone instructions.

Express goods trains on the North British Railway. 10-11.
Express freight described in the Railway Magazine, November 1912: these included fast dual-braked services at high speed between the west of Scotland and Tweedsmouth via Coatbridge and the Edinburgh suburban route and traffic from the west for Carlisle over the Waverley route.

Euan Cameron. Drummond amp; Holmes 0-4-4 tanks. 12-20
Designed by both Drummond and Holmes and built in 1877, 1886 amp; 1889 and allocated to classes G7 (Holmes) amp; G8 (Drummond) by the LNER. Also popularly referred to as the 157 and 586 classes in NBR days. Included some Drummond locomotives rebuilt from 0-4-2Ts, The illustrations are a mixture of photographs, the Euan Cameron superb coloured scale drawings and a feew line diagrams which accompany the previous. All locomotives are also tabulated. See also front cover

Petrol shunting locomotive at Kelso. 21.
Motor Rail and Tram Car Company Ltd. machine. From the Railway Magazine, October 1922

Ed McKenna. Fife traders#146; wagons #150; part 1. 22-9
Smaller fleets of private owners wagons which operated in Fife in NBR days: coal merchants, lime works, paper mills and chemical works

Douglas Yuill. Coal in East/Midlothian #150; Part 14. 30-5.
Line No. 12: Arniston to Fushiebridge (Arniston Emily pit and Gore pit)

Brian Farish. Waverley tales #150; part 3. 36-9
Reminiscences of his early career with BR in the 1950s at Waverley station

J. Francis. Edinburgh and Glasgow Routes of the L.N.E.R. #150; part 1. 40-5.
From The Railway Magazine January 1927

Rebuilding Berwick Station. 46-8.
From the Railway Magazine, May 1927

Jimmy Hay. North British Railway corpse vans. 49-50.
These vehicles, introduced in 1890, were designed specifically for the conveyance of coffins. It was a common sight to see these either attached to the front or rear of passenger trains, where the cortegrave;ge would either travel in the accompanying train or in separate hired coaches, usually saloons, if the estate could afford such luxury. When they arrived at their destination, the coffin would be loaded into a waiting hearse. They were common up until WW1, but due to rising costs after this, their use soon became uncommon. Most had been scrapped by the end of 1926. The design of these vans was somewhat unique in having fixed, ventilated ends and folding sides and roofs. Coach axle guards were fitted, with Mansell wheels and full vacuum and Westinghouse brakes, together with a single handbrake on one side only. Some vehicles were fitted with a truss bar between the axle boxes. Screw couplings and safety chains were fitted as standard. The vehicles were painted in coach lake with light yellow lettering shaded to the left and below in vermilion with white separation in part. The wheels had the usual brown centres with white tyres. All ironwork, including that in the Mansell wheels, was black. It is doubtful if these vehicles were ever painted or renumbered in LNER days. Includes two illustrations and diagrams

Letters page. 51

Cramlington Coal Company No 15. James Armstrong
The NBR skyline of the Cramlington Coal Company#146;s No 15, referred to in Donald Cattanach#146;s letter in Journal 116, has been something of a mystery. The published sources, the IRS Industrial Locomotives of Northumberland, The Midland and South Western Junction Railway; by C G Maggs, and Part 10 of the RCTS #145;Locomotives of the GWR#146;, all have the engine put together partly by the dealer J.F. Wake of Darlington and partly by the CCC itself. None mentions either cracked frames or a visit to Cowlairs and in the IRS volume on the industrial locomotives of Scotland it is not listed as one of those in use at Rosyth. It seems that as early as 1912 the locomotive was listed for withdrawal, and that the original boiler was put to stationary use at Cheltenham when it was withdrawn in 1914. The wheels and frames (bar-frames according to Maggs) were reportedly sold to Wake in January 1918 (together with a MSWJR 2-4-0T), and he is said to have fitted a boiler before selling the resulting assembly in March 1918 to the CCC, which #145;rebuilt#146; the locomotive in 1919 and provided a tender. (This appeared to be on of Wheatley#146;s; the rather more elegant specimen, shown in Donald#146;s letter, came later.) The cab is credited variously to both Wake and the CCC. Wake#146;s business did include rebuilding main-line locomotives for industrial buyers (in 1917 he had even regauged a pair of Irish 2-4-2Ts which also went to Cramlington), and would be well able to take the job on.
There are clearly a lot of gaps in the story, but cracked frames might explain the proposal to withdraw a locomotive only 17 years old in 1912, and wartime shortages could explain the decision to repair them after all in 1918. We are left to infer that they went direct from Cheltenham to Wake, but the dispatch of the 2-4-0T in the same month might tend to support this, and it is difficult in any case to understand why Cowlairs (rather than say nearby Swindon) should be chosen to repair the frames. Like the chimney and cab the boiler, with its dome on the rear ring, was reminiscent of NBR practice though, and even if Wake is accepted as doing the work Cowlairs might well have supplied the materials, and the CCC#146;s tender. The connection may seem tenuous but John Thomas does list J F Wake as one of the firms taking NBR locomotives for repair later on, to help clear arrears of maintenance. I hope more comes to light

Issue Number 118 (March 2013)

Early train at Edinburgh terminus: painting by J.H. Ross in National Library of Scotland. colour front cover

Bill Lynn. Working on the North British. nbsp;3
St. Margaret's got the job of working Earl Haig's funeral train from Edinbugh to St. Boswells on 7 February 1928: The staff gambled on four ex-servicemen manning it and the shedmaster (Culvert) learned about the gambling and detailed four non-ex-servicemen: Drivers Adam Addison and Jimmy Mackie and Firemen Jimmy Boyd and Geordie Laing.

Jeff Hurst, 7 May 1948 - 20 November 2012. 4-5
Late Chairman of the NBR Study Group.

Stories of the old N. B. 6-7.
Extracted from a series articles on the North British Railway which had appeared in the Weekly Scotsman: this one fom 16 January 1909. A telegraph clerk describes what Edinburgh Waverley was like in the early 1860s when three railways operated rhere: the North British, Edinburgh amp; Glasgow and the Edinburgh, Perth amp; Dundee which ran ran from its Canal Street terminusn through Scotland Street tunnel down to Granton. The telegraphic system was maintained by the Electric Telegraph Company. Some of the telegraph clerks were attracted out to Japan. Notes on the booking hall and on one clerk who became the Reverend John McNeill.

Six-wheel six compartment third class carriage built at Cowlairs between 1888 and 1901 (photograph). 7.

J. Francis. Edinburgh and Glasgow routes of the L. N. E. R. #150; part 2. 8-9
From Railway Magazine, 1927, February. Lines to the north of the Edinburgh and Glasgow main line: Falkirk (Grahamston) and Larbert, Grangemouth and Bo#146;ness lines, with the Kilsyth and Bonnybridge and Torrance routes. The original Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway included the branch from Polmont to Falkirk (Grahamston), and this involved association with the Scottish Central Railway, then part of the L.M.S. (Caledonian) system, but providing connections which were of advantage to the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, as it completed an important and useful series of connections and accounts for the intricacy of the inter-working of the L.M.S. and L.N.E. companies in this area. Thus, L.M.S. trains from Princes Street (Edinburgh) use the L.N.E. line from near Haymarket to Polmont, and through the Grahamston and Camelon stations at Falkirk and round to Larbert; both companies work to Grangemouth, though the harbour and docks and part of the route thereto belong to the L.M.S. system, and L.N.E. trains for Stirling and Alloa from Glasgow transfer to the L.M.S.R. at Greenhil l and through Larbert to Stirling and Alloa, also to Alloa via Alloa Bridge.

Ed McKenna. Fife traders#129;' wagons #150; part 2. 10-16.
Robert Lawson, Coal Merchant, Burntisland; William A. Lawson amp; Co., Colliery Agents, Methil; Martin, Henderson amp; Co., Maltsters, Pitlessie; William D. Matthew, Net and Coal Merchant, Anstruther; James McNally, Coal Merchant, St. Andrews; Melville amp; Company, Aerated water manufacturer, Tayport; Miller Bros., Coal Merchant, Auchtermuchty; Robert Milne, Coal Merchant, Cupar; Michael Nairn amp; Co. Ltd., Linoleum Manufacturer, Kirkcaldy; Newport Town Council; G. J. Pryde, Coal Merchant, Tayport; W. G. Readdie, Coal Merchant, Anstruther (wagon No. 10 illustrated); E. C. Reid, Coal Merchant, Milnathort; Robert Reid amp; Sons, Timber Merchant, Ladybank amp; Mawcarse; J. W. Reid, Timber Merchant, Ladybank; James Richmond, Coal Merchant, Kirkcaldy; Rutherford, Son amp; Grubb, Coal Merchant, St. Andrews; James R. Scrymgeour, Coal Merchant Newport; Thomas Sharp, Coal Merchant, East Newport; Alex. Smith amp; Son, Coal Merchant, Anstruther (livery: brown oxide with white lettering); Smith, Anderson amp; Co., Ltd., Fettykill Mill, Leslie (livery: brown oxide with white lettering); Archibald Smith, Coal Merchant, Burntisland; Smith Laing amp; Co., Jute Spinner, Russell Mills, Springfield; Charles Stark, Coal Merchant, Inverkeithing; John Stewart, Coal Merchant, Newburgh (livery: brown oxide with white lettering); Stuart, Brown amp; Co., Methil Oilworks, Methil; Tayport Town Council; David Thomson, Coal Merchant, Tayport; Tullis, Russell amp; Co. Ltd., Paper Mill, Markinch; William M Young, Coal Merchant, Tayport

Donald Cattenach and Allan Rodgers.nbsp;Waverley Station #150; a history #150; part 1. 17-29
Edinburgh's Waverley railway station is one of the UK's largest and best known stations, located in the valley between the Old and New Towns of Scotland's capital and is, today, part of the city's World Heritage site. There are few, if any, accurate accounts of the origin and development of what became Waverley Station and, in this series of articles, we hope to correct that situation, whilst doing our best to avoid creating any new inaccuracies along the way.
Being in the historic heart of the City, Waverley has been recorded, almost by accident, in the paintings and photographs of many who wished to capture the beauty of Edinburgh's Old and New Towns. We are particularly fortunate that a number of the pioneering photographers of the 19th century were based in the city; and so, there exists a rich photographic record of the development of the station, stretching from the early 1840s to the present day. In this respect, Waverley station is, perhaps, unique. Illustraiions:

Brian Farish. Apregrave;s le deluge #150; part 1. 30-8.
East Coast floods of August 1948. Comprehensive examination of damage inflicted by torrential rain which closed the line between Dunbar and Berwick, and for a shorter time the Waverley route from 11 August 1948. Great personal interest to KPJ as return from Dundee nbsp;to London on non-stop Flying Scotsman was diverted via Waverley route some of which had to be traversed at low speed; then over Settle amp; Carlisle to Leeds City and proceeded eastward to reach King's Cross. Illustrations.

Trevor Jones. Railways and the law nbsp;#150; part 2. 39-41
Act of the Surrey Railway Co. of 1801 was first. First whixh provided for steam traction was Stockton amp; Darlington of 1825; and first in Scotland was the Dundee amp; Newtyle which opened in 1834. First public acts were the Conveyance of Mails Act 1838 1amp;2 Vict. c98 which established obligations on railways in favour of the Post Office. The Regulation of Railways Acts of 140 3amp; Vict. c97, 1842 5amp;6 Vict. c55 and 1844 7amp;8 Vict. c85., These were followed by Consolidation Acts in 1845. Early railways were usually formed as partnerships amongst the proprietors. However, the main disadvantage of this arrangement is that according to the law of partnership a partner is an agent of the firm and his other partners. Also the act of each partner binds the firm and his partners. They were therefore liable to the public for the profits and losses of the firm. It can be seen that this type of structure would be unsuitable for a firm based on public subscription, since it would expose shareholders to the liabilities and risks of the partnership. It would also exceed the permitted size of the partnership which was limited to 20 partners. As an alternative structure, the Law of Joint Stock Companies arose which developed into the Companies Act 1862 25 amp; 26 Vict c89. However, because railways were considered as undertakings of a public nature by special Acts of Parliament, a Memorandum of Association which governed a private company was unsuitable. The main statutes governing railways were The Company Clauses Consolidation Act 1845 8amp;9 Vict c17 which applied to England, Wales and Ireland and The Companies Clauses Consolidation (Scotland) Act 1845 8amp;9 Vict c16. These were essentially similar but with some differences to take account of the differing legal provisions in each jurisdiction. They governed the constitution and internal economy of the company, the relations of its members and officials and the conduct of its affairs as regarding shareholders and creditors. Of course in such an article as this it is not possible to cover all of the provisions of these acts, but a brief outline will show the main parts covering railway formation and construction.
Formation of the Company
We already know that the Consolidation Acts govern the formation of a railway company and the sections of this act are:
Preamble and Interpretation of the Act - with respect to the construction of this Act is enacted in the following: (Sections I - 5)
Distribution of Capital - with respect to the distribution of the capital of the company into shares which is to be enacted in the following: (Sections 6- 13)
Transfer of Shares - with respect to the transfer or transmission of shares is to be enacted in the following: (Sections 14 - 21)
Payment of Calls - with respect to the payment of subscriptions and the means of enforcement of the payment of calls is to be enacted in the following: (Sections 22 - 29)
Non Payment of Calls - with respect to the forfeiture of shares for non-payment of calls is to be enacted in the following- (Sections 30 - 37)
Execution against Shareholders - with respect to the remedies of creditors of the company against the shareholders is to be enacted in the following: (Sections 38 - 39)
Power to Borrow Money - with respect to the borrowing of money by the company on mortgage or bond is to be enacted in the following: (Sections 40 - 58)
And in similar manner: Loans; Consolidation of Shares; General Meetings; Appointment and Rotation of Directors; Powers of Directors; Proceedings of Directors; Auditors; Accountability of Officers; Accounts; Dividends; Bye-Laws; Arbitration
Subsequent Acts:
The Railway Clauses Act 1863 26 amp; 27 Vict c92:
The Railway Companies Powers Act 1864 27 amp; 28 Vict c120:
The Regulation of Railways Act 1868 31 amp; 32 Vict c119;
The Stat. Law Rev. Act 1875 38 amp; 39 Vict c66
Illustrations: Edinburgh, Perth amp; Dundee Railway 0-4-0 No. 30 bult by Hawthorn amp; Co. in 1847 and sold to Lochgelly Iron Co. at Lochgelly; NBR 0-6-0T No. 316 at Leith Walk (originated as Monkland Railway 0-4-2ST No. 5; Highland Railway No. 48 at Fort Augustus
See also letter from John McGregor.

Douglas Yuill. Coal in East/Midlothian #150; Part 15. 42-7.
Line 12: Amiston to Fushiebridge serving Gorebridge gasworks, Vogrie Colliery and Esperston limeworks. Illustrations

Harry Knox. Collision at Lunan Bay 48-9.
22 September 1958: an express train running towards Aberdeen hit nbsp;derailed van off a nbsp;preceding exgess which had been running at excessive speed as it had a tail load of vans. The driver of the second express had insufficient tim to stop before hitting the derailed vehicle causing considerable damage, but no injuries., Colonel McMullen's Inquiry revealed lax observance by the signalmen, especialy at Usan and by the train crew (driver, fireman and guard) of the preceding train which shed one vehicle.

Letters. 50-1

Edinburgh Waverley. Andrew Boyd.
Letter refers to queue for Glasgow trains: this was due to a bus strike in July 1957

Granton branch collision. Harry Knox. 51
Firstly, Rae Montgomery's excellent article on the 1970 Granton Branch collision, the one I could not recall when I wrote my piece on the earlier accident in Journal No.113. I am indebted to Rae for chapter and verse, setting the record straight and stirring myoid brain once more. At that time, I had just been promoted into the HQ Rules [3 Signalling (Signalling Works) section (and at a later date was to assume the mantle of Regional Rules [3 Signalling Officer). I remember very well the objection from Rae to this altered method of working, "Telephone and Notice Board" which had been intro- duced over the recently created single line section between Easter Road and Granton. Nevertheless, the line was a Goods Only line, and a line over which rail traffic was a fast diminishing commodity. As such it fell outside the mandatory require- ments contained in our "Bible", the MoT Blue Book, "Railway Construction and Operating Requirements for Passenger Lines and Recommendations for Goods Lines". The operation of Goods Lines was much relaxed in comparison to that of passenger lines and thus less restrictive methods of working such a Permissive Block, No Block and even Time Interval could still be found serving useful purpose on lines over which full signalling infrastructure could no longer be justified. The method of operation of Goods Lines did not require specific HMRI approval, but this august body was made aware of what was planned for the Granton Branch. Incidentally, this method of working was chosen at the behest of the current (local) operators who were adamant that they required two trains/locomotives to be at Granton at anyone time.
However, irrespective of the system of train control in use, all rail safety depended, as it does today, on absolute compliance with the laid- down rules, regulations and instructions applicable to all the various methods of working, by all concerned. In this context, whether a line was a passenger line or goods line mattered not. Strict compliance provided the final safety net. Thus, the nature of the "goods" passing over a line was never a factor for consideration. Failure to comply in one way or another or "Human Error" if you wish, was found to be the cause of most of the major railway accidents even on the lines with the most modern signalling methods. So it proved on this occasion. I remember well the concern when news of the collision reached HQ., but minds were soon to be firmly concentrated on Telephone [3 Notice Board Working yet again, when, just a few weeks later, another head-on collision occurred on the section of line from Millerhill Yard to Lady Victoria Pit at Newtongrange which was worked under the same arrange- ments. At this time, track and signalling infrastructure was being recovered from the closed Waverley route, and apart from trip workings serving the colliery, the only other trains using this single line were the engineering trains to and from the Border Union railway. Once again, non-compliance resulted in another head-on collision. It was indeed fortunate that the costs of both accidents, significant as they were in monetary terms, had not included any loss of life. The method of working over both lines was altered thereafter to become "One Train Working" and remained so until final closures

Waverley tales. Harry Knox.
I turn now to Brian Farish's fascinating account of life at Waverley which has been a most readable, and enjoyable series of articles. The story of engines becoming overpowered on that last, short climb into Waverley through the Calton Tunnels was only too evocative. Been there, done that! However, I wonder if Brian can throw any light on one particular incident which occurred well before my time at Haymarket MPD, in, I think, 1953. The train involved, an East Coast express, was conveying a member of foreign Royalty who was making a visit to Edinburgh after the Coronation celebrations and indeed, it may have been the Queen of Tonga herself. Whatever, the train was in the very capable hands of Haymarket top link driver Bill Stevenson with his own engine, A4 No.60027 Merlin. The train was due to arrive in the South Main and the red carpet, welcoming committee, et ai, were assembled, when Merlin. stuck her head out of Calton South Tunnel. Bill, observing that he was wrongly routed via the South Loop, whistled to alert the signalman, but had no option but to shut off steam and come to a stand. After the required period of time release of the signaHing equipment, the road was reset and the signal came off for the South Main. Try as he might, Bill, with Merlin, could not lift the heavy train on the 1 in 78 rising gradient and the welcoming party were then treated to the spectacle of a minor volcanic eruption as the A4 stood and danced just short of the station. Of course, the east-end pilot was duly slipped down through the North Calton Tunnel to come in behind the train at Abbeyhill Junction and give the necessary push. Bad as the situation was, it was exacerbated by Tom Arnott, the Station Master, when being asked by members of the press who were present, about the incident, making a surprising error of judgement in suggesting that it had all obviously been mismanagement of the engine on the driver's part.
The story hit the evening papers and Bill Stevenson was incensed, to say the least, by having his professionalism questioned in the public domain. Bill Stevenson was one of the many thoroughly competent enginemen in No. 1 link, and almost immediately, the situation started spiralling of control. A complaint on behalf of Haymarket drivers was registered by Haymarket Sectional Council, to ASLEF, with threats of legal action. Tom Amott, to be fair, moved quickly to defuse a potential time bomb by inviting Bill to his office where apologies were offered and accepted, and - strangely, in the immediate aftermath, Bill and his wife were to enjoy an all-expenses paid holiday to Spain, by rail of course.

Loanhead station. 52 (rear cover)
On Glencorse branch, opened in 1874. Passenger services ceased in 1933 but freight continued until 1991, latterly in the form of coal trains serving Bilston Glen Colliery, which had opened in 1961. Signalling was upgraded at that time
General view of Loanhead in April 1955. (J.L. Stevenson black amp; white)
Loanhead Goods shed, pictured in 1997 from the goods yard. A recent repaint in LNER colours belies its 123 years. There is room for two wagons to be unloaded under cover, with road vehicles being loaded via the double doors.
Nature is slowly reclaiming Loanhead station building and platform in this August 1997 view. nbsp;(J. Hurst: colour)

Issue Number 119 nbsp;(July 2013)

NBR 2-4-0 No 419 at Inverkeithing. front cover

Harry Knox. A black evening at Haymarket station. 3-7.
Accident during evening of 28 July 1924 when a stationary Iinner Circle South (Leith Central to Leith Central) which had left Waverley at 18.50 was hit in the rear by the 18.54 Edinburgh to Port Edgar train hauled by J class 4-4-0 No. 9338 Helen McGregor running tender-first and driven by James Swan who claimed that the signals were clear although this was contradicted by George Duncan, a relief signalman working at Haymarket East. An auditory warning system in the tunnel was not heard by Swan. The suburban train was formed of old lightweight gas lit stock due to the pressure of holiday traffic and the rear part was telescoped and demolished in the collision. Five died and more than fifty were injured. Knox who knew Swan noted that the accident was never mentioned.

Jim Summers. A Hurst Dubs-built 0-6-0 for Burtisland. 8-9.
4mm scale model with relatively little on the prototype for No. 185. See also letter in Issue 120 page 51

Jim Page and Tony Brenchley. Traffic to Panmure Sidings 1911-12. 10-16.
Carnoustie with traffic for Anderson Grice amp; Co. Taymouth Engineering Works and Charles Tennant's chemical plant

Anglo-Scot. The City of Glasgow Union Railway. 17-19.
Reprinted from Railway Magazine, 1907, Jnauary: errors or changes in spelling in original, e.g. Buchannan Street retained as on map

Euan Cameron. Wheatley's 2-4-0 passenger engines. 20-9.
Built by Thomas Wheatley for the NBR between 1869 and 1873, Some of engines survived the Grouping and were classified E7 by the LNER.

Brian Farish. Apregrave;s le deluge.#150; Part 2. 30-7.
Scottish East Coast floods of 1948. Diversion routes There is some evidence to suggest that some thought was initially given to starting and terminating all East Coast Services at Princes Street station, routing them via the WCML to Carlisle and then via the Settle and Carlisle to Leeds and beyond. This was soon ruled out when it became apparent that not only was there insufficient capacity on the WCML but that there would be insurmountable problems at Waverley for interconnecting passengers from Aberdeen and Inverness, etc having to make their own way to the other station. Not only were day services involved but the lucrative night sleeper trains would have been badly affected with them having to be routed from the north via Haymarket West to Princes Street and then depart out of the city via the Carstairs route. The amount of additional light engine movements to and from Princes Street station and Haymarket MPD was regarded as being impracticable even if Princes Street Station platforms could have handled the additional traffic. Given the propensity of the then railway hierarchy to react very quickly to this type of disaster, a decision was reached that the best possible routing for Anglo-Scottish services was to #147;get back onto the ECML as far north as possible#148;. This was something that the North Eastern Region headquarters at York insisted upon. They were not at all enamoured with the thought that places like Newcastle, Durham and Darlington would be bypassed and made their feelings plain to the Scottish Region General Manager in Glasgow. Thus the preferred diversionary route was to be from Waverley then using the Waverley Route as far south as St. Boswells where trains would be further diverted via Kelso and Coldstream to ultimately re-join the ECML at Tweedmouth. Other routes were used as needs demanded including the Carlisle and Settle line to Leeds and Selby.

Trevor Jones. Railways and the law..#150; Part 3. 38-40.
Acquistion of land, and compensation for it, both in Scotland and in England.

Douglas Yuill. Coal in East/Midlothian #151; Part 16. Line No. 13: Niddrie North, South and Wanton Walls Junctions to Duddingston and Haymarket West and Central Junctions. 41-50.
In 1838 Sir John Hope was still working a colliery on his estate near Wanton Walls employing about 600 and producing nearly 55,000 tons of coal per annum under the managership of John Grieve. However, three years later, Grieve was working for himself winning coal at Prestonlinks (see NBRSG Journal No 103) and then running a fireclay works at Bankpark, Tranent (see NBRSG Journal No 104).
In March 1847, Sir John approached the North British Railway Company to propose laying rails to his colliery, the NB to furnish rails, chairs etc and Sir John to make the way and pay a percentage on the expenses of the rails etc. Initially the Board declined, but then agreed in April of the following year, #145;Sir John to pay 5% for the use of the rails and chairs and to return them when he had done with them#146;. By the end of 1862, John Grieve was back at Niddrie to lease the minerals of Niddrie from Andrew Wauchope, those of Edmonstone from John Don-Wauchope, and the Woolmet minerals from the Earl of Wemyss. John Grieve died in 1865 and the Niddrie lease was assigned to his two sons, John Grieve Junior and Charles Grieve, in 1867. Grieve Senior also owned the saltworks at Joppa but after his death the property and business was taken over by Alex Nesbit who enlarged them and carried on the business there until 1889, when they were bought by the Scottish Salt Company who continued there until 1953.
In 1873 J amp;C Grieve, trading as the Niddrie Coal Company, were mining coal at Niddrie No 1 Pit, Edmonstone No 2 Pit, and several pits at Woolmet as well as at Prestonlinks, East Lothian, but by 1874 the Grieve Brothers were wanting to relinquish their mineral leases. George Simpson who had formed the Benhar Coal Company to mine coal on Fauldhouse Moor, West Lothian expressed interest in taking over the mineral leases. The owners of the minerals, Andrew Wauchope, John Don-Wauchope and the Earl of Wemyss respectively, were agreeable and the leases drawn up in 1862 for Niddrie and in 1863 for Edmonstone and Woolmet were renewed, on the same terms as the previous leases, with the Benhar Coal Company. The Company also purchased the mineral rights of the Brunstane and a large part of the Easter Duddingston Estates from the landowner, the Duke of Abercorn, in 1874 for #163;150,000. The Niddrie Colliery was worked at various depths from a number of shafts or inclines strung along the outcropping seams. According to the 1875 List of Mines the new company were operating eight pits at Niddrie. In 1880 the minerals of the Drum Estate at Gilmerton were leased to the Benhar Company but that year turned out to be an annus horribilis for the Company as fires and flooding, mainly in their Niddrie pits, caused them financial difficulties. In April of 1880 the NBR#146;s Traffic Committee was considering the debt due by the Coal Company for haulage, and it was remitted to the Manager #145;to make arrangements for the gradual liquidation of the Benhar Coal Company#146;. This took until 1882, when a circular letter was received by the NBR General Manager from the Liquidator stating that an offer had been received for the purchase of the Benhar and Niddrie Collieries for #163;97,500 contingent on the successful floating of a new company and asking the approval of the Creditors. The matter was referred to the NBR Board and the Directors gave formal agreement to the proposal at their meeting on 13 July 1882. The majority of the other Creditors must have done likewise as the Niddrie and Benhar Coal Company Ltd, with a capital of #163;127,500, came into being. When the new Company took possession at Martinmas 1882 the workings at Niddrie were in the lower series of the coal measures with the Cannel Coal seams and the common coals associated with them being worked from Nos 7, 10 and 11 Pits with an aggregate workforce of 254 employed underground and a further 50 surface employees. However, before the Company had been a year in existence an inrush of water from old waste caused stoppage of operations at all the pits; then, in May 1884, a fire in No 7 mine resulted in the death of seven men. Further floodings as well as other difficulties continued to affect production but gradually all were overcome and the pits re-opened. The 1891 mainly Cannel Coal was being worked as there was a large demand for this type of coal from gas works at home, in Europe and even in South America, and this brought about a number of years of considerable prosperity for the Company between 1891 and 1904. However, the introduction of incandescent lighting which had made possible the making of gas from common coal without the need for Cannel coal to enrich it resulted in a huge reduction in the demand for Cannel that it became unremunerative to work it at Niddrie, and mining it was given up in 1911. However, prior to that date, the Company had developed the working of the common coal by taking on new mineral leases at Monkton, Cairnie and Harelaw in 1898 and at Brunstane in 1899 and sinking new pits at Newcraighall in 1897, Woolmet in 1898, also the ill-fated Olivebank in 1898. Newcraighall and Olivebank Collieries will be described under separate headings in the next Part. The working of the common coal continued from the Niddrie Pits, No 11 Pit at Edmonstone and Nos 8, 12 and 13 Pits at the Wisp right up to 1926, the year of the disastrous seven months Miners#146; strike
Following the Miners#146; strike the company found it possible to concentrate operations and obtain the requisite output from their Newcraighall and Woolmet collieries, and so the Niddrie colliery was not re-opened, the pits being officially abandoned in 1926 and 1927
John Grieve took over the Hilltown and Woolmet mineral leases in 1866 after he arrived back at Niddrie in 1862 and, by 1873, his sons J amp; C Grieve were working six pits at Woolmet in addition to one at Edmonstone and one at Niddrie. Woolmet doesn#146;t feature again in mining annals until 1898 when the Niddrie and Benhar Coal Company Ltd began the sinking of a new pit there to extract the coal from the southern part of their mineral leaseholds. The sinking was completed by 1904 and only a small quantity of water was encountered. Could this be because of John Biggar#146;s drainage system? At a depth of 60 fathoms (360 feet/110 metres) the first seam of coal, a four feet thick blackband, which is an excellent house and steam coal, was encountered but, with the average dip of the strata being 1 in 8, it was a very difficult coal to work. The winding machinery installed was capable of raising 1,000 tons of coal per day, and railway sidings were laid down to serve the screes, the sidings being connected to the existing mineral railway to the Company#146;s Edmonstone Nos 9 and 11 Pits at a junction about half a mile to the north of the new colliery. When the new colliery first appeared in the List of Mines in 1903, 108 men were employed underground and 21 persons on the surface. By 1908 the numbers had risen to 393 underground and 61 surface workers and, by 1913, to 750 men underground and 87 surface workers. By that year, the pit had been sunk to 125 fathoms (750 feet/228 metres) and the following seams were being worked #150; fifteen feet, nine feet, Salters, and five feet. The dook haulage was by an endless rope driven by a steam engine on the surface. After the initial sinking when little water was encountered, the ingress of water grew, and amounted to about 30,000 gallons per hour. However, this was dealt with by a Tangye duplex compound condensing steam pump placed near the bottom of the shaft which, with its enormous space, was likened to an underground cathedral. In common with most collieries throughout the United Kingdom, the employment figures dipped through the Great War, as many miners had enlisted in the armed forces and, in 1915, 507 miners were working underground, with 62 surface workers. The employment figures rose again after the Armistice and peaked at Woolmet in 1924 when there were 842 underground and 188 surface workers on the payroll. In 1926, the year of the seven months#146; long Miners#146; strike, the employment figures had fallen to 555 underground workers and 156 surface workers but, by 1929, they were up again to 758 and 187 respectively. The depression of the nineteen thirties hit the coal industry, resulting in a lot of short time working at Woolmet as well as other pits but, by 1936, economic conditions were improving so much that a new mine wdriven at Woolmet, and this now provided the colliery with two means of egress. Up until then the colliery had only one shaft and an air pit which had been driven at 40#176; to the surface at Hilltown, a short distance to the north of Woolmet, in 1923. Other improvements in the inter-war years were the erection of a Simon Carves washer in the nineteen twenties, and the provision of pit-head baths, canteen, first aid room and an ambulance in 1936. In 1937 the employment figures were 744 underground and 189 surface workers. When Woolmet Colliery was in its early years, most of the miners were housed in the Company#146;s dwellings at Newcraighall or in the Jewel Rows at Niddrie, although the Company also had housing at Adamsrow, The Wisp, Cauldcoats, Harelaw and Edmonstone all near to Woolmet. In 1939 a completely new village was built at Newton, closer to the colliery, by the Niddrie and Benhar Coal Company for its workers. The estate was attractively laid out and the houses were built to a good standard compared with the traditional #147;rows#148;. With the outbreak of the Second World War, coal was again in great demand and this time the miners were placed in reserved occupations and not allowed to enlist in the armed forces. In 1943 Woolmet was employing 647 men underground and 184 surface workers, and was producing some 700,000 tons of coal annually. In the year after nationalisation, 1948, there were 619 underground and 192 surface workers employed, but only producing 206,250 tons of coal annually. In 1951 the numbers were 690 underground and 140 surface workers. By this time a lot of the workers had come east from the Lanarkshire coalfield where the coal reserves were diminishing fast. New housing estates were built to accommodate them, a key part being the development of Danderhall in the immediate post-war years as a dormitory town. The 1959 employment figures were slightly up on those of 1951 #150; 700 underground and 160 surface workers - and, by 1963, they had increased further to 819 underground and 146 surface workers, producing 253,000 tons of coal annually. However, with the second Lothian super pit at Monktonhall, just about #190; mile distant to the east of Woolmet, well into its development, the writing was on the wall for Woolmet and the colliery closed in September 1966 and was officially abandoned in the following year. Closure was stated to have been due to difficult and uneconomic working conditions and approaching exhaustion of the coal reserves. All the men were transferred to Monktonhall Colliery where production commenced in 1967. After closure, Woolmet remained intact and was used as a training centre from 1974 to February 1988. A 3#146;-6#148; gauge surface railway was constructed as part of the training facilities, with three 0-6-0 diesel mechanical powered Hunslet-built locomotives, all dating from 1955, employed.
Rail connections at Niddrie The first rail connections to serve the Niddrie pits from the NBR system were put in on 15 April 1875. Niddrie No 2 Pit #150; or the #145;Jewel Pit#146; as it was called locally, taking its name from the Jewel coal which outcropped there, a name which is perpetuated in the district today #150; was situated at NT 315 722 on the north side of the then singled St Leonards branch where it crossed the road from Leith to Dalkeith. The pit was served by a buffer-ended siding laid in at a cost of #163;284/10/1 (#163;284.50) to the Benhar Coal Company, but the colliery and the siding had a short life, the siding being disconnected in May 1877. The second connection on the south side of the St Leonards branch was a double-ended or loop siding to serve the Coal Company#146;s No 1 Pit at NT 310 718 and No 7 Pit at NT 307 713. The cost to the NBR was #163;531/8/1 (#163;531.40) with an added proviso that the Coal Company provide a Locking Frame (to control access to the siding from the main line) when called upon to do so. Until it was formally opened, the NBR charged 2d (1p) per ton for working the traffic. Now that the Niddrie pits were connected to the main NBR system, the Niddrie and Benhar Coal Company began to construct an internal railway system

From our archives: Class J82 No 1250B at Craigentinny Carriage Sidings, 1 July 1924. (W Hennigan collection). 50

Letters. 51
Railways and the law. John McGregor. 51
Re Trevor Jones comments on the Invergarry amp; Fort Augustus Railway: The unwillingness of late 19th century Governments to take a larger view of the 'incomplete' railway system in the Scottish Highlands remains a matter of debate among historians. Though the need for what we've come to call 'joined up thinking' was increasingly aired, the parliamentary committees declined to look beyond the immediate viability of the Iamp;FA as a local line sought by landowners and their sporting tenants, or to probe the vested interests of established railway companies. However I question some of Jones's details and offer a little 'context', 1889-97. Thereafter, in continuing to build their Spean Bridge-Fort Augustus line, authorised in 1896, the Invergarry amp; Fort Augustus were on the path to ruin #151;though the 'ifs' and 'buts' of the ensuing few years made this less obvious at the time than now appears in hindsight.
1) During 1893-4 speculative promotional activity in the Great Glen, orchestrated by engineer Charles Forman, alarmed both the Highland Company and the North British. The would-be promoters discussed the possibility of a 'half-way' scheme to Fort Augustus, along the southern half of the Glen, as sufficient to break the Truce of 1889, after which there would be every chance of engaging either Highland or North British in a new 'through to Inverness' project. The Truce, or Great Glen Agreement, forbad any West Highland advance towards Inverness, creating a new through route from Glasgow, for ten years after completion of the West Highland to Fort William.
2) John Conacher for the North British and Andrew Dougall for the Highland were reluctantly prepared to tolerate Forman's other speculative venture of this time, a link from the West Highland in Glen Spean to the Highland in Strathspey, provided the Great Glen Truce stood. A West Highland Bill for a Loch Laggan line was prepared but not pursued. (The 1889 Truce had left open the Laggan option; for the Highland Railway it was the lesser evil, which might prevent a direct assault on Inverness.)
3) Nervous of North British bad faith, the Highland decided, shortly after the West Highland opened in 1894, to denounce the Truce and promote their own line to Fort William (following the Great Glen all the way but with a connection from Gairlochy to Spean Bridge). The North British at once replied with a 'West Highland Inverness Extension', to diverge west of Roy Bridge and go 'over the hill' into the Great Glen via Invergloy (roughly as the A82 does), with the option of an Auchindaul-Invergloy connection for through running from/to Fort William. The proposed 'Inverness Extension' largely followed Forman's plans of 1893, which the North British now purchased.
4) The Truce was patched up again by February 1895, modified to prevent blocking or otherwise provocative 'half way' schemes from either end of the Glen, and the two Bills were withdrawn.
5) The Invergarry amp; Fort Augustus was promoted independently to break the Truce a second time, set Highland against North British, and open up fresh speculative possibilities. It was indeed locally supported, expressing a frustration dating back to 1889, when the Truce, though resented, had been accepted, as the price of the Highland's ceasing to oppose the West Highland -on the argument that getting a railway to Spean Bridge was at least a first step. Nevertheless the Iamp;FA's very necessary outside capital was forthcoming in the expectation that the investors could sell out profitably, to the Highland or to the North British. In laying out the Iamp;FA, to diverge at Spean Bridge and run via Gairlochy, Forman adopted part of the Highland scheme of 1894-5.
6) When the Iamp;FA won their Act in 1896, there followed the notorious three-sided contest (Iamp;FA, Highland and West Highland-cum-North British) to complete the route to Inverness. In the interval before the three Bills went to Parliament, the Iamp;FA unsuccessfully sought terms for an advantageous sell out -but with the stipulation that a Great Glen line must be built, i.e. neither Highland nor North British were to purchase the Iamp;FA's powers just to hold these in abeyance, blocking the other. (Perhaps cf. here how the North British had no intention of using the West Highland's powers of 1896 for a Ballachulish line, save to block the Caledonian from Fort William and from any say in the Mallaig Extension.)
7) The Highland were prepared to negotiate with the Iamp;FA during 1896-7, lodging their own Bill to fill the Fort Augustus-Inverness gap, while admitting that this was a defensive measure forced upon them and, in effect, a block line. The North British on the whole held aloof, pending the outcome of the triangular contest. In the event Highland and North British realised that the inconclusive result, where no scheme succeeded, suited them both for the time being; but conflict would be renewed when the Fort Augustus line was ready to open.

Junction Bridge station. rear cover
Junction Bridge in 1952. station buildings on Great Junction Street and on the platform are still in place, although station had been closed to passengers in 1947. The service had operated from the east end of Edinburgh Waverley via Abbeyhill, Easter Road and Bonnington to North Leith. Before 1868 the route had been from Canal Street through the Scotland Street tunnel. In NBR days, the station was called #145;Junction Road#146;, but it was renamed by the LNER.
Junction Bridge in 1955, following removal of the platform building and stairway, but with the street level building still in position. Although there are two tracks through the station, passenger trains in both directions used the more easterly track through Junction Bridge to the terminus at North Leith (Leith Citadel in BR days) therefore there was only one platform. The Water of Leith is parallel with the railway at this point.
The site in July 2013. Trees planted when the route of the railway was turned into the Water of Leith Path have flourished, making a view from the same angle as the earlier photographs impossible. The Great Junction Street bridges remain in place, the location of the station building being indicated by the railing at pavement level. Passing through the bridge to the left, the line continued through a short tunnel at Coburg Street to North Leith, with a small mineral yard known locally as #145;The Coalie#146; beyond the bridge on the right.