Puffing up the Valley
On 16th September 1864 the Caledonian Railway Company discussed the idea of laying a railway along the Water of Leith to carry the freight from the valley's mills. The paper manufacturers led by Henry Bruce of Kinleith Mill were very keen but the Heritors of Colinton and Currie kirks were not. As it was, a financial crisis intervened and it was not until ten years later on August 1st 1874 that the first blue locomotive pulled four crimson carriages along the single track line to Balerno.
It was a major feat of engineering. The track was so steep and twisty that four-wheeled carriages were the norm and special Balerno pug engines had to be designed. This was after one engine ground to a halt with its fourteen carriages in the 140 yards-long Colinton tunnel. The valley was so narrow that track-laying blocked the Woodhall mill lade and closed the mill for two weeks.
Juniper Green station where the chocolate machine was a popular visit for children at the start of a walk
Passenger numbers grew at Juniper Green station from 38,280 in 1883 to 166,653 in 1914 as more and more commuters came to live in the villas along the Lanark Road in the "pretty summer resort". For nearly fifty years (until the coming of the number 8 bus in 1920) the train was really the only way to get to town. In 1890 there was a national rail strike. But the Balerno Branch line did not join in and the villa owners of Juniper Green gave 25 guineas to the footplate man for staying at his post.
Juniper Green reminiscers remember using the train to go to work, to the library in Colinton and the sea at Portobello. As children the trip to the chocolate machine on the station platform marked the start of a Sunday afternoon walk over the river and up into the hills. Most of the staff of Juniper Green Higher Grade school travelled out from town on the 8am train. They complained in 1912 that this was too early for their 9.30am school start.
The railway closed for passengers in 1943 and to goods in 1967. Now the railway is only commemorated in Juniper Green by the parking space near the post office where the stationmaster's cottage once stood, the Railway Inn and the iron bridges over the river constructed by William Arrol (the builder of the Forth Railway Bridge) which still carry our well-loved walkway.