Merchiston railway station was a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

which served the area of

Merchiston Merchiston ( ) is a residential area around Merchiston Avenue in the south-west of Edinburgh, Scotland. Location Merchiston Avenue is 1.3 miles Southwest of the West End of Edinburgh's principal street, Princes Street. Other areas near Merchi ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, for around eighty years. The station was built by the

Caledonian Railway The Caledonian Railway (CR) was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively extended its network and reached Edinburgh an ...

between 1879 and 1883, with the last passenger service in September 1965. The station was demolished shortly afterwards and the

track bed The track bed or trackbed is the groundwork onto which a railway track is laid. Trackbeds of disused railways are sometimes used for recreational paths or new light rail links. According to Network Rail, the trackbed is the layers of ballast a ...

has become a

footpath A footpath (also pedestrian way, walking trail, nature trail) is a type of thoroughfare that is intended for use only by pedestrians and not other forms of traffic such as motorized vehicles, bicycles and horses. They can be found in a wide ...

. The station was located in the neighbourhood sometimes known as "North Merchiston" but more commonly as Shandon, and typically taken to be part of the area of Polwarth, rather than Merchiston. Merchiston was also served by Craiglockhart railway station to the south-west of the area, on the

North British Railway The North British Railway was a British railway company, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, and from the outset the company followe ...

Edinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Railway The Edinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Railway was a railway company that built an east-west railway (known as the Edinburgh Suburban Line or more familiarly the Sub) on the southern margin of Edinburgh, Scotland, primarily to facilitate ...

Edinburgh- Granton- Haymarket & Leith RJD 27

Construction of the station

The station was constructed between 1879 and 1883 with two platforms and a small overhead footbridge. The station was located around 1 km east of Slateford Station and approximately 2.25 km west of

Princes Street Station Princes Street Station was a mainline railway station which stood at the west end of Princes Street, in Edinburgh, Scotland, for almost 100 years. Temporary stations were opened in 1848 and 1870, with construction of the main station commenci ...

, at the bottom of Place (since renamed Harrison Place).

Closure

The station closed on 6 September 1965 with services to/from Edinburgh Princes Street diverted to Edinburgh Waverley. After closure the first part of the old line from Princes Street Station became the West Approach Road, built in the 1970s . The part of the track occupying the former station at Merchiston is now a footpath, extending to a service road leading west to Slateford Yards.

References

Sources

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External links

Information about Merchiston Station

(via archive.org) {{Transport in Edinburgh Disused railway stations in Edinburgh Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1882 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 Demolished buildings and structures in Scotland Beeching closures in Scotland Former Caledonian Railway stations 1882 establishments in Scotland 1965 disestablishments in Scotland