North British Railway Study Group Journal Number 146

Editorial. 3''
Perhaps the classic NBR cover photograph — an Atlantic coming off the Forth Bridge. In this case, it's No. 510 The Lord Provost with its train. We believe it to be 11.45 Perth to Edinburgh express on 14 July 1922, the last year of the NBR existence, but the locomotive is not carrying a headboard. This locomotive was the subject of an excellent model by Robin McHugh, commissioned by Dugald Cameron, which featured in issue 143 and about which we hope to have more to say soon. Photographer unknown, courtesy of Robin Boog.
This issue of the Journal perhaps has the widest time span yet, including as it does an article on the Tranent & Cockenzie Waggonway, dating from 1722, and one on Reston, with photographs of the new station opened 300 years later, in June 2022.
Our aim is to publish articles that cover the whole range of the NBR's activities, and we would like to encourage contributions about a few subjects that have not had their fair share of attention lately;
—Shipping and ferries;
— Glasgow area;
—Clackmannashire;
—Wagons;
—Infrastructure of all types.
Input about the Grouping would be welcome for our November issue.

NBR Atlantic No. 510 The Lord Provost coming off Forth Bridge.  front cover & p. 4
Believed to be 11.45 Perth to Edinburgh express on 14 July 1922. Locomotive was the subject of an excellent model by Robin McHugh, commissioned by Dugald Cameron, which featured in issue 143. Photographer unknown, courtesy of Robin Boog.

Branch passenger train at Bangour, with 4-4-0T locomotive No. 75. 4. illustration
Locomotive later became part of LNER Class D51. The four employees have posed for photograph, including fireman on the bunker with coal hammer, breaking up large lumps of coal on 4 May 1921. Photo: from Hennigan Collection, courtesy of R.W. Lynn.

Euan Cameron. The Reid 18½-inch goods 0-6-0 locomotives: Part 2.  4-11.
Continued from Journal 145. The first generation of large saturated locomotives designed by W.P. Reid, whether 4-4-0s or 0-6-0s, underwent a relatively similar process of upgrading and modernization under the LNER. Whether one calls this a ‘rebuilding’ or merely a reboilering is a fine point. The fundamental changes entailed the fitting of boilers with superheaters: most of whatever other changes were made to the engines followed from that alteration. In 1914 Reid introduced the first of his 0-6-0s built new with superheaters, the 8 class, later LNER J37 (to be featured in a later article). The future J37 Class, like the later Scotts and the Glens, had piston valves set above the cylinders, actuated by rocking shafts from the Stephenson’s link valve motion. This design change, which resulted in a very high boiler pitch, made the engines built superheated look quite different from those superheated many years after building. The J35s, in contrast, did not look dramatically different from their original appearance once superheated. Since the process of superheating took several decades, it is important to be attentive to details when ‘reading’ photographs of the class from the inter-war period, or when choosing a prototype to model. Superheating In general, locomotive designers in the 20th century preferred to use piston valves rather than slide valves for superheated locomotives. Piston valves allow for a larger port area, other things being equal, than slide valves, as well as placing less strain on the valve gear. However, superheated locomotives with slide valves were not unheard-of in British practice. When R.W. Urie superheated Dugald Drummond’s LSWR 4-4-0s of the T9, S11 and L12 classes, as well as his 700 Class 0-6-0s, in the 1910s-1920s period, slide valves were retained in the superheated versions with apparent success. In the case of the J35 class, locomotives built with outside admission piston valves (the first 18 to be built) were superheated in that condition; but the remainder of the class, built with slide valves, were also left unaltered when superheated.
Slide Valve engines
In fact, it was the later series built with slide valves which were the first to be superheated, by a few years. Cowlairs drawing 5300B (now available from the NRM as OPC series 12742) depicts the engines as altered for superheating. The most visible change was the fitting of essentially the same boiler as had been fitted to the J37s from new, but at the original pitch of 8ft 0in from rail level. The boiler of the superheated goods 0-6-0s, whether J37s or rebuilt J35s, had dimensions as shown in the table on the previous page.
There was a convention among locomotive engineers to calculate heating surfaces to almost absurd accuracies, of hundredths or even thousandths of a square foot. The apparent accuracy of these measurements was somewhat spurious, since they usually ignored the many curved manifold surfaces within boilers, let alone the build-up of residue within boilers in service. The point to note about the J35 boilers is that the 1920s standard layout of tubes and flues with 153 x 113/16-in tubes, derived from the earliest J37s, was replaced in later years with 155 x 1¾-in tubes. (The latter size of tube was much more commonly used on NBR locomotives.)
The interchangeability of the new boilers was taken to the extent that the boilers all had the same dome, the very squat type designed to fit under the loading gauge when the boiler was pitched at the 8-ft 6-iu above rail level standard on the J37s. The J35 chimneys, however, were not altered, simply moved forward by six inches from their original position.
The most visible change to the J35s when superheated was that, to accommodate the superheater header, the smokebox was extended forwards by seven inches. In the case of the slide valve engines, the frames were not extended. Their front overhangs remained 5-ft 4-in ahead of the leading axle, even though the smokebox was considerably longer. The result was that the front of the J35/4s looked rather squat and compressed by comparison with the original design.
Another conspicuous alteration on the frames concerned the lubrication. Superheated boilers send very hot 'dry' steam to the cylinders, which then require lubrication with a highly viscous oil, which will retain its tensile properties at the high temperatures involved. Normal, though not universal, practice was to fit a complex mechanical rotary pump operated by rods taken off the motion, which forced lubricants through a series of pipes to where it was needed. In the case of the J35s the mechanical lubricator was situated on a stand on the right-hand (fireman's) side of the cab, where it was actuated by a series of levers taken off a return crank set on the crank pin of the right-hand rear coupled wheel. The lubricator was not visible externally, but the rods were.
The front sandboxes, which followed the pattern inaugurated with Drummond's goods engines in 1876 with the sandbox incorporated into the front splashers, were not altered as to their operation. The actuating gear and filler caps remained in the original locations. However, a void box was added in front of the real sandbox, to join up with the front spectacle plate. In engines that were very workstained and worn, the seam between the actual and the dummy sandbox extension would at times become visible, and may be seen in some photographs.
However, it was evidently decided that the sandbox at the front of the tender was insufficient for backwards running. A new hopper sandbox was incorporated in the design of the rebuilds to the rear of the central driving axle and below the running plate, similar in appearance and operation to that used on the rebuilt Holmes 18 inch 0-6-0s (the J36 class).
Cowlairs works continued to produce new superheated boilers for the 0-6-0s through the LNER period. There were some mechanically insignificant differences between the different versions. The original GA drawing for the superheated engines shows three 3 inch lock-up safety valves, arranged in a triangular fashion like those on the Atlantics. Indeed, two boilers built for the first superheating exercises did have this layout of safety valves, and the boilers so equipped were passed from engine to engine between the J35 and J37 classes. One such boiler was carried on 64484 between August 1951 and March 1954 (see photo of 64484 in this article). However, an annotation to the GA drawing explained that from 1 July 1923 the safety valves were to be two Ross pop safety valves of 2 inch diameter, and that remained the standard thereafter. While most replacement boilers were made at Cowlairs, an illustrated article published in Railway Gazette International 88f (1948) p. 193, described how Hunslet Engine Co. built a batch of ten boilers for the class in 1947. with a single ring to the barrel rather than the two rings previously used. In all other respects the working dimensions of these boilers were identical to the then standard.
The process of superheating the J35s took many years. The first locomotive to be so treated was NBR No. 200 (still un-renumbered at that point) in April 1923. The last of the slide valve series to be superheated was 9337 in July 1942. Clearly the saturated locomotives were fully satisfactory, such that the process of superheating waited until the saturated boilers wore out.
The part number of J35/4 was issued to cover the superheated locomotives with slide valves. Over time the majority of the class became members of this part.
Piston Valve engines
A separate GA drawing was issued for the superheating of the piston valve locomotives. This was Cowlairs drawing 5312B, carrying OPC Number 12743. The drawing appears to have a place in the Cowlairs drawing office sequence, though no date is legible. The differences between the two series in respect of springs and spring hangers were carried forward into their superheated versions. However, in this drawing the leading and driving bearing springs were replaced with slighter springs of 10 leaves 5-in wide by 5/8-in thick. Improvements in spring steel technology led to the adoption of less massive springs at this period, and though no equivalent change is recorded on the GA of the J35/4 series, it seems not unlikely that these lighter springs were used more generally across the class.
The original front overhang of the frames had been 5' 3" from the front axle centre (coincidentally another dimension which dated back to the Drummond 0-6-0s of 1876). In this case it was felt necessary to add 6" to the front of the frames, enlarging the overhang to 5'9". That extension obviously added 6" to the overall length of the class, though this change, very visible in the General Arrangement, was not reflected in most diagram books. Apart from those changes, the frames and motion of the locomotives were not structurally altered. The boilers fitted to the piston valve J35s were identical to those described above.
The first rebuilding carried out appears to have been that of 849/9849 in 1/1925, which coincided with repainting the locomotive in its new livery and with its new number. There was then a burst of superheating of these engines in the mid-1920s, but the remainder were treated in the first half of the 1930s. The last rebuilding of a piston valve engine was that of 9187 in 12/1936.
Curiously and inexplicably, the L. N. E. R. did not assign a part number to these engines immediately. For some years, the superheated J35/1s were simply marked with a † in the diagram books. In 1937 the superheated piston valve locomotives were finally assigned part number J35/5, which they retained until withdrawal. It will be remembered that given the long time taken to fit superheated boilers, parts 1 and 3 of the class were still very much in service in the early years of the LNER One part number, J35/2, denoting numbers 9329/9330, disappeared early, however. The two engines were given new saturated boilers with the standard 6-ft 4-in long firebox in March 1924 (329) and January 1926 (330). These boilers incorporated the pair into class J35/1. In due course they were superheated, in 1931 and 1935 respectively. However, these engines acquired another oddity. 9329 had the front of its cab cut back by 4-in to resemble the other engines in the class, but retained its longer handrail under the cab, which now reached almost to the very front of the cab. No. 330 kept its original 4-in longer cab side until withdrawal, and is shown in this condition in the drawing presented here. Moreover, 329/30 retained their non-standard spectacle windows, which were 2 inches narrower and located slightly differently than those on the rest of the class.
Brakes
The final series of these locomotives, built from 1910 to 1913, had always been equipped with steam brakes only for unfitted goods traffic, and those remained as built for the rest of their existence.
However, the earlier locomotives, which had all been f itted with Westinghouse, underwent changes which are documented in the data table (in last month’s issue). Vacuum brakes were added to a select number, in most cases around the 1926/7 period. These engines were dual-fitted until the Westinghouse brake equipment was removed. The Westinghouse gear was removed from all engines so fitted, in most cases between c. 1945 and c. 1950. Those engines which had not been vacuum fitted then had steam brake only. The valve for admitting steam to the steam brake equipment could sometimes be seen on the engines so altered as a loop of pipe from a cock on the firebox crown leading back into the cab.
Other detail alterations
The most conspicuous change made to the superheated engines involved the gradual replacement of the original two anti-vacuum (snifting) valves of the N. B. R. pattern just behind the chimney. These were removed and replaced with the larger bulbous Gresley pattern in the same location (shown here in the drawing of 64471) in the 1940s. Gresley snifting valves were fitted to 9038 and 9337 when these engines were first superheated in 12/1941 and 7/1942. Subsequently the Gresley variety was fitted on the remaining locomotives over the next few years (as on other superheated ex-NBR engines).
Some of the locomotives acquired anti-carbonizers (used to enhance the working of the mechanical lubricators). These entailed some complex pipework which was visible on the smokebox sides of some engines from 1944 onwards (see photos of 64484 and 64494 accompanying this article). The dates of fitting this equipment are preserved in Willie Hennigan’s notes, but as there is some controversy over the dates, they are not cited here.
The lamp irons on the smokebox doors were altered under the LNER, when the NBR type was replaced with a variety with a horizontal projection at the bottom. (Incidentally, there was an error in the drawing of 366 in the last issue in this respect: the top lamp iron should have been shown near the top of the smokebox door rather than the top of the smokebox front as on 848 and 330.) Handrails in the form of an arc with two pillars were fitted to the smokebox doors, usually when the locomotives were superheated.
In some cases, rectangular ‘box’ covers to the base of the safety valves replaced the original curved covers. In general, the LNER-built boilers incorporated differing fixtures from the original, including whistles, firebox inspection covers and oval rather than rounded rectangular firehole doors.
Drop grates were fitted to 12 locomotives in the class, nos. 9038, 9127/85/90/97, 9200/2, 9329/30/48/64/72, all between 12/1933 and 7/1935. The control rods for this apparatus could be seen on the right-hand side of the locomotive ahead of the cab, and on the sides of the ashpan. Snow plough attachments on the front buffer beam were fitted to 9059, 9195, 9226, 9337 in the 1940s and to 64462/4/78/9/80/5/9/92 and 64510/15/22/30 under British Railways. Ploughs were fitted and removed as needed, so not all engines carried them at all times. When removed, their absence was marked by rows of vacant bolt holes on the front bufferbeam. Tender cabs were fitted to 64478/9/82/5 and 64526/30. Livery All J35s wore black livery from renumbering in LNER period through to withdrawal.
However, early on under the LNER, there is evidence that some received red lining, especially the Westinghouse-fitted engines which were effectively mixed traffic engines. The red lining did not show up well on most photographic materials then used, so it may have been much more common than the photographs suggest. There is photographic evidence to support the lined livery depicted on 9190 and 9203 in the drawings accompanying this issue.
After c.1929 locomotive running numbers were moved from the tender to the cab sides, where they were slightly cramped, given the short cabs. However, it was not necessary to use smaller than usual numerals, as on some Holmes and Wheatley locomotives.
In 1946 all the locomotives were renumbered 4460-4535 in chronological order, under the scheme introduced in that year. Almost invariably, the new numbers were applied with the original kind of heavily shaded transfer numbers, rather than the new Gill Sans standard. By a curious irony, these humble goods 0-6-0s ‘inherited’ the numbers associated with many of the most famous A1/3 and A4 Gresley Pacifics, including 4462-9 and 4482-4500 (from the A4 class) and 4470-81 (from the A1/ A3 classes).
No. 378 was allocated 4508 but did not carry its new number before withdrawal. At nationalisation, British Railways numbers with 60,000 added to the numbers were carried by most of the class except 4465/7/9, 4481, 4503 which were withdrawn before receiving these numbers. Under British Railways, most of the locomotives were initially lettered in Gill Sans BRITISH RAILWAYS, though some carried their BR numbers while retaining L. N. E. R. lettering on the tenders. At this point, the number 6 was applied in the LNER style, which was not exactly the Eric Gill font: this form of numbers may be seen here on the drawing of 64471. All were in unlined black, and I have seen no evidence that any of the J35s acquired lined black livery.
Thereafter most of the surviving locomotives acquired the first B. R. insignia, along with conventional Gill Sans numbering. Usually it was the small ‘lion-on-unicycle’ emblem that was applied, though around 1950 Nos. 64476 / 64487 had a very large emblem applied, more appropriate to the tender of an express pacific locomotive. This emblem nearly filled the vertical space available on the tender tank side, and would make an interesting talking point on a model.
The later BR emblem, sometimes known facetiously as the ‘red ferret and dartboard’, is known to have been carried by 64464 (as overhauled and repainted at Inverurie 8/1957), also 64468/78/80/9, 64510/18/19/35. As these numbers are taken from surviving photographs, there may have been other instances not noted for this article. Several of the engines so decorated received the ‘unauthorised’ version of the transfer on the right-hand side of the tender, where the red lion faced to the right. By an administrative error, BR failed to secure approval of this version of the design from the College of Arms, only the left-facing lion having been approved. The Scots railway works were, however, too canny to waste the non-approved transfers.
Allocations and Work
As first built, these locomotives were the premier goods engines on the North British, though they lost their status as the most powerful class to the superheated 19½” goods (the later J37 class) when those appeared. However, the saturated and later the superheated J35s continued to be used on a variety of demanding turns, including long-distance goods operations across the system. They tended to congregate on the Eastern side of Scotland: the largest allocations were at St Margaret’s, Dundee and Thornton, though comparable numbers were allocated to Eastfield and Carlisle. One interesting allocation was 191/9191, assigned to Berwick-on-Tweed, and then moved to Tweedmouth when the Berwick shed closed. Thereafter it was treated as a North Eastern area locomotive, and worked in the Northumberland area and the Borders until 1939. Over time more engines were allocated to Kipps, Bathgate and Dunfermline where they worked on secondary and branch lines. Under British Railways, two were allocated to Kittybrewster in the North-East. Towards the end of their existence the J35s were seen on interesting branch and minor workings. 64501 was photographed on a short passenger train at Cambus on the Stirling and Dunfermline route. Several J35s including 64478 were seen on the Lochty branch in East Fife.
Several were used on railtours towards the end of their existence. On 11 June 1960 No. 64489, cleaned to within an inch of its life, worked a railtour around the Lothian branches visiting Smeaton, Ormiston, the Haddington branch and the Gullane branch, with a train of mostly ex-LNER carriages in BR. maroon. As noted in the caption to a photograph here, 64510 helped with a railtour on 25 August 1962, taking the train on to St Leonard’s yard where the passengers decamped for photographs, with splendid indifference alike to the absence of a platform or to any safety considerations.
Withdrawal
Apart from the handful of examples withdrawn in the 1940s, most of the J35s lasted until the late 1950s or early 1960s. Most were withdrawn between 1959 and 1962, with no regard evidently paid to their respective ages: the class was withdrawn from service more or less in a block. One of the last survivors was 64510, withdrawn November 1962; one account suggests that 64491 lingered to the next month, though the records checked for this article do not support that. In effect, the J35s lasted until the arrival of the first generation of diesel locomotives. They were outlasted by the most durable of the J36s and J37s, but still had a long run in useful service, despite the relentless hard use and unglamorous nature of the work they were called on to do.
Illustrations:

Alan Simpson. West Fife Collieries & the NBR: Part 12 — The Lassodie Colliery. 10-19.
The area described lies in the western part of the parish of Beath, south-west of the town of Kelty, north of Loch Fitty and west of the present day M90 motorway. There was at one time a thriving village of Lassodie which housed the workforce of the nearby pits of the colliery; by the early 1900s it had a population of over 1400, a primary school, church, pub, and village hall. It no longer exists; it is now a "lost village" obliterated by opencast mining operations. The various pits which comprised the Lassodie colliery were worked by the Fife firm of coalmasters, Thomas Spowart & Co. Ltd ("˜TS"), throughout the period covered in this article. TS (which was a private limited company with various pits in west Fife) was never absorbed by other coal mining companies (such as the Fife Coal Co.) but remained independent until nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947. By then, the entire Lassodie group of pits had long since closed and Spowart's formerly extensive mining operations in west Fife had been reduced to a small colliery (Leadside Pit) at Wellwood, on the northern outskirts of Dunfermline. However, this pit closed soon after nationalisation Alan Simpson continues his review of West Fife collieries Map 1: The location of Lassodie. NBR / LNER / BR lines are shown in dark red, and relevant private mineral lines in green. Extracted from Ordnance Survey 1 Inch to the Mile map, ˜Sheet 40, Kinross Black Outline Edition, 1903-1912. Surveyed 1853-63, revised 1903-4, published 1906. Map 1: The location of Lassodie. NBR / LNER / BR lines are shown in dark red, and relevant private mineral lines in green. Extracted from Ordnance Survey 1 Inch to the Mile map, 128; Sheet 40, Kinross’ ‑ Black Outline Edition, 1903-1912. Surveyed 1853-63, revised 1903-4, published 1906. Original scale 1:63,360 Map 2: A more detailed view of Lassodie. NBR / LNER / BR lines are shown in dark red, and relevant private mineral lines in green. Extracted from Ordnance Survey 1 Inch to the Mile map, ˜Sheet 40, Kinross Third Edition, coloured, 1903-1912. Surveyed 1853-63, revised 1903-4, published 1907. Map 3: The junctions at Lassodie. Extracted from Ordnance Survey 25 Inch to the Mile map, Fifeshire, Sheets XXXIV.6 and XXIV.10. Re-surveyed 1895, revised 1913, published 1915. Original scale 1:2500, Map 4: Lassodie in the late 1950s. Extracted from Ordnance Survey 6 Inch to the Mile map, NT19SW. Surveyed / revised Pre-1930 to 1958, publihed 1959.
Workforce statistics for year 1910 for Thomas Spowart & Co. Ltd Name of colliery Below ground Above ground Total Elgin & Wellwood 224 46 270 Lassodie 516 142 658 Total 740 188 928 Workforce statistics for year 1920 for Thomas Spowart & Co. Ltd Elgin & Wellwood (Leadside Pit) 130 38 168 Elgin & Wellwood (Arthur Pit) 111 22 133 Elgin & Wellwood (Leadside Mine) 37 10 47 Total for Elgin & Wellwood group 278 70 348 Lassodie 430 127 557 Grand Total 708 197 905 Workforce statistics for year 1933 for Thomas Spowart & Co. Ltd Elgin & Wellwood: Leadside 250 50 300 Source: Home Office List of Mines.

Locomotives operated by TS

Source: Alan Bridges, Industrial Locomotives of Scotland, Market Harborough: Industrial Railway Society, 1976. vi, 296pp, 64pp of plates

John Wilson. Evidence of the North British Railway in Edinburgh. 20-4.
Describes some remaining features of the NBR in the Edinburgh area. Apart from the obvious presence of the North British Railway in the operational railway in Edinburgh, the former railway is evident in conversions of trackbeds into walkways and cycleways, and some former stations, the most discernible being Leith Citadel, Trinity, Bonnington, Pinkhill and Joppa. There are also remnants of tracks in the Leith Docks area. There are however other features worth attention. A plaque at Old Moray House in the Canongate might lead to a view of presence there by the NBR, but there is no evidence of use of Old Moray House as an address in the Minutes of meetings of Promoters and Shareholders, 1842-1844 (NRS BR/ NBR/1/1) and Minutes of meetings of Shareholders and Directors, 1844-1846 (NRS BR/NBR/1/2). Donald Cattanach and Allan Rodgers, Waverley Station a history Part 1, Journal 118, March 2013, state (having written of Trinity Hospital on page 24) in footnote 18, page 29: There was still a number of inmates in Trinity Hospital, and the NBR purchased Lord Moray's House (Moray House) in the Canongate as a new Hospital. However, the Town Council offered to accept a cash payment in lieu, and Moray House was sold. Though that explains adequately, Donald Cattanach, at a time of interrupted access to records, has allowed me to understand from his comprehensive research on the subject that acquisition of Moray House was the subject of protracted negotiation from 1844 to 1846 by the North British Railway directors, and which included a need to pay compensation to a tenant for being obliged to remove from Moray House. Although the plaque states that it was purchased from the NBR in 1848, the NBR Minutes record that it was on 21 October 1846 that the Directors decided to sell it for £2,500.
At Trinity House Maritime Museum in Kirkgate, Leith, there is a station bench identified as from South Leith. Though appearing of NBR origin it is not painted with historical accuracy. In August 2020 Historic Environment Scotland responded to me that their database had no record of the history of its acquisition. There may be members who have an understanding of the history of this bench and can provide information on its origins. The Canmore database of Ancient Monuments persists in stating (at the date of writing) that the station "closed to regular traffic on 1 July 1903" — which is when Leith Central opened. Journal 78, Autumn 2000, is the one other source I have seen conveying that information — in a brief item W Rhind Brown wrote that the Railway Magazine, May 1930, quoting the LNER Magazine, March 1930, stated: "In 1903, with the advent of the Leith Central branch and station, the Portobello-South Leith line was closed for passenger traffic, and South Leith ceased to be used as a passenger station. Several writers state that the service was withdrawn at the end of 1904, and although a writer may replicate what another has written, the following conveys what can reliably be stated. The Study Group North British Railway List of Stations with opening and closing dates from 1828 to 2003 taken from North British Railway Register of Stations Routes and Lines written by Study Group member David Lindsay, gives: South Leith NB: 01.10.1859 - 02.01.1905 - Opened on site of Leith E&D. The RCHS Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain: a Chronology, September 2021 (Newsletter 141 (November 2020) drew attention to the previous edition), states on South Leith a "last two way service in Brad April 1904 (three trains each way); May to September three to Leith only; October and November one to Leith; still present December, but no trains shown. That suggests the service was withering away because of lack of demand, with the date of 2 January 1905 when cessation was formalised. Archivist Ed McKenna commented to me in October 2020 that he found an item referring to changes to the Portobello to South Leith train service in December 1904 but giving no indication that all such services were to be withdrawn which, as he said, confirms that the service was not withdrawn in 1903. He said: ˜There was a report dated 10 January 1905 on a Leith Town Council meeting at which the subject of doubling the Portobello / South. Leith line was discussed and the Town Clerk instructed to enquire as to the NBR obligation in respect of passenger services on the line. No follow-up reported. Justifiably understood as prompted by action which had just occurred, this corroborates the withdrawal date of 2 January 1905 the date indeed stated by Douglas Yuill in Journal 145, page 34. South Leith was the terminus of the Leith branch of the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway. (Douglas Yuill described the branch in The South Leith Branch: Part 1, in Journal 144 [see in particular pages 33-35]). One section of the line authorised by the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway Company Act of 4 June 1829 was that alongside the Public Road from Niddrie to Leith, to the Westward of which the said Branch Railway is to be carried. Although it is difficult now to visualise the original line's appearance in that area, it is possible to illustrate what would have been visible from the line as it crossed the Figgate Burn. In 1974 I was able to photograph the west side of the parapet of the road bridge carrying what had become Baileyfield Road and an inscription in its stonework, which reads: Abercorn Bridge Erected 1826 by the Trustees of the Post Road District Sir John Hope of Craighall Bart. Convener. It is difficult to understand from structures there now from where exactly I was able to view that. I also illustrate the other side of the road bridge in 1970 and the disused bridge which carried the siding into Wood's Bottle Works, the location of these industrial premises part of very wide change since then, especially with significant residential development. From Gorgie East (Gorgie till May 1952) there was a ½ mile siding to the Gorgie Cattle Market at Chesser, owned by The bench at Trinity House, Leith, on 27 September 2015. Photograph: Author A view of the bridge carrying Baileyfield Road on 1 January 1974, showing the inscription. Photograph: Author Infrastructure 22 North British Railway Study Group Journal No. 146 July 2022 the NBR Laundry was situated, opposite the site of Joppa Station [4]. Donald Cattanach and Allan Rodgers, Waverley Station & A History, Part 6, Journal 137, July 2019, state (page 26), writing of the North British Hotel, that ‘the hotel laundry at Brunstane Road, Joppa, had cost well over 500k&. In footnote 16, page 41, they state that a tender was accepted in June 1902 to build the laundry, adding that a motor lorry was hired to transport the laundry baskets, and that &athe laundry also dealt with sleeping car bed-linen from nnearby Craigentinny carriage depot NOTES 1. I am grateful to Donald Cattanach also for other comments assisting the preparation of this article; ; 3. The RCHS Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain: a Chronology, states ˜used by Cavalry Regiments, their families and horses when being moved from one barracks to another; e.g. 7 November 1928 (Scotsman 8th), 22 October 1933 (ibid 23rd), 1 November 1935 (ibid 2nd), 2 May 1939 (Edinburgh Evening News 2nd). Probably also much used for smaller detachments: LNE Supplementary Advice of Special Trains has uses 2, 5 and 9 August 1930 – last two for the Trick Riding Team of the 16/5th Lancers. On Gorgie East the RCHS states use on ˜21 May 1969, special train for Household Cavalry during a Royal Visit to Edinburghwhich may have also included use of the siding; 4. Journal 120, November 2013, on the rear cover, included photographs by Andrew Boyd of Joppa station as it was in August 2013. The building shown survives in 2022. In drawing attention to that item, it is worth adding that Journal 121 clarified the photo of NI5 69146 at Joppa with information on its previous publication, but without stating that it was a photograph by George Staddon in August 1957. George Staddon's photos became held by Neville Stead and, though a consequence of actions such as sale of prints in early years, with photos being in more than one collection, attribution to the photographer is desirable when known. The bridge carrying Baileyfield Road with the railway bridge carrying the siding into Wood's Bottle Works behind, in February 1970. The gradient on the branch is quite evident. The buildings of Portobello, including St. James's Church, are in the distance and power lines from Portobello Power Station are on the right. Photograph: Author A close-up view of the inscription on the bridge, taken on 14 Aptil 1974. Photograph: Author Edinburgh Corporation but worked by the NBR. There was also some use of it by cavalry regiments from Redford Barracks [3]. The Strathspey Railway Association, Strathspey Express Summer 2020, recalled that volunteers had recovered some of the track from the siding in 1976, mainly undertaken on a number of midweek summer evenings under the leadership of Donald Cattanach. Part of the extent of this is now a walking and cycle path. On another section housing was recently built, and there is a recollection of the siding in the name ‘Sidings Way’ used for the street through the housing west from Hutchison Crossway. For a longer time there has been in Joppa the use of the name, Joppa Station Place, at a modern residential development at Brunstane Road where Infrastructure North British Railway Study Group Journal No. 146 July 2022 23 Top: A map extract showing the location of Gorgie siding. Extracted from Ordnance Survey 25 Inch to the Mile map, Edinburghshire III.10, revised: 1932, published: 1933, re-sized for publication in the Journal. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland – please see note on page 2. Above and right: The walkway and cycle path on the trackbed of the former Gorgie Siding, viewed (left) from its west end at Hutchison Crossway and (right) in the other direction, looking west towards the housing, in July 2020. Photograph: Author To mineral depot at Chesser Avenue Hutchison Crossway Slateford Road Gorgie Road Gorgie (East) Station Suburban Line Gorgie Siding Infrastructure 24 North British Railway Study Group • Journal No. 146 • July 2022 Above: A map extract showing the location of Joppa Station and the LNER (formerly NBR) Laundry. Also shown is part of the singleline Lothian Railways or Lothian Lines, described by Douglas Yuill elsewhere in this issue of the Journal. Extracted from Ordnance Survey 25 Inch to the Mile map, Edinburghshire IV.6, revised 1932, published 1934, re-sized for publication in the Journal. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland please see note on page 2. Left: Here we see Joppa Station Place, off Brunstane Road. This street is on the site of the NBR Laundry, a little to the west of the former Joppa Station. The general view was taken on 4 August 2013, and the detail of the street name on 27 January 2022. Photographs: Author Lothian Lines Waverley Route NBR / LNER
Illustrations (all colour images taken by author or maps): plaque at Old Moray House, on 21 October 2013; Old Moray House, on 21 October 2013, showing location of plaque to left of doorway; bench at Trinity House, Leith, on 27 September 2015; bridge carrying Baileyfield Road with the railway bridge carrying the siding into Wood‘s Bottle Works behind, in February 1970. The gradient on the branch is quite evident. The buildings of Portobello, including St. James's Church, are in the distance and power lines from Portobello Power Station are on the right; map extract showing location of Gorgie siding (from Ordnance Survey 25 inch to mile Edinburghshire III.10, revised: 1932, published 1933); walkway and cycle path on trackbed of former Gorgie Siding, viewed (left) from its west end at Hutchison Crossway and (right) in other direction, looking west towards housing, in July 2020; map extract showing location of Joppa Station and the LNER (formerly NBR) Laundry; Also shown is part of the single-line Lothian Railways or Lothian Lines, described by Douglas Yuill (map extract from Ordnance Survey 25 inch to mile Edinburghshire IV.6, revised 1932, published 1934); Joppa Station Place, off Brunstane Road. Street is on site of NBR Laundry, a little to west of former Joppa Station. (general view taken on 4 August 2013, and detail of street name on 27 January 2022.

Clyde steamers. 25.
Jeanie [sic] Jeannie Deans constructed in 1931 at Fairfield Shipbuiling and Engineering Company to compete with LMS turbine steamers like Duchess of Montrose; Lucy Ashton constructed in 1888 by T.B. Seath of Rutherglen. Intended to be scrapped in 1914, but kept in service until 1949; Kenilworth launched on 22 February 1898 at A. & J. Inglis at Pointhouse, Glasgow. Normlly operated Craigendoran to Rothesay services. Stationed at Troon during WW1.

Douglas Yuill. The South Leith Branch. Part 3. 26-37.
Most of this part is abouut the constructin of the Lothian Lines which required agreements with the Caledonian Railway to meet the requiremnnts of the Coalmasters to convey their coal more efficiently to Leith for export. Illustratins are mainly of maps plus late photographs of the Lines in use under British Railways. Extract from Plan drawn up in connection with the Agreement between the CR and NBR for the sale of land at Seafield in 1912. Shows the proposed connection at Lochend in the NBR Scheme of July 1912 confirmed in their amended Lothian Railway Scheme of November 1912 as Railway No. 1. In the event, the loop was not constructed
The same plan shows yet another proposed connection between the NBR South Leith Branch at Seafield and the CR yard at South Leith superimposed on it. No written evidence of this connection has been uncovered but it too was not constructed.
Ordnance Survey map of 1901 showing the railways of the Coalmasters' amended scheme of 1912. Original scale 1 inch to 1 mile (1:63,360), re-sized for publication in the Journal
A diagram showing the Lothian Lines (in bold) in relation to other N. B. R. lines in the area. Courtesy of the late A. A. (Sandy) Maclean
Two 0-6-2T N15 class locomotives, Nos. 69141 and 69173, hauling a train of imported coal along Railway No. 2 of the Lothian Lines between Seafield Junction and Meadows signal boxes. The doubled South Leith branch lines are to the left. The coaling bench at Seafield Shed is to the right of 68173's bunker. Photograph courtesy of J.L. Stevenson
Although this image has been published before in NBRSG Journal No. 85 it is, I believe,worthwhile repeating [KPJ: image not found]. Looking north-west from the Fillyside Road bridge towards Leith Docks Lothian Line No. 3, connecting into the C. R. / L. M. S. R. at Seafield Road Junction, now singled, is to the left while Lothian Line No. 5, conecting into the former South Leith line by No. 4 and into Line No. 2 at the twin bridges diverges to the right. Meadows siding, really just a headshunt for Meadows yard, lay to the left of Line No. 4. Photogrph: M. B. Smith
Class N15 0-6-2T No. 69149 hauling a train of coal empties from Seafield to Meadows Yard along Railway No. 5 of the Lothian Lines, and passing Meadows signal box on 26 April 1954. The bridge carrying Seafield Road across the railway and which replaced the notorious Seafield Level Crossing forms the backdrop. Photograph: Author's Collection A now familar 0-6-2T, N15 class 69186, passing Niddrie North Junction signal box on Lothian Line No. 6 heading for Niddrie West with a train which includes at least seven peaked roof vans belonging to Leith General Warehousing and carrying grain inported at Leith and consigned probably for the North British Distillery at Gorgie. Photograph: Author’s Collection
These views are of freight trains on Lothian Line No. 7, the ‘main line’ of the system. Starting from the South Leith Branch at Portobello it ran for 3 miles 3 furlongs and 5·36 chains to link in to the branch line from Monktonhall Junction to Ormiston and Macmerry, with Lothian Line No. 12 affording a connection to and from the main East Coast line at Monktonhall. The sketch map of the system shows the details. Top: This image shows 4-6-0 B1 class No. 61308 approaching Wanton Walls on 7 May 1960, on a down ECML. freight heading for South Leith. All three locomotives were typical of the class of motive power employed on E. C. M. L. freight duties. Photograph: W Stuart Sellar Centre: Here we see an unidentified V2 passing Wanton Walls signal box on 17 May 1960 with a down ECML freight for South Leith. The line in the right foreground is Line No. 11 in the system, heading towards Niddrie West and its marshalling yards. Photograph: W Stuart Sellar Bottom: This image depicts a 2-6-0 class K3 No. 61987 at Niddrie North Junction on 17 October 1955 with a down ECML. freight heading for South Leith. Photograph: W Stuart Sellar

Peter Mullen. Railway accident inquiries of the North British Railway. 38-47.
Describes the history and background and provides a useful and probably comprehensive listing of accidents. Illustrations: aftermath of an accident — locomotive No. 524 after falling from the Almond Viaduct at Todd's Mill, near Birkhill on the Bo'ness branch, on 28 November 1890. Photograph: A G Ellis Collection, courtesy of Hamish Stevenson Part of the scene after the Burntisland accident of 14 April 1914. NBR Atlantic No. 872 Auld Reekie is in the foreground, with its tender upside down behind it, and recovery efforts under way. Photographer: unknown, photograph courtesy of Hamish Stevenson

Richard Copson. Melancholy and fatal catastrophe — four lives lost . 48-
Article from Caledonian Mercury, Edinburgh, of Monday 2 December 1844.

Andrew Boyd.  Alterations at Portobello East in 1971: a postscript offers some further comment, following up the article in Journal 144.54-5.
Despite the weather on the Sunday morning being wet he took the opportunity to observe from the over-bridge across the running lines east of Niddrie West Junction the passage of the diverted 11.00 Edinburgh Waverley to London Kings Cross (1E07). The train, formed mainly of early BR Mk 2 coaches and hauled by a BR class 47 diesel locomotive, No. 1991, was brought to a stand at the junction, before proceeding at low speed on to the connecting spur via the former Wanton Walls Junction towards Monktonhall Junction, where it would rejoin its normal route over the former NBR main line to Berwick. The colour photographs that I attempted to take that morning may not reproduce well. Instead, in order to illustrate the scene, indebted to Bill Jamieson for allowing us to reproduce on the next page two of his photographs taken at the same location the previous year in better weather and showing more typical traffic movements on this route.

Andrew Boyd. Reston revisited. 56-7
takes a further look at the station, which opened in May, following the article in Journal 145.
An Up East Coast passenger train in 1924, passing what was to become almost a century later the site of the new (2022) station at Reston. The train is hauled by an unidentified former NER Atlantic locomotive piloted by former NBR 4-4-0 (LNER class D31) No. 9734. Although not a very sharp image, we have included this photograph for its rarity value. Note in the far distance Reston Junction signal box. An unidentified former NER 0-6-0 (LNER Class J21) departs from Reston in September 1930 with a passenger train for Duns or St Boswells, presumably having propelled the train from the outer face of the island platform which served as the branch platform. Photographer: A A Torrance, from the Hennigan Collection courtesy of R W Lynn. The 11.37 Edinburgh to Berwick-upon-Tweed train calls at Reston on 3 June 2022. Operated by TPE and formed of a bi-mode class 802 unit working under diesel power, the train was running about 30 minutes late, its departure from Edinburgh having been delayed by a crew restoring issue. Upper left: The new (2022) Reston station on 3 June 2022 showing some adjacent site work still underway. This photograph was taken not far from the same spot as the 1924 image, namely from the vicinity of under-bridge ECM8 /143 (described as Haughhead) looking north-west. The under-bridge carries the main line over a minor public road leading from Reston towards Chirnside. Lower left: A closer view of the new station, again from near under-bridge ECM8 /143 on 3 June 2022. Photographs on this page are all by the author

John McGregor. Tracks around Linlithgow: a different railway history. Linlithgow Civic Trust, 2021. 104 pp. Reviewed by John Yellowlees. 58-9.
Dr John McGregor writes that this book attempts to repay a dozen happy and fulfilling years in Linlithgow by adding a little to the several specialist local histories already in print: but in no way does it challenge their authors, all of whom are more deeply grounded in the community. The book also exemplifies a theme that railway records are a valuable and underexploited source for social and economic history.
In amply-illustrated pages he tells us how the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway came to town, and then looks back to the chain of early lines which straggled across the high ground of Central Scotland. He takes us up the Causewayend incline and down to Bo’ness, and perhaps his greatest service is to provide a specially-drawn plan of the Causewayend Basin which has helped your reviewer make sense of the abutments and other fragments that he saw during a recent visit.
Conservative by the latest railway standards, the E&G echoed both canal and waggonway practice. However, from 1847 the directors bowed to Gladstone’s Act and phased out their ‘open’ rolling-stock – general-purpose wagons which had neither seats nor internal partitions, no handrails, no straps on which to hold. In that year too they looked to adopt Greenwich Mean Time. John finds an inconsistency in Board decisions: in 1848 with Scotland’s potato famine at its worst, they declined to issue concession tickets for 'medical assistants travelling to the Highlands; yet in 1850 the Edinburgh Branch of the Benevolent Strangerrs Society secured a reduced rate for 'destitute parties'. In 1863 the Board made no subscription to Glasgow's proposed Prince Albert memorial; but they agreed to mark the marriage of the Prince of Wales and contribute to the cost of illuminations in both cities — John wonders whether these spelt excursion traffic. Combined into the Monkland Railway, Slamannan line trains descended a 1 in 22 cable-worked inclined plane to reach the Union Canal at Causewayend Basin. With the decline of interchange there following the opening of the E&G, the latter sponsored a link to Manuel where crossing on the level to reach the port of Bo’ness entailed two reversals, so the Monkland agreed to fund an alternative route from Causewayend piercing the E&G embankment at Manuel. The original link was put out of use for a few years, but increasing traff ic prompted its return for freight. Intriguing railway archaeology remains of this complex, unlike lightly-engineered lines east of Linlithgow.
Fame as the first station in the world to be photographed seems not to have been matched by much mutual affection. Local matters at intermediate stations were left to the general manager, to departmental heads and to directors’ sub-committees, and did not often receive the lordly attention of the full E&G board. Linlithgows protracted action against the railway, who contested any obligation to pay bridge and burgh customs on traffic across the River Avon, led to verdicts in the Council's favour from the Court of Session and the House of Lords, but they were nonplussed when it returned to the Lords, with final victory in 1859 to the E&G and no award of costs which left the town’s finances in ruins. As a destination for family parties, Linlithgow did not join conspicuously in the 'no Sabbath trains' campaign of the 1840s, but suffered upper-class misbehaviour when meetings of the West Lothian Hunt began and ended in the railway-owned Star and Garter Hotel, with the station bell regularly stolen and on the return journey to Edinburgh coach upholstery, fittings and upholstery all suffered. With nine weekday trains each way by 1845, John says that then as now passengers experienced cancellations, delays or misinformation and yet in 1850 the Edinburgh Branch of the Benevolent Strangers Society secured a reduced rate for ‘destitute Book review
sometimes found redress hard to seek. Operation was by time-interval, which seems hazardous but was seldom to blame if the regulations were scrupulously observed. At Winchburgh in 1862 loose adherence combined with honest error brought on disaster, and at Manuel in 1874 the rules were flagrantly broken just as the line was being re-equipped for absolute block. Opening of the Forth Bridge brought about an NB route between Glasgow and Aberdeen via the Bridges, and other features that are passing out of memory include shale-oil traffic, Bo'ness as other than today's heritage railway (the NB provided a new passenger station there in 1881, in contrast to the long history of make-do-and-mend at Linlithgow, but the port was in decline relative to Grangemouth) and the nightly procession of goods trains. John gives us a postscript in the form of a note on Scotland’s later railway history, and an appendix offers extracts from company minutes. In his summary of station openings and closures is almost the book’s only error, for Bathgate-Airdrie was not dismantled as stated after passenger closure but continued in freight use until British Leyland's decline allowed it to become a sacrificial victim in the aftermath of the flexible rostering dispute in 1982. We should be grateful to John for taking time out from his usual West Highland territory to give us a tale of railway history that is refreshingly different because instead of being an end-to-end account of a route it radiates out from an intermediate town. His illustrations are a delight, notably a drawing [by Allan Rodgers – see Journal 139] of the special van which in 1872 conveyed The Scotsman newspaper to Glasgow, and his Exploration Map of the Causewayend Basin is a valuable addition to our understanding of Scotland’s industrial archaeology.

Rob Stout:  St. Andrews feedback. 59; rear cover
Relocation of the photograph from the archives thought to be at St Andrews station in Journals 144 and 145: The building in the background is the Goods Office/Weigh House at the entrance to St. Andrews Links Goods Station. A photo of the building with its large window facing onto the weighbridge appears in the background on page 245 of The St. Andrews Railway by Andrew Hajducki, Michael Jodeluk and Alan Simpson (Oakwood Press). A larger copy of this same photo by Nigel Dyckhoff also appears in an issue of Railway Bylines. Attached is an extract from an NCAP aerial photo showing the Goods Office and Shed at the Links and a rear view of the Goods Office from the St. Andrews University photo collection with students awaiting the arrival of a dignitary in 1939. (These photographs are reproduced overleaf.) From Brian Malaws: May I add further comments to those of Brian Macdonald (Journal 145) on the photograph of staff at St Andrews reproduced on page 3 of Journal 144? As far as I am aware, and as Brian points out, there never was a weighbridge at the passenger station and this is confirmed by the available large-scale map evidence and my memory of the station. However, there were three at the nearby goods station. According to OS 25in map Fifeshire IX.9, revised 1893, published 1895, there were two weighbridges at the south end of the yard, one on each side of the running lines. The relationship of the deck to the building in both cases does not agree with the photo, as looking head on at the weighbridge building across the deck, the photo shows that the deck stops almost in line with the building on the left hand side, whereas on the map the ends of both buildings are aligned with the right hand side of the deck. On the later edition map, revised 1912, published 1914, the west weighbridge appears to have been replaced (after 1893) and the map depiction of this shows the end of the building is aligned with the left hand side of the deck, suggesting that this could well be the one in the photo. Supporting this is the pristine appearance of the brickwork and windows, which fits well with the map revision date of 1912 and the suggested date for the photo of c.1910. Readers may recall that, in Journal 144, we published the photograph below which we described as believed to have been taken at St. Andrews. Brian Macdonald kindly offered further comment, which we published in Journal 145, but we are pleased to have had additional feedback from Rob Stout and Brian Malaws which is published below.

Students awaiting the arrival of a dignitary in 1939. St. Andrews University photo collection, courtesy of Rob Stout./Extract from an NCAP aerial photo showing the Goods Office and Shed at the Links. St. Andrews University photo collection, courtesy of Rob Stout. A rear view of the Goods Office