Xenophon PCDGS
Veteran Member
Just a quick note to all, to say I am much better now than I was early this morning. It must have been a 24-hour bug and during the day I have caught up with all the sleep that I missed last night.
Portobello (2nd station - 1846 to 1964)
Portobello
Just a quick note to all, to say I am much better now than I was early this morning. It must have been a 24-hour bug and during the day I have caught up with all the sleep that I missed last night.
I think clarification is needed here. On the line that we are currently on, the Edinburgh and Hawick Railway, there was an earlier Portobello station, which was opened in July 1832 and closed in 1846.
The other similarly named Portobello station was the one on the North British Railway main line and is usually referred to when a journey is named as such.
Sherriffhall
A quick note on Portobello. The first station (1832 to 1846) was built by the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway on a route which ran from South Leith more or less in a straight line to Niddrie West Junction on its way to Dalkeith. In the early 1840s the NBR built the Edinburgh to Berwick main line which crossed the E&DR on an overbridge. A little later the NBR obtained an Act for the the Edinburgh & Hawick Railway which (on this initial section of its route) ignored the E&DR line, diverging from the NBR main line about half a mile further east and running southward via Newcraighall and Niddrie to join the E&DR route at Niddrie South Junction. On the NBR main line between the E&DR crossing and the E&HR junction was built the second Portobello station (1846 to 1964), used by main line trains and Dalkeith/Hawick trains. The E&DR route between Portobello and Niddrie appears to have been retained for a while (presumably for freight from South Leith) but based on OS maps was closed and lifted between 1860 and 1890.
So - our route via the Edinburgh & Hawick Railway would have passed Portobello 2nd station, but not Portobello 1st station, If we had been routed via the Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway it would have been the other way round.
Glenesk
Dalhousie
The other similarly named Portobello station was the one on the North British Railway main line, situated at Station Brae, off Southfield Place, and is usually referred to when a journey is named as such.
Are you saying that the NBR site at Station Brae, off Southfield Place was also the site of the E&DR earlier station? I have had two people assuring me this was not the case.
No - the two sites were separate. The following map extract (which I have marked up) should make the situation clear, I hope. The second station was indeed off Southfield Place, but since it was on the NBR main line between Edinburgh and the junction of the E&H, our journey would have passed it.
View attachment 67190
Fushiebridge