East Linton railway station

East Linton railway station served the village of East Linton in Scotland between 1846 and 1964. It was on the main line of the North British Railway.

East Linton
East Linton station site in July 1997
LocationEast Linton, East Lothian
Scotland
Coordinates55.9856°N 2.6579°W / 55.9856; -2.6579
Grid referenceNT590771
Platforms2
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyNorth British Railway
Pre-groupingNorth British Railway
Post-groupingLondon and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
22 June 1846 (1846-06-22)Station opened as Linton
December 1864Renamed East Linton
4 May 1964 (1964-05-04)Station closed

History

The main line of the North British Railway, between Edinburgh (North Bridge) and Berwick-upon-Tweed, was authorised either on 4 July 1844[1] or on 19 July 1844,[2] and opened to the public on 22 June 1846.[3][1][4] One of the original stations was Linton, which was flanked by Drem towards Edinburgh and Dunbar towards Berwick.[5] The initial service was of five trains each way on weekdays, and two on Sundays.[3]

The main line ran roughly east–west through Linton.[6] East Fortune station, between Drem and Linton, opened c. 1849.[7] Linton station was renamed East Linton in December 1864.[7][4]

Facilities

In 1904 the station was able to handle all classes of traffic (goods, passengers, parcels, wheeled vehicles, livestock, etc.) and there was a goods crane capable of lifting 3 long tons (3,048 kg).[8]

Maps of the period show that East Linton station had platforms on both sides of the double-track main line which were linked by a footbridge; the station building was on the southern (westbound) platform; the goods yard with its crane was on the south side of the main line on the western side of the station. The maps also show long sidings each side of the line to the west of the station, a goods shed and weighing machine in the goods yard, a signal box opposite the goods shed and several signals.[9]

Decline and closure

Unlike Drem and Dunbar, both East Linton and East Fortune were listed for closure in the first Beeching report,[10] and duly closed on 4 May 1964.[7]

The future

A study published in 2013 proposed that East Linton and Reston stations be reopened.[11] When Abellio ScotRail took over the franchise in April 2015, they committed to reopening both stations as part of the local Berwick service by December 2016. Although Scottish Government and local authority funding is now in place, a decision has been taken between Transport Scotland and East Lothian Council to integrate the construction of East Linton Railway Station within a larger programme of works in the next rail investment period of 2019 to 2024.[12]

Contractors started survey work in early 2020 at the proposed site of the station, which is due to be further west of the old station site.[13]

Plans for the railway station have been released as of October 2020 with plans to be submitted by early 2021.

Notes
  1. Awdry 1990, p. 152.
  2. Ellis 1959, p. 5.
  3. Ellis 1959, p. 11.
  4. Butt 1995, p. 143.
  5. Ellis 1959, p. 8.
  6. Conolly 1976, p. 31, section B1.
  7. Butt 1995, p. 88.
  8. RCH 1970, p. 181.
  9. OS 1907.
  10. Beeching 1963, p. 123.
  11. BBC News 2013.
  12. Ritchie 2017.
  13. Jones, Ben (March 2020). "Survey work starts at East Linton". The Railway Magazine. Vol. 166 no. 1, 428. Horncastle: Morton's Media. p. 84. ISSN 0033-8923.

References
Preceding station Historical railways Following station
Dunbar
Line and station open		   North British Railway
NBR Main Line		   East Fortune
Line open, station closed
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.